Software Tools

This is the first in a series of articles on our favorite software tools – things we use almost every day. Most are inexpensive or free, and lightweight cloud-based solutions.

Feedly

iPad, iPhone, and web browser www.feedly.com cost: free

Let’s start the series with something I use every single day. I read a lot of blogs and news, from a variety of sources, and have tried many systems and tool to help. For a long time, I used Google Reader, until it was discontinued. Now, I am hooked on Feedly.

Each morning I start the day with a cup of coffee and an iPad. I scan a few news apps, like USA Today and BBC, and then open Feedly. Starting with local news, I try to get through as many sources as I can. When done, I mark everything as read, so the following day only new articles are shown.

When I encounter really interesting articles, I flag them as “save for later”. Feedly will keep a list of these ‘bookmarked’ stories. At some point during the week I typically open Feedly from my Mac, and scan the saved articles – usually things I want to follow up on.
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