Quick Geek Interlude, I promise.

Jake’s reply to yesterday’s rant spurred me. I griped but offered no alternative to my media criticism. And he was right, technology (and motivation) is the answer to the crummy stuff we see from the Network News. And I didn’t even make the connection that I and many others involved with reading and writing blogs are already adopting it!As I’ve mentioned in a recent email to the ENdC mailing list, conventional blogs (more formally known as Content Management Systems) use a neat form of code called RSS. It’s related to a bigger standard, XML. Well, folks have realized that the consistency of the STRUCTURE of these frequently updated blogs makes it easy to AGGREGATE the stories from the pretty looking website into a program that looks a lot like your email app. This “News Reader” is the MOST EFFICIENT WAY for one to sift through MORE content whether it’s sports, general blogging, headline news, finances, geek stuff, etc. TONS of conventional sites out there are offering links to their RSS Feed that you can plug into your News Reader and get new articles/posts/scores/updates in much the same way you get new email. It’s fantastic and you’re all going to be doing it by the end of the year anyway. Might as well take a few minutes, go to the appropriate download site for your OS and get a News Reader! Most come with some feeds already to get you started. And BTW, my link to my feed is at the bottom of this page!Geek Speak over.