Tag Archives: rss feed

Mar 25

Feedly as Google Reader Replacement

If you have used the Internet at all in the past couple of weeks, you know Google is giving Reader the axe on July 1st, and no one is happy about it. Except maybe all the other RSS reader websites and applications vying to pick up Google Reader’s disillusioned ex-users. I tested quite a few of them myself, and for those wishing to replace Google Reader with something that is as close to Google Reader as possible, I highly recommend Feedly.

Pros

  • Free Android app (iPhone app seems to be in beta, will cost $2.99) with side-swiping functionality, visually similar to gReader app
  • Browser compatibility with Firefox or Chrome
  • Log in with Google account to instantly transfer all your feeds
  • Customizable, including folders, tags, display options
  • Discovering new blogs using the search bar is much easier than in Google Reader
  • So far I haven’t found anything I liked to do in Google Reader that I can’t do in Feedly

Cons

  • Not Internet Explorer-compatible
  • Graphics-centered, whereas Google Reader was more utilitarian – this takes a little getting used to

Bonus: Edwin the CEO sent me a welcome email after I joined. It was a nice personal touch to win over the hearts of those aforementioned jilted Google Reader users, plus the email included Tips for Google Readers migrating to Feedly.

May 10

Import Google+ to RSS Feed in WordPress

I was playing around with my blogroll and decided I had too many links. I decided to find out how to import articles from Google Reader (my feed reader of choice) into an RSS widget on WordPress. Sounded easy, ended up being a bit of a pain thanks to broken hacks and a proliferation of outdated information. Here’s my easy, working-for-now solution:

  1. Sign up for a Google+ account – 3 clicks and you’re done if you already have a Google account
  2. Go to Google Reader and share a few items with the +1 button at the bottom of each post:
  3. Click ‘Add names, circles, or email addresses’ and select ‘Public’:
  4. Go back to Google+, click ‘Profile’ in the left-side navigation bar, and make sure your items posted properly.
  5. Next get your Google+ user number from the URL, shown in bold: https://plus.google.com/u/0/111071894876922243184/posts
  6. Paste at the end of this URL to turn it into an RSS feed: http://gplus-to-rss.appspot.com/rss/111071894876922243184
  7. If all went well you’ll get a standard RSS subscription page and you can use the link however you like.
  8. To embed the feed in a WordPress site, go to your dashboard and click ‘Appearance > Widgets’. Drag the RSS widget to the sidebar:
  9. Expand the widget, drop in the URL, give it a name and save your changes. Voila!
Mar 10

The Automated Job Search

Sometimes the simple thing of knowing where to look for a job can be daunting. I’ve been searching since I graduated library school last August, and I think I finally have a pretty good system in place to catch as many job vacancy notifications as possible as they pop up.

When I first began looking, I tried all the usual places – Monster, Career Builder, the ALA JobLIST – and I found a few jobs here and there. I applied, so did everyone else in the tristate area, and if I wasn’t vigilant, disciplined, and constantly searching, a lot of job opportunities slipped through the cracks. Now I have the entire process practically automated to work for me and I don’t feel nearly so lost. Here’s what I did:

  • Locate all the relevant job search engines available, including Monster, Career Builder, Indeed, and USAJobs, as well as library-specific ones like ALA JobLIST, LISjobs, and LibGig
  • Perform job searches in all of these with specific criteria such as ‘full time’ and ‘entry level’.

  • Find the RSS feed button (most job search engines have them these days) and subscribe!

  • See, I have 24 jobs waiting for me in Google Reader without any labor except the initial setup:

  • To make sure you’re not missing out on local jobs that don’t advertise, make a list of local libraries (I searched for public libraries, hospitals and universities in my area for my three areas of interest and came up with a total of 52 libraries within 50 miles of my house). Find the employment page on each library’s website, and save it as a hyperlink in a document.


  • Now all the initial legwork is out of the way there as well and you can just go back and check each employment page once a week or so.

And that’s how I took the dread out of job searching and automated the process. It is a lot of work to set up – I probably spent a good six hours over several days putting my system into place, but so far it has been well worth it, and I’m finding a lot more relevant job postings on a consistent basis.