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!

Google Pack Available Internationally... well almost.

I was very pleased to see that Google has made referrals for their Google Pack software suite available to international publishers, at least according to their latest e-mail:

After analyzing your site, our team concluded that you'd be a good match to try a new feature called AdSense referrals for Google Pack. Referrals will enable you to generate additional revenue from your site by referring visitors to download Google Pack. When a user you've referred downloads and runs the product for the first time, you'll earn up to US$2.

After logging into my Adsense account I was extremely disappointed to discover that the Google Pack was not provided as an option under the referral tab. I cleared my cache, refreshed the page and even tried a different browser, thinking that the problem was at my end. Alas the Google pack referral remained unavailable.

When all else fails it's time to go directly to the source. I e-mailed Adsense support and it would appear that Google Pack referrals are available to international publishers, but on a limited basis.

Thanks for your email. While it's true that we've begun a limited release of the Google Pack referrals to international publishers it isn't currently available to all of our publishers. We hope to expand the list of referral products offered worldwide soon and appreciate your patience
in the meantime.

The Google Pack is an excellent collection of "must have" software for all PC users so I would jump at the opportunity to be able to refer my site visitors (generating revenue being an added bonus). I guess I will have to be patient and wait until it does indeed become available internationally to all publishers.

A word to Adsense though... Don't make misleading statements like "Google Pack available internationally", when it is only available for some countries during your limited release. Also ensure that you only let publishers know about new features when they can actually make use of it!