Google Reader

With your Google account, you now have access to many different applications. One of my favorite Google apps is called Google Reader. Google Reader allows you to subscribe to all of the blogs and feeds that you enjoy following. You can login from anywhere to Google, access Reader and there is your information. You don't have to bookmark pages or have your favorite ones automatically load as tabs when you open your browser or anything like that. When I learned about Google Reader, my "home" tabs for my browser went from about 10 to 4.

So, here's how it works.

1. Login to your google account from wherever. (e.g. http://gmail.cameron.edu or http://docs.cameron.edu)

2. You can get to Google Reader by entering the url directly: http://reader.google.com or by clicking on "More" at the top left of the screen, and selecting "Even more."

These are a list of all the applications to which you can connect with your Google account. Scroll down to the Social category and click on "Reader."

3. If you're accessing Reader for the first time, you may want to glance through the default items that help you get started with Reader.

4. To get your own subscriptions started, it's easy. Just click on the "Add a subscription" button, put in the url of the blog you want to follow and click the "Add" button. Here are two I'm sure you want to add first:

http://doyouknow.cameron.edu (that's what you're reading!)
http://aggiecentral.cameron.edu (Cameron news and tv)

5. As you scroll through the entries, Google Reader automatically marks them as read. The next time you bring up Reader, it will mark in bold the sites that have unread entries. Click on the blog you want to read and start reading.

Next time, I'll share how this application can also help you do research papers using its notes feature!