Fresh

Google has quickly become the cool kid in school when it comes to anything online. Have a question? Google it! Need easy access to documents and spreadsheets from anywhere? Check out Google Docs. Want to chat with friends and coworkers during the day? Try Google Talk! And if you haven’t kicked your old email address to the curb, do it, and get with Gmail. You’ll have way less spam and lots of cool page themes and features to choose from.

If you want to be one of the cool kids of the online playground, then you should also have an RSS reader, aka aggregator. If you don’t know what RSS is, Google it! Haha, just kidding…but seriously. An RSS reader gathers all the news and info feeds you choose and organizes them on one page, either web-based or desktop-based. There are tons out there, but my favorite is from…wait for it…Google, of course! If you have a Google account, then you have the RSS reader called iGoogle. iGoogle organizes everything with “gadgets,” which are small blocks throughout your page with little snippets of info. You can either search for gadgets within iGoogle, or you can add any RSS feed to your iGoogle home page directly from a site. I’m gonna give you all a little peek into my iGoogle page and my favorite 8 gadgets.

[1] The Office Quote of the Day
The Office is one of my favorite shows and every day I post up a new quote on my gTalk status. This gadget offers a new quote each day and links to a site that offers all the quotes you can handle.

Today’s quote from Andy: “We’re getting married at Schrute Farms, no matter what. I have looked at twelve venues, I have lost eight deposits and I have seen Angela naked zero times. I am not losing another deposit.”

[2] Today’s Horoscope
Whether you believe in the stars or not, its always fun to see what your horoscope says. I like to think of it as a ‘heads up’ for the day.

[3] Weather
Living in the Northwest, the weather is constantly changing, so this gadget is perfect to help plan your week.

[4] el blog de Rudy (Rudy Fernandez’s blog)
I’ve been a Blazer fan all my life, but this year is very special. We have an amazing, young team and some exciting new rookies, including my favorite, Rudy Fernandez from España. Rudy has his own blog, written in Spanish, of course. He shares all the stories of a new NBA player and he writes with so much excitement, it’s really fun to read. If you don’t know Spanish, Google has a decent translator that you can use to read all about Rudy’s rookie year.

[5] Spanish word of the day
I studied abroad in Spain and love this language, so to stay connected to the culture and on top of my Spanish game, I use this gadget to keep my vocab fresh. This gadget gets its info from don Quijote, a fun Spanish language reference site.

[6] Web Designer Wall – Design Trends and Tutorials
As a web developer, I’m always trying to stay current on the newest tips and trends. This gadget gathers the newest posts from the Web Designer Wall blog. I can look at the most recent post titles and click on them to read more.

[7] CNN – World
It is important to know what is going on in the country and the world. The CNN gadget brings the most up to date stories one click away. There are several other CNN gadgets to help narrow down your topic of interest.

[8] Today’s Reason to Drink
This gadget is just for fun. It provides a random fact each day that celebrates ways to enjoy a cocktail. Some of the facts are really interesting pieces of history, and others are just silly and brighten my day. Salud!

Today’s Reason: Forget that beer you’re holding onto and grab a lager instead in celebration of National Lager Day!

So, whether you decide to use iGoogle or another RSS reader, get out there and do it! There is so much information out there on the web and these readers make it much easier to sort through the stuff that interests you. My last iGoogle plug is that you can choose your own Theme and really personalize your page. Good luck in the RSS world and have fun with it!