If you Blog or Livejournal do this NOW...

...or don't, and see if I care.

Whether you use Windows, Mac OS X, or some variety of Linux, (or all three, like I do) chances are you already knew how much Mozilla Firefox kicks ass. It's fast and compact, has a small but well thought-out list of features, yada, yada, yada... But one of the best things about it is the community of extension authors that allow you to selectively add features you might want or miss. They have a little bit of everything, from image widgets to features that allow you to hide any element from a web page that you're viewing. (For example, you could "nuke" an annoying seizure-inducing banner ad.) But the feature we're interested in is called Sage.

Sage is a small, streamlined RSS and ATOM newsfeed reader. (Most of you already know what that means, but for those who don't, think of newsfeed as a special text version of your blog that Blogger and Livejournal automatically make available. With the right program or service, you can be instantly notified if a site updates. "You've got Blog!" You can also browse, blogs and other sites by headline or article this way.)

Once installed Sage hides in Firefox ever so quietly until you launch it from the Tools menu. Then it opens a sidebar with your RSS feeds, which are managed in a special folder in your bookmarks menu. You can open an RSS or ATOM feed right in the URL field to a regular window, (which will look like the XML or ATOM code) then bookmark the address to that folder. Renew the link from Sage and Voila! Instant headlines. (Quick tip for Livejournal users, just add "/rss" to any public Livejournal page to covert it to it's RSS equivalent. For instructions on how to do the same for "friends only" pages, go here.)

I love this, as I don't have time to get sucked into LiveJournal the way some of my friends have, but I do want to read their journals when they update. But with this set up, I can have a set of icons sitting in the sidebar of my browser, checking pages for updates (as little or as often as I want) and letting me know if I should look at someones blog, or read an article from Slashdot. I'm really busy during the week, so I love this feature. Until I figured this setup was possible, I just didn't get that excited about newsfeeds, but now I'm looking for a good one for my Palm Tungsten T3 so I can check for updates over bluetooth from the couch.

So, if you haven't downloaded Firefox, check it out. (Hell, while you're at it... Thunderbird is a kick-ass email client without the vulnerabilities of Outlook Express.) If you already use Firefox or Mozilla 1.7 and you don't have a newsfeed routine worked out, give Sage a try and see if you like it. Happy surfing!

(BTW, if you're looking for a free and legal way to open and author Word and Excel files, check out 602PC Suite. You'll be glad you did.)