So, I’m redacting my post on FastDial (ok, not redacting, but upgrading; we still like FastDial). But, for my habits, I’ve realized that this Firefox plug-in is much more perfecter.
All it is is an RSS feed gatherer and reader. You just add the Live Bookmark (or whatever) of the site that you want, and Brief will check those feeds as often as you tell it to. Translation? You can know when someone’s updated a site (a blag, webcomic, what have you) without ever checking (and experiencing that let-down feeling when nothing’s changed since last time)!
For example:`
J-Dizzle likes to stay on top of her webcomics (LFG, OOTS, xkcd, Goblins), her funny blags (PesuP, Perez Hilton, FAIL), and her family’s blags. All together, she has about 20 sites that she regularly checks at least every other day, usually in the morning before work and after dinner (but sometimes she sneaks in a read during lunch).
She gets Brief and adds her sites’ RSS feeds. Because of her surfing schedule, J-Dizzle sets Brief to update every 6 hours. Now, whenever she wants to know what’s the latest, she just opens Firefox, clicks on her Brief window, and has all of her updates in one place! Eeeeexcellent.
(A little involved for an explanation of a simple RSS reader, but a fun narrative, no?)
I’m not even going to bother with screenshots, because the simplicity and elegance wouldn’t translate well.
I know what you’re thinking. “I surf the web to waste time. Isn’t doing it faster a little counter-productive?”
As the great SOTM would say, “It’s not enough to waste time; you have to waste time efficiently“