Cool Free Blog and OSX Addons

So, if you're reading this on my blogspot page, you'll be able to see the little orange XML (with Feedburner) icon on the left. Feedburner is a free service that turns any feed (such as Blogger's default site feed (atom.xml)) into something more cross-platform compatible. It lets you see some simple stats on your feed's usage and use cute little icons like this one.

You'll also see a link to my del.icio.us account. Del.icio.us is free service that lets you collect and organise bookmarks. My list is fairly short at the moment, mainly because I haven't decided whether to use it for my own use (thus, put everything in there, with very few notes) or as a recommendation list for you guys (thus, put cool things in there and annotate them). My new del.icio.us links are also part of my Feedburner feed.

I'll be getting a Flickr account shortly for hosting photos.

I'm using NewsGator free online RSS Reader to organise the feeds I read. It's working okay, but the interface is a bit clunky. I'm using SharpReader at work, and I do really like that interface. Please let me know if you've found Reader software on OSX that doesn't suck.

Which neatly segues into: QuickSilver. This is a tiny, one-use program that Rocks Beyond Telling. It's activated by Ctrl-Space and then you just type some or all of the letters in the item that you want to use, hit return for the default option, or right arrow to get a list of other actions. The power is in the range of "items" that it automatically locates. This list includes all the programs you have installed. So, if I want to launch something obscure like my ADSL software, I can do it with four keystrokes - much faster than navigating with the mouse. It also lists all your bookmarks. And it remembers which items you use (and how you got there), and guesses these first. Hide Others (which I use often, and which is often not accessible through a keyboard command) is now only Ctrl-Space H I in every single application. QuickSilver is almost invisible software, and I adore it.

My other cool tiny app d'jour is Notational Velocity. All it does is take notes, but the interface is so minimal and tiny that it's a pleasure to use. Again, mouse-free operation means that it's incredibly fast to use. Notes are encrypted and saved automatically. I'm using it to track to-do lists like downloading episodes out of sequence.