Something [a little] Useful
I am a self-confessed news-junkie, consistently fascinated by what’s going-on around the globe. So with the rise of RSS news feeds this seems like an ideal panacea for my kind of addiction however I was unable to find the sort of thing I was looking for. Yes there’s Google desktop and Yahoo widgets but most of the feed-readers were ugly, fixed dimensions or only allowed one feed/a specific feed. Yes the newer browsers support RSS but I have to go and look at each feed, I want something that tells me that something is happening without lifting a finger. Vista includes a cute gadget for this but for those of us who don’t need/want/can’t afford vista there are few options.
So being of a generation raised on Blue Peter projects I thought, “I’ll make one myself”.
So I did. Project page here - hope you find it useful.
Gosh, that’s clever! I’m a news junkie too and used to have Guardian Newspoint but it was so slow loading it stopped everything else working! If I can work out the technology [which I doubt] I’ll have a go at this.
that’s really quite brilliant of you.
I’ve done my best to make it super-simple and maintenance-free, if you have any problems just pop a message into the support forum. Hope you like it.
Don’t you love word verification? Peace. Indeed.
As one of those people who have Vista yet do not know what you are talking about, please expand. Blame James Higham (or whichsoever Lord he istoday!).
STB.
ps For those who do not know Vista is the first OS I will praise MS for; it’s thought through, if it is over-engineered it is not apparent and it basically relies upon on what was known as windows explorer, the one thing I always taught people to use first.
Where are you from, is the reference to Rome? I have heard of a good deal towards the latter part of the year but as far as I know only in the UK.
STB.
Hi Scot,
Vista has a lot going for it but it is expensive if you intend to upgrade rather than buy a new computer and it doesn’t offer a great deal of extra functionality over Xp. Though I’ll admit that it is very pretty. My main objection is its DRM features, admittedly this would not affect all users but I am greatly concerned that these control features are built into the OS with a view to modifying your hardware capability or software interoperability if it decides you are in breech. I don’t think that’s the job of an OS purveyor at I’m concerned where this is leading.
I’m a Londoner.
First, I think it was in The Register that I read that Carphone Warehouse are rumoured to have a deal with Dell to offer a 2 year contract for phone, broadband and possibly tv @ £20 per month with the inclusion of a voucher for an Inspiron (upgrade if you choose to pay the difference). Not everyone’s choice of computer but having used one prior to this (Compaq) the only thing I did not like about it was the rather heavy keyboard but that’s a matter of taste. Including Vista - sorry I don’t have the reference.
From the same site: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/14/aacs_hack/
I know it is not the answer to your concerns about heavy handed limitations of use (and the more sinister direction that could lead) however, in purely business terms, the above can be seen as the obvious market response.
I agree the cost of upgrade is ridiculous (and I would recommend you need a gig of memory for it to work smoothly) so a new computer makes sense but the cost cannot be justified by everyone. It just so happened that, for once, I had enough spare cash to buy new - the last time that happened the OS came on floppy discs!
To my original point: you say ‘Vista includes a cute gadget for this’. Are you referring to the news feed?
STB
Indeed I’m referring to the Vista sidebar RSS news feed gadget. My little tool is similar but works on earlier windows versions, works in a slightly different way (how I thought it would be more useful) and requires fewer resources from your computer. Mine is more focused towards rapidly changing news services rather than browsing you entire feed library.
First visit, very much enjoyed the blog. Will include your fine RSS feed widget on mine when i get a mo’.
Thanks for the BlogPower link!
…I want something that tells me that something is happening without lifting a finger…
You’ve sure got it bad there.
Indeed, I don’t need a news feed to tell me what’s going on at the moment. I can just look out of my window.
Great to hear from you Tony. No problem.
Thanks for that. I have installed it and am using it periodically. Very nice the way it is unobtrusive and doesn’t dominate. Highly recommended.