Google Reader - A definite must

When Google first introduced the Google Reader I tried it for all of ten minutes and never gave it another thought. It just didn't offer me anything that I needed or made life any easier. The newest version, however, is a whole other story - I'm totally hooked and won't be using anything else.

Now for those of you that don't know what I'm on about, no Google hasn't introduced a new application that reads books to you. The Google Reader is an RSS feed reader that allows you to subscribe to RSS feeds from various sites to keep up to date with any changes to those sites.

Now any self-respecting Webmaster would know that keeping up with the latest industry news and news related to your site content is a must. If you really want to be in the know you will have lots of sites you'll have to check on a regular basis to ensure that you aren't missing a big scoop. Google Reader makes this a breeze.

The new interface resembles GMail very closely, but it's no wonder since Google labels Google Reader as "your inbox to the web". Adding a subscription/feed is extremely easy. You can either search for keywords related to the feed, and select it from a list or you can input the URL of the feed directly. You can then create different folders to sort your feeds into categories - very helpful if you need to keep an eye on various industries.

Once you have everything set up to your likeing you can start reading your feeds. The Reader shows any unread feeds and automatically marks them as read once you have read them. You can choose between two interfaces, "Expanded view" and "List view". The "list view" looks similar to the GMail interface while I prefer the "expanded view" that shows all the items from a certain feed. Each time you visit Google Reader it shows you a page with the newest additions.

Google Reader comes highly recommended. If you haven't done so already go give it a try. It is a definite must!