Tech bleg results: And the winner is…
posted at 12:12 pm on October 11, 2007 by Allahpundit
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Omea. Thanks to everyone who plugged it in the comments last night. Not only can it handle a huge number of feeds without choking, not only is the frequency of updates customizable, not only can you view all new posts by category instead of by individual feed, but it adds a nifty little site-specific icon next to each headline that helps you distinguish at a glance which new articles are from which news sources. That’s surprisingly helpful if, like me, you’ve got a mixture of hard news and pure crap floating around in your folders. The only drawbacks: it’s a standalone app, not browser-based, so I need to install it separately on all the computers I use and update the OPML file on each one every time I subscribe to a new feed. It’s also, inexplicably, a bit erratic thus far on updating regularly. Sometimes it spiders my feeds for new posts every 15 minutes as I’ve asked it to do, other times it just “forgets.” There must be a way to fix that. Minus those quirks, I’d pronounce it the Malkin of newsreaders; as it is, sublime but mildly flawed, I pronounce it the KP of newsreaders. Still waiting to give NetVibes a good test run per the other consistent recommendation in the comments last night, but that looks to be more of a start page where news reading is just a side attraction amid a lot of other stuff. For hardcore news junkies, you’re probably better off with Omea.
Since last night’s thread was so helpful, feel free to treat this as an open thread to recommend other useful apps you’ve come across lately. Newsy stuff is preferred but not required.
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Musicovery, baby. hours of toe-tapping fun!
AdrianG on October 11, 2007 at 12:17 PM
I have seen RSS feeds for years, but I have no idea how they work. Can anyone give me a small rundown?
Weebork on October 11, 2007 at 12:19 PM
Hmmm, are you suggesting a sound track for HotAir??? Can I get on the play list?
doriangrey on October 11, 2007 at 12:19 PM
I started using Omega at home, it is pretty slick.
bnelson44 on October 11, 2007 at 12:20 PM
http://www.avantbrowser.com
Very customizeable, faster than IE, more filters to save on bandwidth/processing power, automatic refresh on a specific page (Hotair refreshes every 5 minutes). The best part? Online storage for your bookmarks. Your bookmarks are now mobile! Every PC I use has Avant Browser and all my links go with me. I’d never use another browser.
Theworldisnotenough on October 11, 2007 at 12:28 PM
Congratulations on your new baby.
Spirit of 1776 on October 11, 2007 at 12:28 PM
A RSS feed reader, at its simplest, checks a bunch of sites you select (after you jettison some “default” sites most readers throw in to pimp themselves or their “partners”) that offer RSS feeds (like Hot Air) for new content, either entirely new or just an updated post, and lets you know if there is any. There’s two kinds – web-based and offline.
The good thing about web-based readers, like Google Reader, is that it’s “portable”, which allows you to read from any computer without duplication. The bad thing is that most of them are not exactly “customizable”.
Off-line readers, like Omea or SharpReader (my reader of choice) are exactly the opposite. They’re much more customizable (indeed, with SharpReader, I can force the entire post to show up even if the RSS feed only contains an excerpt or even nothing beyond the title and the link). However, it’s not exactly “portable”.
steveegg on October 11, 2007 at 12:36 PM
Ok where to start
Well lets try this one
You find a name of a person you want know more about plug their name into the search box and watch the social network appear.
Hover over the links between nodes to see the relationship then click on any of the other nodes to look at the next level of separation from your starting point.
CommentGuy on October 11, 2007 at 12:38 PM
Thanks Steveegg, much like Gore, I feel so enlightened! :)
Weebork on October 11, 2007 at 12:44 PM
Another place to search on companies or people in business is right here.
CommentGuy on October 11, 2007 at 12:45 PM
But will it work on the iPhone you don’t have?
liberrocky on October 11, 2007 at 12:50 PM
If you are working on a longer term research project with a lot of facts you need to string together like a social network diagram this is a good place to go to graphically work with the information.
CommentGuy on October 11, 2007 at 12:51 PM
Q10 helps me write stuff. And it’s free.
see-dubya on October 11, 2007 at 1:00 PM
I heart Omea from heavy use for the last 6 months or so.
I have it easier than most because I have bunches of screen real estate to play with.
I have two 30 inch lcds mounted one above the other and four 20 inch lcds running down either side of those screens to give me plenty of cut and paste playground.
CommentGuy on October 11, 2007 at 1:02 PM
Heheh!
PRCalDude on October 11, 2007 at 1:10 PM
If I am working with several people jointly on a project I find that the Office Live Workspace is a valuable way to keep it all together and I also run Sharepoint Server for some needs.
CommentGuy on October 11, 2007 at 1:14 PM
Now joining us from NORAD’s situation room: Comment Guy.
see-dubya on October 11, 2007 at 1:21 PM
What is this “Omega” and how will it help with my gonorrhea?
natesnake on October 11, 2007 at 1:24 PM
Open Office – open source MS office suite
The Race Card on October 11, 2007 at 1:26 PM
I’ve had good luck with the USEC Gas Centrifuge for some, um, projects.
see-dubya on October 11, 2007 at 1:32 PM
For general research I normally keep open on different screens
Firefox
Thunderbird
Omea Reader
MS Excell
MS Access
MS Word
ICQ
Google Earth
Usually also have Windows Media Player , Real Player and Nero Video player open as separate instances to handle multiple streams.
A video phone running voip over the net
CommentGuy on October 11, 2007 at 1:39 PM
I always suspected that of you… :p
doriangrey on October 11, 2007 at 1:41 PM
So we know who to blame the next time the Internets crash!
synycalwon on October 11, 2007 at 1:44 PM
Omea is very nice.
A little trick you can do is go to “MONITOR THIS” type in whatever search term you want and then save the result as an OPML file and import into Omea.
It’s great for hot topic news you may want to monitor and you can always delete the feed when its no longer needed.
Right now I have all the 08 candidates in there and things like Moveon, Backwater and Global warming to keep me updated on the progressive misinformation.
186k on October 11, 2007 at 1:45 PM
Now joining us from NORAD’s situation room: Comment Guy.
see-dubya on October 11, 2007 at 1:21 PM
And that is just my web surfing research tool for non critical things.
I am a semi-retired professional day trader. You would drool at my trading room on the back of the house.
Think 8 full 19 inch racks of blade servers and Storage Area Network stuff and a 10 foot high by 15 foot wide Video Wall with most stuff voice activated but augmented with a game glove manipulation tool and even hand gesture recognition.
CommentGuy on October 11, 2007 at 1:46 PM
lol
Spirit of 1776 on October 11, 2007 at 1:47 PM
Sorry I couldn’t help myself…….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GcVnhNjWV0
doriangrey on October 11, 2007 at 1:53 PM
Foxit Reader is a small lightweight replacement for the bloated Adobe Reader. The download page offers a “zip” archive that contains the single “exe” of the program, no installation required. Or choose the self installer (exe) or Windows installer (msi) version.
synycalwon on October 11, 2007 at 1:59 PM
For the Mac (yes, I know, I know–but we mac people exist too–and lots are proud conservatives!) I am currently using Shrook as an RSS app. NetNewsWire is widely regarded as the best on the Mac, I think, but it’s full version is not free. It’s still regarded as one of the best around, I believe.
Vanceone on October 11, 2007 at 2:00 PM
Foxit?
I would rather go with PDF-xchnage viewer
http://www.docu-track.com/home/prod_user/pdfx_viewer/
Not only doe sit work as well and fast as foxit, it’s also loaded with other features. Free simple editing tools. Save a part of even export an entire page as an image. Has a way to switch between multiple PDFs like IE7’s quicktabs feature. Plus it’s free.
And windowsblinds 6. XP with aero glass. Enougth said :D
http://www.stardock.com/products/windowblinds/
LordDaMan on October 11, 2007 at 4:10 PM
AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition
zb42 on October 11, 2007 at 4:18 PM
Pics or STFU!Video or it didn’t happen.
Titus Flavius on October 11, 2007 at 5:00 PM
So, your electric bill in Algore Goracle territory?
OTOH, you shouldn’t have a natural gas/heating oil bill.
steveegg on October 11, 2007 at 5:57 PM
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