Have you tried Google Reader? Well, I have been using it for a few weeks now, and I must say it’s very enjoyable to log-in to my Google account and have all my RSS updates in one place.

I never tried it before because it was yet another account I’d need to use, but it has become very handy. Now with all my blog friends updates in one place I can skim threw all their automatic updates in short order.

What is RSS?

From Wikipedia: RSS is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works-such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video-in a standardized format. An RSS document (which is called a “feed”) includes full or summarized text, plus metadata such as publishing dates and authorship. Web feeds benefit publishers by letting them syndicate content automatically. They benefit readers who want to subscribe to timely updates from favored websites or to aggregate feeds from many sites into one place.

There are other RSS Aggregators around, like Mac Mail, at least on OS X 10.5 you can subscribe to RSS feeds right from Mac Mail and not have to worry, the new RSS updates get sent to your “Mail box” as if they where mail messages… But since I’m still running OS X 10.4, I don’t have this luxury.

In any case, I thought I’d make a quick post today about Google Reader, if you have not tried it… give it a shot, it’s free! Simply signup for a Google Account… and then activate the Reader function.

Now if only Google Reader would actually READ to you, that would be cool!

Don’t forget to support this site as well, you can Subscribe to our RSS Feed or if you prefer to listen to my posts you can Subscribe via iTunes… (Our Podcast’s are brought to you by the great service over at Odiogo.com.)

As you can see from some new buttons, I’m now using the Odiogo service. I found them after visiting a fellow disabled bloggers web site over at “A Life Without Limits“… Debbie.

Debbie, uses many assistive technologies to help her in daily life, one being Speech Recognition software on her computer to control it, and among other things type (say) her blog posts. The program she uses is called Dragon Naturally Speaking. Dragon’ has been around for many years and I have used it myself in the past. In fact, many doctors and lawyers use this very same program to dictate their notes.

It’s not cheap, but YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR… You can learn more about Dragon Naturally Speaking from their web site at http://www.nuance.com

But any way… What caught my eye on Debbie’s site was Odiogo. It’s a FREE service to bloggers to convert your text posts to speech podcasts, so people can LISTEN to your blog, and not have to read it.

I think this is great for us folks who cannot see to well or for people that may be dyslexic. In fact I know of at least one person who checks this blog who is dyslexic, and I think could greatly benefit from this service.

To find out more about Odiogo (short for Audio to Go) visit Odiogo.com. Again it is FREE, so what do you have to loose?

To use Odiogo on this blog or others, simply click the “Listen Now” button at the top of each post… Or you can use our Odiogo Feed to subscribe to our now podcast posts via iTunes or any of your favorite other services. Though Odiogo is free, for bloggers to use it, you still must submit your feeds to have them converted. See the Odiogo site for more information.

Well as I visit Apple’s web site, today I see they’ve made some new additions. Most notably High-quality, DRM-free music to iTunes, AND at different price points. How ever I must admit, I’ve never bought music from the iTunes Store, most of my music is digitalized from my own CD’s I have on hand.

But with DRM Free MP3’s it’s possible to copy your songs now to any system, any iPod, any CD, you buy it YOU own it, with no restrictions. As it should be. So now I may decide to get some stuff; who knows?

“Now, you can choose from millions of iTunes Plus songs from all four major music labels and thousands of independents. With iTunes Plus, you get high-quality, 256-Kbps AAC encoding. All free of burn limits and digital rights management (DRM).” ~ Apple

iWork and iLife have also been updated. I don’t really care. I’ve never used either program. Though if I ever do get into Pod Casting or Audio Blogging, it’s a thought.

The biggest news that makes me VERY HAPPY… Is the release of the new Apple MacBook Pro 17″. It has a new faster CPU, can use up to 8GB of RAM (though very costly from Apple!, I suggest like others you buy 3rd party RAM from Crucial.com), – but most of all it’s 17″ AND Apple seems to have listened to the FLOOD of complaints to bring back an Anti-glair screen choice! This is what will sell me on the MBP 17″!

Apple MacBook Pro 17" Laptop

A few months back I did try the new MBP 15″ with glossy screen, despite the thoughts of me being able to possibly use a 15″ screen the glair from the very shiny very reflective glossy screen was a real pain. I much prefer matt screen, my 23″ Apple HD Display is matt and I have really gotten use to it. Reflections are minimal to almost none, and working with photos is easy. My 23″ is a hardware calibrated monitor set up for photography.

Among other things the new MBP 17″ now has the large glass 1-button track pad with “Multi Touch” (very cool)… and a very improved 8-hour (according to Apple) battery life. That is VERY impressive.

Though, I’m a little worried simply because the new battery is built into the system and is not user replaceable like other laptops. By doing this Apple could make it bigger, but you now have to go to Apple to get it replaced. But on the flip side, they say it should last for 1000 charges and about 5 years. You can watch the Apple Battery Video for a better understanding.

In all I must say I am impressed. I’ll have to head to the local Apple Store and check it out (in about a month or so when they come in). I think a laptop could be very useful for my photography, and I hope my upcoming travel. After all, getting out in the world is something this blog is about!