• WHAT: An easy, fast way to keep up with multiple web sites' changes from your iPhone or desk
• WHY: If you checked or read as many web sites as I do every day you'd want an easier way, too
• COST: Zero

This morning I finally got around to counting - I was almost afraid of the answer - the number of web sites that I check multiple times per day. Right now the number is hovering at about 22, although it's typically a few less than that.  There are news sites, technology updates, political discussions, sites about Apple products and some forums that I'm currently following in an effort to get some answers for people who ask questions here on The Wireless Wizard - or just for my own knowledge. 

It can quickly become an onerous task and especially burdensome if you don't have a way to do it when you're away from your desk.  There's a feature most web sites have - including this one - that I've discussed here before called "RSS" (stands for Really Simple Syndication).  If you've ever noticed the little orange square with the radio-wave looking lines in it (the box is blue in Firefox) in the address line of your browser and wondered what it is, that's it - it's an indicator that that particular site provides what's called an "RSS feed."  These feeds automatically update your RSS "reader" with only new content, allowing you to quickly check and see if there's anything that's changed or been added since the last time you checked. 

This is vastly easier to do than crusing through a bunch of tabs or windows and looking at each site, thinking, "Did I see that article the last time I checked?"  The only thing missing has been a mobile component that allows you to do this while you're away from your desk (or laptop) with speed, ease of use and great functionality.  I've experimented with a few different "RSS readers" for the iPhone before coming upon the one that I now use daily (sometimes hourly) to quickly check on all of these sites for updates. 

There are plenty of RSS reader applications that you can get for your desktop - Mac or PC - that will allow you to do this site-checking process quickly and efficiently.  However, the lack of synchronization between that desktop application and what you carry when you're outside of your office - whether it's an iPhone, Blackberry or laptop - makes it useless.  You might be able to check everything on your desktop computer but then when you're out you won't know which sites have been checked and what's new on each of them. 

So, the only real solution here was a web-based RSS reader.  Web-based products - also becoming known as "software as service" can best be illustrated by the things that people are already familiar with: email.  Anyone who uses AOL, Yahoo, Hotmail, MobileMe or one of the many other web-based mail services already know how convenient it is to be able to check your mail from anywhere and have the same information; what's been read, what's new, what's been replied to, etc.  I decided to check, then, for a web-based RSS reader that also had a mobile component that would allow me to carry this process outside of my office.  

After lots of research I found two that met the criteria and tried them both extensively for a couple of weeks.  One, NetNewsWire, failed miserably for more reasons than even this blog post has room for.  It was inconsistent, quirky and didn't sync up properly between the mobile and desktop version.  I could go on for a while but that was enough in my mind to disqualify it.  The other, Google Reader, has been a delight to use simply because it does exactly what it's supposed to do exactly the way it's supposed to do it - quickly, efficiently, accurately and without a lot of fuss. 

The first step in getting Google Reader working on your iPhone, though, is to get it working on your desktop browser.  It's a simple process, especially if you've already got a Gmail or other Google account.  The "Reader" application is ready to go - you only need to click it and set it up by adding "feeds" (I'll get to that in a minute).  If you don't have an account, get one - they're free and provide you with a host of great applications through Google including Gmail, web searching history, a personalized page that beats Yahoo's or AOL's, stock portfolio, personalized news, etc. 

Once you have an account click on the link at the top of the Google page (after you've logged in) that says "Reader."  This will take you to a page that will look pretty foreign at first (although there are striking similarities to the Gmail page) but once you add a couple of feeds you'll quickly come to love its clear, customizable and fast-loading format. 

Now that you've got an account, logged into the Google site using your personalized information and gone to the "Reader" page you'll want to start adding feeds.  This is an incredibly easy process and just requires a step or two.  You can just type in the name of the site you think might have an RSS feed into the Google box that appears when you click "Add Subscription" and Google will present a list of possible sites.  Pick the one you want and click it.  Or, you can "Discover" sites about your area of choice by simply using the "Discover" link and typing in whatever you're interested in.  It might take you a minute to get the hang of it but I promise, you will.  Almost every site has an RSS feed - as does this one.  You can simply copy the following line into the Google RSS Reader and you'll be subscribed to the feed from this site:

http://www.thewirelesswizard.com/tips-tricks-shortcuts/rss.xml

Here's the magic part, though.  Once you get all of your feeds set up on the Google Reader page you simply access the Google Reader app from the Safari on your mobile device - just enter this:

http://www.google.com/reader/i/

… and you'll be into the reader application.  The first time you run it you'll have to enter your user ID (in this case, your GMail address) and your password.  This will bring a beautiful, clear, easy to tap on page that will show you exactly what the web-based application is showing you - all in complete sync and all with almost identical features.  This is the way a mobile version of a desktop application should work. 

Based on my estimation it's only about 1% of people that visit a web site subscribe to the RSS feed.  Frankly, I'm mystified.  With RSS feeds you avoid the ads, the head-scratching over whether you've seen or read something before and the slow loading of a graphics-intensive site. 

Now that I'm an RSS Reader user I'll never go back to reading web sites in the traditional fashion.  I might even add a few sites to my morning collection. 

Update on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 at 02:50PM by The Wireless Wizard

One thing that just occurred to me after going through a bunch of changes to my Google Reader account is that it would be very, very helpful to have a count indicator similar to the one that appears for email or missed phone calls.  Sometimes I load up the Reader just to see if there are any unread articles and there aren't.  That's a waste of time and is, in my opinion, a bad thing.  Maybe not evil, but bad.  And isn't Google's motto not to be bad?  Oh, wait, it's "Don't be evil."  Well, they could fix it anyway.