10 Ways to Know Everything
10 Ways to Know Everything
Looking for news that interests you is best compared to playing pool with a loose turd.
If there’s one thing I realised in 2009 becoming a freelancer for the first time, it’s that demands for News Now are greater than ever before.
I feel it. And so do you. It’s not good enough to have yesterday’s events delivered on sheets of paper, despite the best efforts of The Sun to compare its tree-destroying work to an iPhone.
Most of the time it’s too laborious to even visit your favourite list of websites.
Finding the news that matters is like trying to sail the Atlantic on a boat made of feathers.
The semantic web (Web 3.0 if you’re a ponce) will help change all this automatically. Through folksonomy and taxonomy (organising and tagging, for normal people). But we’re not there yet.
So how do we revolutionise and streamline our information seeking behaviour in this time poor world of ours?
It’s simple. We turn the wheel the other way and make the information come to us.
Here’s your 10 for today:
10 ways to get it now:
Best for… Getting it.
1. RSS. People still don’t get it. You probably do – but if you’re only vaguely web-oriented (seriously, there are people who haven’t heard of Facebook and they don’t live in mental hospitals) then Really Simple Syndication is anything but. Thankfully it’s easier than ever to subscribe to feeds from your favourite sites using that natty little orange symbol living in your address bar, or clicking the RSS link on sites that care. The curse here is information overload – like many geeks I have huge swathes of content flying into my Google Reader. But there are loads of ways to get what you want from what you’ve subscribed to. So long as you have the power to search (dead easy), organise (use folders) and trash (if you come back to 1000s of news items, can them and start afresh – once you’ve searched keywords that are most important to you to glean the few bits that matter right now) you can handle your RSS. Promise!
I’m not going to unduly confuse matters but the guy who ‘created’ – at least in part – RSS, Dave Winer, has come up with the goods for the next-gen RSS called River2. Don’t worry yourself over this right now; in a nutshell it’s a quicker way of having your stuff dished up. RSS will suffice until River2 is more widely acknowledged by the big boys.
If you hate Google because you’re insecure about the safety of your personal information, and probably freak out when the concierge calls you by your first name after you’ve stayed at the same Travelodge nine times in the same month, then you can always point all your RSS feeds to a cool widget-style website called Netvibes instead.
RSS is the delivery mechanism. I’m gonna focus down below on the best ways to facilitate RSS…
Best for… Finding it.
2. Google News Custom Section. Newspapers on steroids – tailored to you, and in your face only when what you want is in the pipe. There’s much more about this sacred
bit of kit here but in a nutshell what you’re getting is the chance to choose all the keywords and phrases that matter to you in your daily life and build up an RSS feed that only features this stuff. It’s like a newspaper built of pixels with your name in the masthead!
Best for… Bringing it all together.
3. Yahoo Pipes. If number 2 is web news on steroids, this is LSD. At it’s easiest, it’s an aggregator: it allows you to bring lots of RSS feeds together to be delivered from one single source. You can create a fix of every news story imaginable and have it shoehorned into a feed type of your choice (for RSS, while the popularest, isn’t the only feed style available). Yahoo Pipes is so incredibly clever. But it also acts as a filter – you can screen feeds by keyword/location, for example, so if you have a news source feed that doesn’t quite hit the spot for you, it can be refined by ‘Pipes to give only what you want. Almost worth creating a Yahoo account for. Almost, as in ‘you have to’.
Best for… Spying.
4. Gist. This is where I deviate from my customary tradition of recommending stuff I ‘get’. So many people have yayed Gist I feel compelled to share it with you. Gist asks for your contacts stored across Twitter, Outlook, Facebook, LinkedIn etc and brings all the news together about them. So next time you talk you have everything you need to know at your fingertips. Outstanding in execution, they say. I installed the Gist plugin in MS Outlook and it doesn’t seem to do anything. But I haven’t toyed and the groundswell of public opinion suggests you should get it. Now. And Q – drop your poison-tipped umbrella in the uridium-lined locker on your way out.
Best for… Getting answers.
5. Hunch. Can’t decide whether to dump him? Looking for a present for your friend with no legs? Hunch is here to help! Curates crowdsourcing tech to give you the ultimate answers to many of life’s burning questions. Go through a simple process of multiple choice questions and find the answer that could quite literally change your life. Finally, question curation comes of age. After a bumpy start, Hunch is what it should be – a cure for indecision. Sadly, I couldn’t find out whether Gloria Estefan walks around her house with no knickers on, but trainers aren’t a good gift for Hopalong…
Best for… Showing off.
6. Google Ajax Feed. How to get your site visitors to read about your weird fetish for cow bells? It’s easy! Google Ajax Feed presents your RSS feeds du jour in a stylish, disappeary tickertape-type panel of loveliness. I discovered this yesterday but soon as I get the chance to implement it on davethackeray.com I’ll bang it in. I was looking to add a timeshare RSS feed for a client but all it spewed out was talk of Cialis so it needs a little tweaking, but if you want to run a feed on Paris Hilton’s norks it should crank out little distractions.
Best for… Getting down with the kids.
7. Tweetdeck (or Seesmic). Manage your social media in one place. These web ‘clients’ (they run as programs rather than in your web browser) let you handle all your Twitter, Facebook (and in Tweetdeck’s case, LinkedIn) status updates in a super-slick way. Run searches on keywords, hashtags and phrases popping up in Twitter, group your favourite Tweeps, auto-shorten URLs and drop pictures into your feeds. Both these babies run on Adobe Air framework which in English means they’re damn quick. Having said that, if you want a website that does a similar (but not as good a) job you could always have a play with Hootsuite. Or Ping.fm if you want to simply update all your social media sites in one breath. But that’s not ‘get it’ as much as ‘give it’. Focus, DT.
Best for… Old school nu-news.
8. bbc.co.uk. If you still love the traditional website experience (am I really saying ‘traditional’ in this context? Outstanding! My god, I’ve just turned 156 years old in 5 years) then this is a better way to grab your brain biscuits than the average web window. You can personalise and tailor your BBC homepage by dragging and dropping the different sections where you want them. Newsvine is another great example of how this cute technology promises to revolutionise the internet experience. Of course you can do similar things using iGoogle but again, be wary since there’s probably someone in a black Google bomber jacket in your kitchen inspecting your freezer contents as you’re reading this.
Best for… Swimming through the news without drowning.
9. CNET River. I love blending stuff. I especially love Will It Blend? because it’s the perfect example of a viral marketing campaign by a blender-making company. Kinda niche, huh? But the only place an iPhone really belongs is in the gnashing blades of a Blendtec appliance. My third-favourite example of blending (second is cocktail-making using as much Tequila as is humanly possible to consume) is the CNET River that mashes up the latest blogs, photo galleries, videos, and tweets from the company’s editors to give you a holistic view of the news issues of the day. One place – lots of opinion.
Best for… Stupid stuff and pop culture.
10. Digg.com. Maybe I’ve a weird tingly thing for its founder Kevin Rose. I’ve been addicted to the vlog Diggnation since Jamaica 2007. I don’t feel the same way about Alex Albrecht; I think it’s the hair that’s a turn-off. And his squeaky drawl. Digg invites users to submit content that others vote on. All categories
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Categories: Heavy Duty Blenders Tags: Everything, Know, ways
Green Smoothies Exposed – Everything You Should Know About Green Smoothies
Green Smoothies Exposed – Everything You Should Know About Green Smoothies
Green smoothies, while consumed by thousands of individuals daily, are not in the mainstream of conversation these days. Of course, if you are part of the exploding health and fitness culture that has a world wide audience, you are most likely already familiar with the movement that embraces green smoothies and their legendary benefits.
The basic information is that green smoothies, like most smoothies, are beverages that are blended to combine fresh or frozen fruit and leafy greens like collard greens, spinach, mustard, and several other lesser known leafy edible greens. One must also add more common vegetables such as carrots and broccoli and even mushrooms, although not necessarily a green or a vegetable.
The idea of green smoothies is that they are filled to the brim with nutrients that work best when they are combined in the raw state. And when blended with other nutritional goodies, these smoothies are nothing less than habit forming. Any parent who has to beg or bribe their kids to eat their spinach and kale, will begin to understand how much of a difference a tasty mouthful of green smoothie can make.
Green smoothies have been found to be very economical and easy to make. Plus since they are fast and tasty and have a rather cool appearance, the challenge of making your family green smoothie fans is definitely simple, after the first blender full of the stuff green smoothies are made of.
Here’s a quick recipe:
1. Start by making sure you have a heavy duty or commercial grade blender. This is not mandatory at first as any blender will do to get started. However, once you realize that everyone will want green smoothies every day, the wear and tear on a non-commercial blender will definitely shorten its life span.
2. Add kale, collard, mustard, turnip and spinach greens. Top these off with bananas or peaches or strawberries or cherries, or feel free to blend all of them into your smoothie. You won’t want to, or need to add sugar or any sweetener so be sure to find your choice of naturally sweet fruits to add to the mix for the best tasting results.
3. Add enough fresh water up to the half way point in your blender. add ice cubes up to the top. Then close the lid and spin until the mix is completely blended. Check during the cycle for the smoothie consistency you prefer. Lots of us like them smooth and thick, however, others prefer thinner mixtures. Just be sure to check for your desired level of thickness.
4. Pour and enjoy and try not to smack your lips.
Many of us are not on diets nor do we plan to be, however, if you are interested in being both healthy and thinner, a green smoothie, that takes less than 5 minutes to blend, can help you drop weight and bad habits. Most individuals will drink a smoothie 2 or 3 times a day, which seems to be the optimum way to start.
The bottom line for potential green smoothie addicts is to jump into the habit at whatever level your interest. These are not only great looking drinks but they are loaded with the type of leafy greens that nature fills with antioxidants and vitamins. What a novel idea, enjoy a delicious drink and get a full feeling in the process because of the fiber. And you can end up 10 or so pounds lighter every 30 days.
Is the Blendtec Total Blender the best blender ever made? Read our shocking Blendtec blender review and decide for yourself.
Mother, housewife, and nutrition enthusiast who enjoys blogging about health-related topics.
Article from articlesbase.com
Categories: Heavy Duty Blenders Tags: About, Everything, Exposed, Green, Know, Should, Smoothies
Blendtec Total Blender Basic is The Blender That Blends You Almost Everything
Blendtec Total Blender Basic is The Blender That Blends You Almost Everything
If you have been reading reviews about healthy food, you may have noticed that blending is the way to go and using the Blendtec Total Blender Basic is among the best choices for your blender. When you choose a healthier lifestyle through blending, you have an amazing array of great recipes available for your food preparation. Before long after starting to use your blender regularly, you’ll not only be loving the new way of eating but you’ll notice that you’re losing weight as well.
Need to get charged up with more energy? Why not whip your very own green smoothie? Well jump for joy because you can quickly do that with a tasty and nutritious green smoothie. Recently the Blendtec tb 621 had a name change and is now called the Blendtec Total Blender Basic. This unit comes with an ingeniously designed two-pronged blade that works synergistically with the patented jar design to create a sucking vortex that pulverizes all the food easily into the ideal nutrient rich smoothie.
Another recipe that the machine can whip up is a delicious fruit shake. Because of the Blendtec Total Blender Basic’s motor design, it gives the machine power that can pulverize ice and blend it with the fruits that you want to add thus creating a healthy and delicious fruit drink to share with the whole family. Now who would not want that in their kitchen?
Another specialty talent of the Blender Basic is creating a Tortilla soup that is very popular. A serving of the soup is a good size and has only 100 calories or less and it’s composed of peppers, tomatoes, onions, garlic and taco seasoning. One of the best parts of the Blendtec TB 621 it that you can create your soups without pre-heating them in the microwave. You only have to place the ingredients inside the Total Blender Basic, push a button and blend them. When blending soups, the longer you blend, the more your soup is heated up. Talk about convenience, how could you want anything more?
One of the most popular features of the Blendtec tb 621 are the Smart Touch Tec-nology™ control buttons. Any needed cleanup is a breeze with these smooth surface control buttons. They also provide 7 pre-programmed cycles for your various blending needs. All you have to do is put in the ingredients, hit one button and then you can go watch TV while the blending completes and the blender turns itself off. This auto shut off is another feature that people love on this unique blender. Experience the fun and joy of your own healthy foods and snacks with the utmost in modern convenience – complements of the Blendtec Total Blender Basic!
Don is a healthy living enthusiast and has one of the best Total Blender Basic with lots of great information if you’d like to learn more about the Blendtec TB 621 then just click the link.
Link: http://areviewof.org/blendtec-tb-621-bhm
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Categories: Heavy Duty Blenders Tags: Almost, Basic, Blender, Blends, Blendtec, Everything, Total
Everything You Need To Know About The Blender Bullet Before You Buy
Everything You Need To Know About The Blender Bullet Before You Buy
The blender bullet is the perfect blender if you usually cook for two and have limited time to prepare a meal. The blender bullet is versatile, fast and easy to use; however there are some pros and cons to consider before you buy it.
The magic blender bullet is a versatile food processor which can be used as a coffee grinder, a chopper, a blender, a smoothie maker, a sandwich spread maker, soup mixer and more. It’s a quick and easy way to prepare a variety of drinks and meals when time is limited. Preparation takes less than 10 seconds on average!
Simple to operate, just load the ingredients into the short cup, the tall cup, or one of the four mugs. Twist on the cross or flat blade, place the bullet on the power base, and press down. The magic blender bullet can do virtually any job in the kitchen in a few seconds. To heat or chill, place the bullet cup or mug in the microwave, refrigerator, or freezer. All parts except for the power base clean up easily by hand or in the dishwasher. The blender bullet measures approximately 4 by 4 by 10 inches and carries a one-year limited warranty.
The blender bullet is not great for chopping certain items and it can overheat and break if you leave it on like a regular blender. If you are cooking for more than one or two people this blender bullet could be a little small.
Most sets include a high-torque power base with a stainless-steel cross blade and flat blade, a tall and a short bullet cup, four party mugs with colored lip rings, a shaker top and a steamer top, two stay-fresh re-sealable lids, plus a 100-page Magic Bullet “10 Second Recipe” book.
You can read more consumer reviews, tips and recipes for this blender at this juicer bullet website.
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Categories: Smoothie Makers Tags: About, Before, Blender, Bullet, Everything, Know, Need