NorthStarNerd.Org

Google Alert and RSS

If you've been reading this blog for the last month or so, you know I've wanted a Google RSS feed service.  Unlike MSN Search and Yahoo, Google has not embraced RSS.  However, there is a cool service named Google Alert which is almost as good.

Google Alert, which is not part of Google, allows one to create custom RSS feeds using Google search results.  Thus, if you create focused searches using phrases, site qualifiers, etc in Google, you now can have those results as a RSS Feed.

The method is simple, and access to the basic Google Alert service is free.  Just link to Google Alert and create your account.  Upon successful login, use the advanced query options to create a focused keyword search.  When your search is finished, use the left hand menu and link to Feed Settings.  Finally, activate your RSS feed and then subscribe via your feed reader.  It's that simple; there is no need to program a Google API.

• Google Alert
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• PC Magazine - Brief Review of Google Alert

Here is a tutorial I created in Breeze explaining how to use Google Alerts in tandem with Google:

• Google Alert + Google + RSS = Knowledge - updated in Aug. 2008
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Happy Googling! (This posting orginally appeared on my MSN Spaces Blog)

What's a Wiki?

Okay, so your reading my eContent Blog.  In the Blogging world, I am in control.  You read my message; you can post comments, but I control whether I accept or delete your comments.

Great for control freaks, huh!?

Now, if I was really brave ... and I'm not ... this Blog would be a Wiki.

You ask, what's the difference?  Well, if you did not like what I was saying, you could delete or change it ... so much for my pride of authorship!

Want to learn more about Wiki's?  Please link to the University of British Columbia.  They are forging ahead in the educational use of Wikis. If you're up to a talking computer (not exactly HAL of 2001 fame) on a call-in talk show, watch this fun multimedia presentation on Wiki's:

• University of British Columbia - What's a Wiki?

Optimizing Your Blog

Okay, so you have a blog ... optimize it! Stephan Spencer, who just attended SEO in San Jose (Search Engine Strategies Conference: co-sponsored by Google), has created a screencast on how to effectively utilize the many search/blog tools and therebye optimize the ability of people to find your blog.

Does the Big Apple Finally Get It?

Over the last two days I've been contacted by both the About.Com (services of the NY Times) and the Wall Street Journal. Both operations are interested in talking to me about corporate use of blogs and wikis. Does the Big Apple finally get it (i.e. the fourth estate - cool video)

Here are my three favorite links (blogs/wikis) which I monitor for Knowledge management:

• Really Simple Sidi (Rafael Sidi on Elsevier Engineering Information)
• Tiny Screenfuls (Josh Bancroft of Intel)
• Enterprise Wiki (hosted by Ross Mayfield of SocialText)

Create / Archive Your Own Web System

When two individuals tell me separately that I need to look at xFruits, I finally get around to taking a look. This new web service allows one to do some neat things with your content:

• Aggregate RSS feeds from different sources into one feed
• Turn RSS feeds into pdf
• and much more ...

As a sample I took my own eContent feed, and converted it to PDF (free xFruits account required). Thus I was able to "freeze" my content (or someone else's) at a chosen point in time, and convert a variable RSS feed to static pdf ... with active web links. Here is my example:

• eContent PDF RSS Feed ... created with xFruits

The service also allows me to tag and read other folks tags / work. My thanks to Rafael Sidi (Really Simple Sidi Blog) of eiVillage and Dean Brown of Thomson Corporation who both told me I needed to research xFruits.