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.

1.  Expose: Expose is not a new feature but it is definitely a very useful feature.  How many times have you found yourself with a bunch of windows open on your desktop and looking for one specific window?  Well, for me, that happens a lot, enter Expose.  This nifty little feature allows you to quickly view all of your open windows on your desktop at the same time.  There are a few ways of activating Expose, you can set a hot corner (see below) to activate it or you can just use the dedicated expose key on your MacBook Pro (near the function keys), if you’re a keyboard person, you can always set your computer to activate expose when pressing specified keys at the same time. Once you’ve used Expose to find your missing window, all you have to do is click on the window you want and it will magically bring it to the front.  This is by far one of my most used features on my Mac and it will be yours too if you like to have lots of windows open simultaneously.

2.  Hot Corners:

Most Mac users are aware of the “hot corners” feature however most users I know hardly ever use it.  Hot corners refers to setting the computer to do a specific action when the mouse cursor is moved to a corner of the screen.  For example, if you want to start your screen saver or put your computer to sleep you can just move your cursor to the designated corner.  You can set these hot corners to do a number of actions.  For example, I have my hot corners set up as follows:

Upper Left corner - show all spaces (all spaces you have set up are displayed in expose)

Upper Right corner – show all windows (shows all open and minimized windows in expose)

Lower Right corner - show desktop (pushes all windows to the corners to create a clean desktop)

Lower Left Corner - Dashboard (brings up the dashboard)

Some might argue, “there are keyboard shortcuts I can use, why would I want to set up hot corners?”  and yes, if you’re a keyboard shortcut person then hot corners may not be as useful for you but I’m a trackpad user myself so when scrolling around and controlling my computer it’s faster for me to move the cursor into a corner than to find specific keys on the keyboard to press.

3.  Spaces:

Much like hot corners and expose, Spaces gets used a lot on my computer.  Being a full time grad student, working full time and being Founder and Editor in Chief of Geekulous requires me to use multiple applications simultaneously.  I’m also a bit of a neat freak, so you can imagine when I have multiple application windows open at once, I don’t like them cluttering up my desktop. Spaces allows me to feed my insatiable need for neatness, essentially it allows me to have multiple desktops.  In the system preferences pane you can designate as many spaces as you like.  Consider each ‘space’ as a new desktop.  Typically I like to have specific apps open on each space.  For example, I have a blogging space that has all of my blogging software and websites open.  On another space I may have all of my media applications open.  To jump between spaces all I have to do is hit a few keys (I have mine set to Command + the space #).  Another nice feature of Spaces is that you can designate specific apps to open in specific spaces, for example if I have one of my spaces designated as a media space I may set all of my media applications (iTunes, VLC, Quicktime, FinalCut, etc.) to open within that space.  Once set up, if I open Tunes I’ll be taken to my media space and iTunes will open.  Spaces, it’s a beautiful thing, check it out.

4.  Timed Sleep:

I am an internet addict, I love getting lost on the web, jumping from site to site, and discovering new content.  As you all know (since you’ve found this site through web browsing) getting on the internet can make time fly, you get on the computer at 1:00pm and 3 hours later you’re still on the computer looking at sites.  My computer is the last thing I see when I go to sleep and the first thing I see when I wake up.  My usual morning ritual includes waking up to my iPhone, waking up my computer, checking email and reading the lates
t headlines in my feed aggregator (Feedly).  Naturally, curled up in my warm bed, just waking up and surfing the net is more appealing than getting ready for work and oftentimes I find myself spending entirely too much time on the computer in the morning.  Enter – the timed sleep function.  Mac’s have this nifty little feature hidden in the power settings in system preferences.  You can set you computer to go to sleep at a specific time.  A perfect way for me to force myself out off the computer and out of bed.  I have my computer is set to go to sleep 20 minutes after I wake up (for example, I usually wake up at 6:00, my computer is set to go to sleep at 6:20) and voila! I have mastered morning procrastination!

5.  Spotlight:

Have you ever found yourself forgetting where you saved that important document, searching through all of your folders?  What about trying to look for a document with a forgotten file name?  Well then Spotlight is the feature for you.  There’s a little magnifying glass in the upper right corner of all macs that can help you find what you’re looking for.  Click on that magnifying glass (or press Command+Space) and enter the file name or portion of the document you’re looking for.  Spotlight will search your entire computer for files, webpages or applications with similar names or content.  Not only does Spotlight help you find lost files, it will also define a word for you (enter the word in spotlight and you’ll receive a definition from the built in dictionary), and help you find and open an application quickly.  For example, I use spotlight frequently to open my Keychain app.  I just press command+space, and enter ‘ke’, press enter and my keychain comes up.  Simple as pie!

6.  Quicklook:

Along the same lines as Spotlight, quicklook allows you to preview a file before opening it.  Quicklook can come in handy when you’re searching for a file but don’t want to waste your time opening multiple windows.  Have multiple versions of a paper you’re working on?  No problem, all you have to do is highlight the file and press space, the Quicklook window will pop up, you can scroll through the entire document and even make it full screen.  It gets better, Quicklook isn’t just for documents, it’s for all file types, meaning if you want to preview that picture before you launch iPhoto, watch that movie before you launch iTunes go ahead, just highlight the file name in your finder and press the space bar and voila! You’re getting a quick look at the file.  This feature can really cut your work time down if you know how to use it, and now you do so go ahead, try it!

So there you have it, 6 simple but extremely useful built in features that will help increase your productivity.  What are your favorite built in features?  Let us know in the comments.