Google Reader

For many blog and news enthusiasts, going to each and every blog or news site can take hours of your time depending upon the number of blogs they frequent. For me, I monitor hundreds of feeds with over 1,000 new posts DAILY as part of what I do for my clients and for myself. So, I need a feed reader that I can use online (obviously) and allows me to mark certain posts of feed items for follow-up.

Google Reader is my salvation in this area. Not only can I organize feeds into folders to keep my projects organized, but I can view all the new posts for an entire folder. Using their “star” system that is functionally similar to what they provide in GMail, I can easily mark a news item for follow up. It also sorts the starred items into a “starred items” folder so I can read through them all (old or new) at a moments notice.

In addition, I can switch back and forth between a list view and detail view for each feed item and they offer support for importing and exporting OPML feeds so you can import to and from other services (which I do… more on that later). And with the integration into the overall Google services, I can access Google Reader with the click of a button from GMail.

Finally, the newest feature (which I find the most helpful) is the new “offline” feature which makes use of the new Google Gears (consequently another one of my favorite online services) to download the data from the feeds so you can read through it offline.

Google Reader helps organize my life and get access to the news and information that I need with a minimum of fuss.

Aside from actual coding and design, about 90% of what I do on a daily basis is online. I keep my to-do list online, my calendar, Blog (obviously), bookmarks, and so much more online. My life is online and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love managing it all online and technology is making it easier to manage that life on and off the WiFi. So I’ve put together a series of posts designed to show some of the online services that get my vote when it comes to the best online services. Today, I’ll be starting off with a lesser known but still great service that has changed how I schedule my day:

Google Calendar

I’ll admit, when GMail first came on the scene several years ago, I was enamored. Not only could I organize my email in a logical pattern, but the spam filters were second to none. When Google integrated their Calendar app, I was all the more happier. Google Calendar is a well thought out Ajax enabled calendar app that provides not only private calendars, but public calendar sharing and subscription to shared calendars. In fact, in addition to managing my own schedule on Google Calendars, I also have been able to search a list of public calendars and import them into my own. As you can imagine, I’ve already included the schedule for the Colts season in addition to sharing a calendar with my wife.

Google Calendars also has the ability to import events (although there really is no mass import feature) and provides private and public calendar URLs that you can use to embed in other web services (more on how I do that later)

Adding events to the calendar is very similar in function to that of a desktop app with one click event adding and drag and drop functionality. The feature that I like the best is the email alert a few minutes prior to the event to remind me. Some of the online calendars that I looked at in the past wouldn’t email you or provide any alert to remind. I must have the email alert and Google provides.

Basic service? Yes. But with the integration with GMail, the well designed UI and the ease of use, I am hooked.

The Holiday Bridal Show has returned. For those of you who remember the previous site I designed for them, this is taking it to an all new level. Sporting a new design and a sprinkling of AJAX throughout, the new HBS site has a more integrated feel. While the site is only available as a “first preview” beta to previous participants, I’ve included a small screenshot of the new design below.

I joked with my wife while designing this one that I had to get ‘in the mood’. So for days at a time, I could be found listening to Nat King Cole and Amy Grant Christmas Classics. Oh, what I do to create the perfect site!

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