Google Reader and Other Adventures in Cyberspace

So if you're like me, keeping up with people's blogs can be tough to remember. I may be the only person in the stone age of just typing in various URLs as they come to mind, but all of that has changed recently. Thanks to my good friend Ben, the Google evangelist, I have found the wonder that is Google Reader.

If you are one of those people who is a little behind the curve when it comes to cool new e-gadgets, you may be asking, "What the heck is Google Reader?" If you are already with the program, skip ahead to the next paragraph. Google Reader allows you to view the new posts on several blogs, news sources, etc. simultaneously in one window. It describes itself as being like an email inbox for the webpages you frequent. All you have to do (after logging in with your Google account username and password) is click "Add Subscription" and type in the URLs of your favorite blogs and news sources (I have been told these are RSS feeds, but honestly I don't know what the crap that means yet). You now have access to all of your favorite updated web content in one convenient place.

My next internet-related revelation came via a blog to which I have been recently introduced - CashMoneyJesus. The blog is interesting as a whole because it evaluates issues of faith and money. These are questions that bear asking loudly and often. Most recently, it has introduced me to the wonders of AdBlock Plus. This add-on for Mozilla Firefox (if you are still using Internet Explorer, come to the light) blocks the downloading of advertising material in many webpages. It's great. For example, when I recently visited www.nytimes.com, my ABP showed that it was blocking 27 of 97 items on the page. That's more than 1/4 of the webpage that was advertisements! Yuck.

Well, that's all the enlightenment I have to offer for now. Hopefully some of you (whoever you are) will find this stuff helpful as I have. Have a good day and Godspeed as you embark on your own Adventures in Cyberspace.