Recently in Blog Category

Okay, so I've got all these fancy tools to write, link, and otherwise manage my blog postings. Great for me. How are all my readers supposed to keep up with my updates (or, more likely, all the updates to all the blogs they read?)

Unless you are already using a news reader/aggregator, somebody has already taken a couple steps ahead of you. When I publish a new blog entry (or post a new photo on Flickr, for example) the software managing the site updates a list of meta-data that it publishes. This is called usually done in a standard format called RSS (Really Simple Syndication) or ATOM. Both formats are XML, so if you really wanted to, you could look at the file and probably understand it. It simply provides a list of the last "n" number of changes to my blog (or site, photostream, podcast, etc.) This all sounds complicated, but remember, that part is automated.

Then, I publish my RSS feed (a link, for example the RSS feed for my blog is http://blog.transmit.net/atom.xml) somewhere where people can find it. If you take that URL (address) and put it into your favorite news reader/aggregator as a subscription, the news reader application will automatically track and collect changes on my blog and notify you of any changes I make to my syndicated content. Now multiply this across 10 or 50 websites and you start to see the power. Instead of loading each website and trying to determine what is new (10 or 50 times) you only see the updates. Once you start to exploit the RSS/ATOM data that is published out there, your web exploring will turn a corner.

There are all sorts of resources on the web that provide RSS feeds, from newspapers and blogs to photo sharing sites (Flickr) and new horizons in push marketing (Amazon and others.) The opportunity

I know, I know, what's a news reader/aggregator and where can I get one , right? The good news is that they are available in various flavors for just about any platform. There are client side news aggregators for all platforms and web-based aggregators to meet just about anyone's needs. Here are a few to get you started:

Non-technical description of RSS
Google Personalized Homepage (just paste a feed URL in under "Add Content")
BlogLines (web-based news aggregator/reader)
Mozilla Thunderbird (Windows/Mac OS/X/Linux e-mail and news client, free and open source)
Straw (Linux, free Gnome-based news aggregator)
SharpReader (Simple Windows news aggregator, requires .NET, donationware)
Net News Wire (Mac OS/X news aggregator)
Google Reader (Web-based news aggregator/reader))

If you find the list I provided doesn't provide enough variety, you can go loose yourself in the Wikipedia News Aggregator article.

Why aren't you using RSS?

reader news aggregator client web-based web content subscription rss atom xml rsd publication publish syndicate syndication howto guide content url feed blog photostream flickr web experience push pull browse browsing better manage feeds internet writing author tips blogging reading trends technology search discover firefox bloglines

[Originally published July 12, 2005]

OK I've bumped into a few people from Montgomery and surrounding communities that blog. Anyone keeping a list of have or have some others I need to check out?

Vitriolic Humor (Mine - speedeep)
http://blog.transmit.net/ (RSS Feed)
General interest, tech, IT , Linux, digital photography, programming, LAMP development

JohnTracy.Com (John Tracy)
http://www.johntracy.com/(RSS Feed)
Technology, information, local news, and rants.

JayDavenport.Net (Jay Davenport)
http://www.jaydavenport.net/ (Atom Feed)
Local happenings, media, sci-fi, moblog

Insert Witty Title Here (Charles Presley)
http://cfpresley.blogspot.com/ (Atom Feed)
Stories of life in Montgomery

Eating Montgomery (Charles Presley)
http://eatingmontgomery.blogspot.com/ (Atom Feed)
Dining experiences in and around Montgomery.

Montgomery DINKs
http://mgmdink.blogspot.com/ (Atom Feed )
Restaurant reviews and life as a DINK (dual-income, no kids) couple in Montgomery.

Inner View (Ethan Thomas)
http://thomaseth.blogspot.com/ (Atom Feed)
Local events, opinions, tied to onlinemontgomery.com.

http://www.theworldaroundyou.com/ (Kristopher?)
http://www.theworldaroundyou.com/ (http://www.theworldaroundyou.com/feed/atom/)
Local politics, news, and happenings in the Montgomery area.

More blogs below the break...

I was doing some vanity searches to see where my blog comes up and noticed there are several other bloggers with the same name I have been given. In the interest of collecting and cataloging them, here they are, in alphabetical order...

David Morrison of Prattville, Alabama (RSS Feed)

David Morrison of Greensboro, North Carolina (RSS Feed)

David Morrison, author of "Beyond Gay" (RSS Feed)

there are other "David Morrisons" (or is that "Davids Morrison"?) that I run into occasionally, one works at NASA in California and I've heard him on as a guest on Art Bell's Coast To Coast AM radio show. He was also involved in the recent announcement of the discovery of liquid water on Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons. There are two Doctors both named David Morrison in Montgomery, Alabama. One is a pediatrician and the other an oncologist. The oncologist is in hot water lately.

I'm been trying various options, shifting back and forth over what I want to do for a blog. I've tried several commercial/semi-commercial offerings, worked a bit on making my own blog software, and for now, I've settled on Movable Type. It does 95% of what I'm looking for and the other 5% isn't anything critical.

If I could just figure out the whole TrackBack thing, I might go back to my home-made solution.

So, here are my thoughts, links, photos; snapshots of things crossing my cortex at a given time. The subjects will range from politics to programming, from motorcycling to walking, and from UI Annoyances to Favorite Links.

Enjoy!