rss

Are You Missing Bloglines? Here’s a Possible Fix

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I’ve been getting periodic e-mails asking what happened to Bloglines, and I unfortunately have not been able to provide any answers because I couldn’t find anything either!

I got a Tweet about it today and I still didn’t know anything, so I got mad and went rummaging around on Google, and I found something! Twitter user @FuturePersp tried it and said it worked.

What I found was a note from a gentleman named Matt Lueck. he’s apparently getting his Bloglines stuff via NetVibes.

Screenshot-18

Here’s the text if you need to cut and paste anything:

“This was my solution. Log into netvibes using your bloglines info. Click Dashboard then manage. On the left under Dashboards click backup data. Select Bloglines from the dropdown. that will export an XML file from to your computer with everything you were following in bloglines. Now add that to netvibes by clicking add on your page and then import the xml in the menu on the right. Now you can read things in netvibes.”

Those instructions came from a Facebook comment left at http://www.isitdownrightnow.com/bloglines.com.html . I can’t try it because I don’t use Bloglines, but two followup comments left there and FuturePersp seems to indicate this is a way to get your Bloglines stuff. If you try it, could you please let me know in the comments if it works for you?

How to Turn Your Facebook “Likes” Into RSS Feeds

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As you probably know doing ResearchBuzz is not my real job; I love it but “love” and “pays the electric bill” are sometimes quite a ways apart.

However I have been consciously working to become more efficient in my information gathering and writing (you may have noticed that the daily ‘Buzz has been a lot more consistent since last December) and I have been trying to set aside more time to write.

That came to fruition this month when I wrote my first article in a long time. It was for IT World and it’s called
How to make a Facebook Page RSS list in 6 easy steps. You can read it here (it’s free):
http://www.itworld.com/it-management/410122/how-make-facebook-page-rss-list-6-easy-steps

If you use Facebook for resource gathering, Facebook’s throttling of how many Page posts reach fans can be very frustrating. In the article I outline a way to turn your “Liked” Facebook pages into a set of RSS feeds that you can easily monitor without worrying about what Facebook is going to decide to put in your newsfeed.

I hope you like it. And I hope I get the opportunity to write more articles like this.

Newswise Has Launched News Alert Feeds By Topic

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Do you ever use Newswise? It’s kind of a press wire for universities, research institutions, non-profit organizations, and other groups that release what Newswise calls “knowledge-based news.” You can browse the available releases at http://www.newswise.com. I get a daily roundup of the news on the site and always find plenty of interesting releases.

Last month Newswise announced that it is making available RSS feeds for each Newswise channel. There are dozens of channels divided up into five channels; you can get the full list at http://www.newswise.com/channels/.

Take for example the diet and nutrition channel, which at this writing has 343 stories going back to December 28, 2008. You can filter the stories you see by type, date range, or institution. And the RSS feed is available at http://www.newswise.com/legacy/feed/channels.php?channel=101.

I will probably keep getting the daily digests of new releases because I am interested in everything, but if you have a particular research focus I think you’ll find these targeted RSS feeds very useful.

Bloglines and Xmarks Both Get a Reprieve

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There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth when Bloglines, the Web-based RSS reader maintained by Ask.com, had its shutdown announced. There aren’t many solid players in the world of Web-based RSS readers (I use desktop reader myself; in fact, I use two.) Those of you who were unhappy about the shutdown will be pleased to hear that Bloglines will remain available. According to the Ask blog, the site will be taken over and maintained by MerchantCircle. Users’ feeds and login information will remain the same.

Of course, if you go to Bloglines now, you’ll see that the site will be maintained until at least December 1, after which it will transition to MerchantCircle. I’m really glad to hear this. Bloglines is a long-lived application with a very large user base, and it seemed like it would be able to find a home somewhere.

Speaking of online services that caused much alarm when they were canceled, bookmark sync service Xmarks recently announced that it too has been given a reprieve after announcing a shutdown. In this case there aren’t too many details yet and it doesn’t seem like the deal is 100% final. Stay tuned to the Xmarks blog for more information.

RSS Feeds — I Need Your Help!

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Yesterday was unpleasant. What I thought was a driver problem with Scooter (my main work computer) ended up being an OS meltdown that required an all-night unravel and rebuild. I had a backup, of course, but it will take some time to get everything upgraded and in place and Back the Way It Was.

There was one casualty to the meltdown — my OPML file. I thought I had backed up my RSS reader file, but I hadn’t. So I lost the list of the 650+ RSS feeds I’ve been following for the last couple of years.

Some of them are just information traps I can rebuild, but there’s no way I can remember the whole list. So I’m asking for your help.

Of course you know what ResearchBuzz is all about, so relevant feeds you know about would be great. But I’m also interested in business, demographics, marketing, and any kind of newswire. But hey, if you have an RSS feed that you think is useful or interesting I want to know about it.

There are RSS feed directories out there, I know, but I would really like some recommendations from you, the Greatest Readers on the Planet.

So if you have a top-notch, can’t-miss RSS feed you think I should know about, send it on to newsletter@researchbuzz.com. Want to promote your own university/library’s RSS feed(s)? Go right ahead! I would love to hear from you. You can also leave recommendations in the comments, or tweet ’em to me @ResearchBuzz.

Thank you very much!