Geekulous » How To

Gruml – How to view your RSS Feeds Without a Browser

Josie S. — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 05:16:13 +0000

Recently I’ve been on the lookout for a more streamlined method of viewing all of my RSS feeds. After falling in love with Reeder for iPad I quickly realized that I need something just as sleek, snazzy and efficient for my desktop. Typically, if I’m at work or on the run I hop onto Feedly as I like the clean and organized layout it provides. In fact I absolutely adore Feedly but lately I’ve felt myself in a browser for far too long.

On my quest for a new desktop RSS reader I came across Socialite. Made RealMacSoftware, the same group who brought us RapidWeaver and LittleSnapper, Socialite is basically a social network aggregator that also incorporates an RSS feed reader. What originally drew me to Socialite was the ability to combine all of my social network accounts in one place along with my Google Reader account. I used it for a couple of weeks and really enjoyed it but, it being in beta, I found it to have some bugs that were too obtrusive to ignore. So off I went again, looking for another solution to my problem. I quickly stumbled upon Gruml which is now fast becoming my favorite desktop app.

What is Gruml? it’s a desktop RSS reader for Mac. You can sync Gruml with your Google Reader account and can do just about anything in Gruml that you can do in Google Reader. So what makes Gruml one of the best desktop feed readers I’ve used?

Open Tabs in Background

One thing I really didn’t like about Socialite was that when I clicked on any link it would bring up my default browser (Chrome) and open a new tab. While that’s a nice feature, many times I find myself opening multiple articles in a row to read so having to switch between applications every time I want to open a new link can be tedious. With Gruml, if I click on the link to an article it opens a tab within Gruml but in the background so I can click on as many links to articles as I want, they open in tabs behind the default view and I can scroll through the tabs at my leisure.

Share to Any Social Network/Bookmarking Site

This has to be one of my favorite features of Gruml, it’s extremely easy to share articles to all of your most used social networks and bookmarking sites. All I have to do is highlight the article hit command-I and it’s instantly shared to my Instapaper account. Along with Instapaper you can share articles to networks like Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Diigo, StumbleUpon and more. In total you can share articles to 14 different bookmarking sites and social networks.

Works with Growl

Any desktop app that has the ability to integrate with Growl gets extra brownie points automatically. I love Growl and the fact that I can get unobtrusive reminders that one of my feeds has been updated on my desktop is invaluable. If you’re so inclined, you can pass on this feature by simply changing the settings in the preference pane.

Customizations Galore!

Speaking of the preference pane, let’s take a look at that. While at first glance it may seem simple Gruml’s preferences allow for lots of customization. You can customize how the title bar of the article preview looks, and the font and size of the text within the app (for example you can change the way the titles of the articles look within the unread articles list). On top of that you can customize which default buttons you want on the toolbar and adjust the window pane view to your liking. I a big fan of being able to adjust apps to work and look exactly the way I want and with Gruml’s preferences I’m able to do just that.

There are plenty of other great reasons to love Gruml but those you’ll have to discover for yourself. If you’re looking for an effective method of managing and viewing your Google Reader items through your Mac desktop, look no further than Gruml.

Do you use Socialite or Gruml? Which do you prefer? What do you like about Gruml? Let us know in the comments.

How Google Works: Explaining a Search Engine to a Baby Boomer

Josie S. — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 01:30:00 +0000

Yesterday I was talking to my dad on the phone, trying to help him with a computer problem he was having. Let me tell you, getting someone to explain to you, over the phone, what they’re seeing on their computer is a feat . Trying to translate what they’re saying into language that makes sense is a whole other can of worms (Dad: ” I double click on the ‘W’, the arrow goes away for a minute but the background turns white and the document window comes up, I put a slash in and everything goes away“), but I digress. So I was trying to explain to my father that one of the best ways to find a solution to your problem is to go to Google, type in a few words related to what you’re trying to do and hit enter. I told him, that’s what I do when I come across a problem that I don’t know how to fix. His response to that was, “I don’t want to send that information out there and get a whole bunch of people responding.” Hmmm, obviously we have a warped idea of what Google actually does, time for a lesson in internet searches. After a few unsuccessful attempts at explaining the wonders of Google I came up with (I think) a great analogy. I’m sure someone has come up with this before but I found it to be extremely useful in explaining how Google works.

I told my dad, think about when the internet wasn’t around and you needed information on a specific topic, say you wanted to learn how to change the oil in your car. If you had no access to a mechanic to ask you may go to the library. When you go to the library you can tell the librarian what you’re looking for and s/he will take you to the right area of the library where you can peruse books about car maintenance. At this point I made sure he understood what I was saying, if he didn’t understand the concept of a library I would have another can of worms on my hands. I told my dad, imagine the internet being a huge library with websites being the books and Google to being the librarian. You type into Google what you want information you want (like you’re asking the librarian), Google (the librarian) goes through all the websites (books) on the internet and gives you a list of sites that may be related to your topic of interest. Browse through these websites and I can almost guarantee you, you will find the solution to your problem.

Whenever I help my mom with a computer or electronic issue she asks me, where did you learn to do these things? I never really thought about it before but really I’ve obtained the majority of my knowledge about electronics, the internet, programming, gadgets, etc from the internet. I’ve also learned to use Google as a tool to help me find solutions to various problems. What “non computer” people don’t realize is that, sometimes, when you ask that computer saavy friend to help you with your machine they’re Googling the problem and finding a solution.

This is not to say that one should believe everything they read on the internet, nor should the internet be the sole method to gaining information about topics of interest. Also important to note, once you figure out how to fix a problem doesn’t necessarily make you qualified to fix the problem. For example, I figured out the reason one of my ethernet ports wasn’t working was because it wasn’t wired properly but that doesn’t mean I’m now going to go into my walls and mess with the wiring, sometimes you have to know when to leave it to the professionals. All that being said, I thought the analogy was a good one and one that may be helpful to others who know people who don’t quite grasp the concept of Google. So there you go, my method of explaining Google to a baby boomer.

How do you help your friends/family solve their tech problems? Have a better analogy? Let us know in the comments.

How to Find New Content with Google Reader

Josie S. — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 21:10:41 +0000

Recently I wrote about a great Firefox plugin called Feedly that presents yourGoogle Reader feeds in a easy to read “magazine style” layout. As Feedly became an increasing part of my everyday routine I found myself wanting to find even more content to read. Usually I do this by using the “you might also like” section Feedlyprovides but the other day I came across a great feature Google Reader has to offer - PowerReaders.

Google has provided a list of some of the top names in various industries and the feeds they are subscribed to. Arianna Huffington (The Huffington Post), Chris Anderson (Wired), and Adam Pash (LifeHacker) are just a few of the people you will see on the list. You can hop onto GoogleReader’s blog to get a complete list of their top names. Google’s PowerReaders is just one great way to find new content feeds. Google also provides a feature that allows you to create a list of your favorite feeds (“bundles”) that you can share with friends, family or, if you’re a blogger, with your readers.

Using these tools you can expand your Google Reader content to create an even more customized and comprehensive Feedly page.

How do you find new content feeds? Let us know in the comments.

How to Use Feedly to Stay on Top of All Your RSS Feeds

Josie S. — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 20:19:52 +0000

Google Reader is one of the most popular online feed aggregators out there, and with so many people using it I just had to check it out. I’ve had feeds in Google Reader but never really checked them. I mainly stayed up to date on all of my feeds through my startpage – NetVibes. Eventually NetVibes became a little mundane and Google Reader was no better. I, like so many others, am not a big fan of perusing text filled web pages, I need graphics to break up the monotony of all the text.

To be honest, I’m not quite sure how I came across Feedlybut when I did it was love at first sight. Basically Feedly is Firefox add-on that presents all of your feeds from Google Reader in a easy to view “magazine-style” page. Feedly is simple, and easy to use. If you currently use Google Reader making the move to Feedly couldn’t be easier, just download the Firefox plugin, login with your Google account info and that’s it. Since discovering Feedly I have added a heap more feeds to read since it’s so easy to add them (the same as you would add a feed to Google Reader). If you’re someone who had a lot of feeds that update daily you can appreciate the importance of having an organized and pleasant method of viewing them all.

As you can probably imagine Feedly does much more than make my feeds pretty. What other features drew me to Feedly?

Shareability:

Feedly allows me to share what I’m reading directly from the site. Currently you are provided with the options of sharing via Twitter, e-mail (Gmail), FriendFeed, Facebook, Posterous, and Google Reader. You can even save articles to Evernote send it to your Ping.fm account or save it to your Instapaper account. If you don’t have any of those accounts (what rock have you been living under?) you can also save the article on Feedly allowing you to access it to read later. (I have to note here, Google has come a long way in making it easier to share content from Google Reader but that’s still not enough to bring me back)

Customization:

The infinite view customization options allows you to change the view and layout of all pages, have different views for different feeds and set a color scheme for your feeds. The preference page is packed full of options to make Feedly most productive for you. The ability to designate favorite feeds as well as which feeds appear on your homepage is yet another bonus.

All in one window:

You also have the option to view source articles in a pop up preview window allowing you to remain in Feedlyeliminating desktop or browser clutter.

One Stop shop for social network updates:

Now I know in a previous post I referred to FriendFeed as a “one-stop shop” for social network updates but with the incorporation of Twitter and FriendFeed, Feedly has taken that title. On your Feedly page you get the most updated tweets from your Twitter account as well as updates from your FriendFeed account, allowing you to not only update your status but also check out what other people are doing.

Feedly Mini:

Feedly also provides an option to add any page with an RSS feed to your account directly from the page. There are two ways of going about adding a page, you can click on the direct link in the address bar or your can use FeedlyMini. FeedlyMini is a mini toolbar which shows up on the bottom of pages (according to your preference you can have it show up on no pages, all pages with RSS feeds or only pages that have ‘interesting’ content), not only can you add a page to Feedly from it’s mini toolbar but you can also see any conversations going on that are referring to the page you are viewing, for example, if someone commented on the page in their FriendFeed or on Twitter the conversation would show up in FeedlyMini. The ability to choose the location of the mini toolbar and when it appears or not is dictated by you and your preferences.

Feedly goes where you go:

If you use multiple computers (like I do, one at home and one at work) and you have Firefox and Feedlyinstalled on both of them you can access Feedly on both computers. Also, since Feedly accesses your Google Reader account, any changes you make to Google Reader are immediately reflected in Feedly.

Why this is only a Firefox add-on I don’t know (although it does give you one more good reason to make the switch to Firefox). I currently have it set as my home page and reference it regularly throughout my day. Feedly has made it so much easier for me to share interesting articles quickly through Twitter and email (which is why, if you’re following me on Twitter, you’ve probably noticed a lot of posts with the ending of (via feedly) lately). The ease of use Feedly provides has gotten me back into utilizing feeds to stay on top of important updates. As a blogger (especially when your content is about technology) it is important to be able to stay updated throughout the day on all the news, announcements and rumors circulating, one feature I would love to see implemented in Feedly is real-time updating. While they are close (it only takes a quick press of the reload button the update your feeds) the ability to continuously leave Feedly open and have it update automatically would be priceless. Overall, if you subscribe to multiple feeds, like to read them on a daily basis and would like a change from the typical feed reader interface give Feedly a try, you won’t regret it.

How to make a website with little to no HTML or CSS knowledge – aka Geekulous Origins

Josie S. — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:14:59 +0000

I thought this post would be fitting for the unveiling of Geekulous. Over the past year, Gadget Girl Review has started and stopped, I would add a few posts here and there and then would stop for a few months, then start up again and then stop. This time I’m 3 months and 19 posts in (longer than I’ve ever been) and I’m not about to stop now. Since the Gadget Girl Review has a history of starting and stopping and because I wanted to, Gadget Girl Review has been changed to Geekulous. I wanted a name that was a little less ‘vanilla’ than Gadget Girl Review. I knew when I started this blog again that I was going to be rebranding it and building a customized website but I did not know how much time and effort would go into making the transformation from Gadget Girl Review to Geekulous.

Going into what I refer to as the “transformation” I thought all I would have to do was find a WordPresstemplate, copy it, paste it into the WP CSS editor make some tweaks and voila! But boy was I in for a big surprise. I was looking for a simple template that I could edit to make my own. Geekulous is no ordinary website so an ordinary, cookie cutter template wasn’t going to work. I consider myself to be intelligent and I usually pick things up pretty quickly but that CSS stuff was turning out to be much more difficult than I had expected. (most likely due to the fact that I wanted to do more advanced things than I knew how to do).

After a few days messing around with WordPress and becoming increasingly more frustrated with every attempted site edit, I hopped onto Google to see what kind of services/software was available to me to make this process a little easier. I found DreamWeaver, “perfect solution” I thought, I can drag and drop, copy and paste and edit the site visually then export the CSS pop it into the WP CSS editor and that would be that. “Perfect solution” I thought, until I saw the price tag ($399). My goal was to put as little money as possible into Geekulous to get it started, I certainly didn’t have an extra $399 lying around so as quickly as it was on, DreamWeaver was crossed off the list of possibilities.

After some more searching I came across RapidWeaver – what I like to refer to as a ‘DreamWeaver Lite’. RapidWeaver was great, cost much less ($79) and was much less complicated but I still found myself not liking any of the base templates to build from.

“Hmph!” I couldn’t figure out how to do what I wanted to do and was getting extremely frustrated by the whole process. I took a few days off, worked on getting ahead on some posts and let my brain marinate on how I was going to go about creating a good looking, successful site. The day after I decided to take a break from building the site, I was reminded of the new blog hosting/building site called SquareSpace (a frequent sponsor of Revision3 shows).

With a renewed excitement of the possibility of creating my dream site, off I bounded to SquareSpace with the hope of finding an easier method for creating Geekulous. I quickly took advantage of the 14 day free trial SquareSpace so generously provides interested customers. I must say, SquareSpace was definitely easier. First of all SquareSpace offers you a lot of base templates to build your website from. Once you decide on a template you can go into the editing mode and change colors, fonts, widths and every other aspect of your site to your hearts content all while watching it change live on the screen. There was no code knowledge necessary. All the changes I made were done through the dashboard which hangs out at the bottom of the screen. It took some tweaking and a little extra reading to find out exactly how to get everything looking the way I wanted but once I figured it out it was smooth sailing. Next step, tweaking the template to make something I actually wanted to show people.

After about 12 revisions, I came up with what you see here today. The goal was to be classy, sleek and feminine but not overly feminine (hence the touches of pink). Because I’ve been revising, creating destroying and starting all over again my posting has become much more sporadic. That will change with the launch of Geekulous though so check back often as I will finally be able to devote all of my energies to creating great content for you, my loyal readers.

Dear Google Voice, thanks for the Invite! (Part I)

Josie S. — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:34:06 +0000

Well on July 16th I finally received my Google Voice invite. (Ironically I received another invite to a different e-mail address the next day). As soon as that little red badge popped up on my Mail icon in the dock I was clicking on that invite link. So I’ve had a few days to play around with it (wanted to give it a good once over before reviewing it) and I must say, so far so fabulous! For those of you who haven’t received your invite yet prepare to get excited or jealous (depending on the type of person you are) because this post is going to be all about my experience signing up for Google Voice. (Part II will be a review of the features and pros and cons of Google Voice)

When you first click the invite link you are taken to a form that asks you for your area code as well as some letters and numbers (this is where you’re customization comes in) that you would like to be in your phone number. Unfortunately every combination of MsJosay was unavailable so I skipped the step and was provided with a massive list of numbers for me to choose from all with my area code. As a side note – I found it interesting that even though the numbers Google provided me were preceded by my area code, the locations (cities) listed under the number were not the city I am living in (for example the city for my phone number is Mountain View, CA – I do not live in or really near Mountain View).

After scrolling through what seemed like hundreds of phone numbers to find the right one (the right one for me was one that was easy to remember) I settled on a number and proceeded to the next screen. Which asked me to enter a forwarding number (this is the phone that will ring when someone calls your Google voice number). I entered my cell phone number and moved on to the next screen where I was informed that Google would be calling me and asking me to enter a two digit code (which was provided in the dialog box on the screen). Within about 30 seconds I received a phone call to my cell phone, entered the code and Poof! my account was verified.

Immediately I was taken to the Google Voice home screen where there was already a voicemail waiting for me from Google. How nice of them to welcome me with my first voicemail. The first thing I did was go through and adjust all of the settings to my liking. This took some time because there are an insane amount of settings and preferences you can tweak. This is nice because you can customize everything just the way you want it. Some nifty settings include:

- setting up personalized greeting messages by caller

- choosing whether or not to have Google Voice show up as the caller id when a number is forwarded to your phone (you have the option to show exactly who is calling but if you have your Google Voice number in use for business you may want to know who is calling your Google Voice number and answer accordingly).

- How you’re notified of a new voicemail message (through e-mail or SMS)

- Calling screening

The list goes on and on and on. So far I think I have my number set up the way I want it. So for those of you who are still waiting for your invite you have a lot of great features to look forward to. Stay tuned for my next post where I will review some of the key features offered by Google Voice as well as the service in general.

Did you get your invite? What do you think of Google Voice? Enjoy it? Not what you expected? Leave it in the comments!

How to Use FriendFeed as Your One Stop Shop for Social Networking

Josie S. — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:30:16 +0000

With social networking quickly becoming the most popularform of communication, people are finding themselves checking multiple websites to remain up to date on all of the goings on with their friends and family. The reigning king of social networking is Facebook but most people have at least one other social network that they belong to (i.e., Twitter, MySpace, Flickr, etc.). I am currently signed up with about 5 different social networking sites (partly because of friends who are using those sites and partly because of personal preference). Being the geek that I am, instead of waking up and reading the newspaper in the morning, I wake up and surf the net checking friend’s status updates, updating my status and reading top stories on my favorite websites. With the decline of the newspaper I’m sure I’m not the only one with this new morning ritual. But wouldn’t it be nice if you could hop on one website, see (and comment on) the updates of all of your friends across all of their social networks and yours as well as catch up on articles on your favorite sites? Enter FriendFeed. FriendFeed is a social network aggregator that allows you to do just that. It’s literally a one stop shop for social networking.

FriendFeed is a simple yet intuitive website that updates you (now in real time) on the activities of your friends across different websites. For example, if one of your friends adds a photo to their Flickr account (and you’re following them) as soon as the picture is on the site you will get an update in your FriendFeed. You can comment directly in the feed, you can share the picture, or “like” the picture. Anytime you do this it shows up in your FriendFeed which will alert your friends of what you’re doing. You can follow friend updates on Twitter,Flickr, Digg, Facebook, Google Talk, YouTube, Google Reader, the list goes on (for a total of 58 services).

When you first sign up you have the opportunity to import your networks, from that point on anytime you update one of your websites your friends who are subscribed to your feed will be notified on your feed (don’t worry you can pick and choose which networks and accounts you want to show up on your feed). After you import your sites FriendFeed helps you find your friends through your address books and contacts on various accounts (Gmail, Facebook, etc.), choose who you want to follow and voila you’re done.

“But what if my friend isn’t using FriendFeed?” you may ask. Well, first I would recommend you get them on the bandwagon and second FriendFeed has this nifty feature called the imaginary friend. If you know your friends username on the service you can follow their updates to that service by entering them into your imaginary friend list. You can also make your feed public or private (only available for friends to see). In addition to all that fun stuff you can also post directly to your Facebook and Twitter accounts from your FriendFeed. Another great feature is the ability to create rooms (private or public) where people can come together and share their thoughts, pictures and links surrounding a specific topic (Apple products for example). Oh and if you don’t have time to sit at your computer all day and watch the updates roll in FriendFeed has created a plethora of options to remain connected. First you can always hop on to FriendFeed at the end of the day and click the “Best of Day” which will give you a list of the posts that had the most comments and “likes”. If you want to be updated throughout the day FriendFeed has a new desktop notifier (which is very handy). You can also be notified through e-mail, IM, or access your FriendFeed through any feed reader. (You can also embed your feed into webpages – see (and subscribe to) my feed in the right column of this blog)

All that being said you may be asking yourself, why isn’t everybody using this product. Unfortunately I don’t have an answer for you, I have no idea why this service isn’t right up there next to Facebook. One thing I would like to see is an actual FriendFeed iPhone application, there are some alternatives and FriendFeed has a very nice mobile site but it would be nice to have a native app (maybe with push notifications?) but that’s not enough to keep me from using it. Part of my reasoning for writing this is to get the word out to people about this service. FriendFeed is an awesome tool for people who find themselves jumping from one social networking website to another. It truly is your one stop shop for social networking so go check it out!

Do you agree? Disagree? If you’re not using FF why? Leave it in the comments!

How to Manage your Social Network Passwords with 1Password

Josie S. — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 19:21:04 +0000

Starting a blog involves a lot more work than one would expect. Sure you can write a blog but to bring readers in requires reaching out. So, in an effort to promote this blog, I have recently registered for many social networking and blogging sites. Every time you sign up for a new account with a new service or website you are asked to create a password. These days with Twitter, Facebook and MySpace accounts hacked on a daily basis having a strong password (one that you do not use for all of your accounts) is absolutely necessary. I have recently been making an effort to create stronger passwords in an effort to prevent any account hacking. One of the first passwords I created was the password to my MsJosay Twitter account. Of course when I was typing in the password I thought to myself “this is a great password, I’ll never forget this one!” After creating that password I created probably 6 additional passwords for all of my new accounts.

The next morning I got to work and tried to sign in to my Twitter account and lo and behold I forgot my password. I thought I had remembered it correctly but apparently after quite a few failed attempts I realized maybe my memory wasn’t as good as I thought. Then I got the dreaded message that I have been locked out of my account due to excessive failed attempts at signing in. LOCKED OUT?! (Enter Twitter withdrawl). This got me thinking about the program I have on my computer at home – 1Password. While I was waiting to be let back in to my Twitter account I realized that 1Password is truly a lifesaver.

For those of you who don’t know, 1Password is a (Mac) program that keeps track of all of your passwords in one place. Created by Agile Web Solutions, it is a plugin for all major browsers that allows you to automatically remember passwords for all of your accounts. What sets 1Password apart from other password managers?

Take the Shortcut:

You can use a shortcut key to automatically enter your username and password attached to the website you are on. 1Password can help you generate strong passwords with their password generator. Need a password that has numbers, letters and symbols? The password generator has setting you can adjust to generate the perfect password.

Manage multiple accounts for one site:

Have multiple accounts (aka two Gmail accounts)? After hitting the shortcut key 1Password will ask you which account you would like to sign in to.

Go & Fill:

1Password also has a ‘Go & Fill’ option that allows you to choose from a list of your favorite sites (set by you). Too tired to open a browser window, enter a web address and enter your login information? 1Password can do that for you with Go & Fill, once you click on name of the site in the 1Password menu, 1Password will open the page and automatically log you in.

Wallet:

The wallet feature helps you manage multiple credit cards. 1Password keeps your credit card info stored to allow you to automatically enter your info when you’re shopping online. You can enter info for as many credit cards as you want – is your AmEx maxed out? Why not choose your Visa from your list of credit cards.

Manage your identity:

1Passwords identity manager lets you enter your real information to fill in website forms or create an alias (or two) to fill in those forms for websites that don’t need to know all of you personal information. It can remember your favorite usernames, as well as your work and home information.

Protection from Phishing Websites:

Whenever 1Password remembers your login information for a website it also remembers the web address which prevents you from unknowingly logging in to a phishing website. If the address for the website you are on does not match the address stored in 1Password it will not let you use your saved login.

Another great feature is that all of your information is stored locally on your computer (not on servers like some other password managers). All of your passwords stored on 1Password are protected by, well, one password. In order to access all of your information stored in the program you have to enter one master password. 1Password stores other important information as well, car info, social security numbers, insurance id numbers, you name it. Oh and for all you iPhone owners there is an app that allows you to have all of the power of 1Password on your iPhone. You can wirelessly sync the information from your Mac to your phone to ensure that all of your passwords are current.

I would love to say that this program is free but alas, nothing good in life is ever free. You can get the awesome functionality of this program for a price of $39.99. In my opinion, a small price to pay for convenience and security.

Do you use 1Password? What are you experiences with it? Love it? Hate it? Leave it in the comments.