I like to stay somehow connected to some websites, like ASP.NET official web site, Scott Gu’s and Scott Hanselman’s web sites and a few more others. Until a few days ago I was using my favorite RSS feed reader (the one included in Microsoft Outlook 2010, which is always opened on my desktop) to keep up with the latest updated on these sites.
This turned out to be a bad idea, because every time a site updates its RSS feed, I’m looking at that site’s article and thus resulting in a lose of focus and also in a lot of distraction. When you work this is not the best idea, right?
In the image above you may see a screenshot of my pipes on Yahoo! Pipes.
I am using 5 Fetch Feed modules because one module can fetch up to 10 RSS feeds. Also I have a BabelFish module, inside another pipe, which helps me convert the content of a German RSS feed into English, so that I can read it. All these pipes are united into one using two Union modules, due to the large number of Fetch Feed modules.
The Tools
FeedMyInbox
I searched for a web site that can deliver me the RSS feed updates, for that day, in my inbox, something like a newsletter. Thus I found a nice service called FeedMyInbox. This site allows subscribers have their RSS feeds delivered as e-mails once a day, in real time, or at a selected update interval. What a great idea! Now all I have to do is try to add my feeds in here and have them delivered daily. FeedMyInbox offers four plans, the last one being free, with only 5 subscribed feeds. The other three are 25 feeds subscription, for $5/month, 75 feeds for $10/month or unlimited feeds for $16/month. Apparently a good deal, but what if you have a lot of feeds and sometimes you need to control the content of these feeds?Yahoo! Pipes
Yahoo! Pipes lets you combine, filter, select using rules, split or do almost anything with RSS feeds or site content of your choise. If you have a Yahoo! account (if you don’t, get one here) just sign in and start creating your pipes.
In the image above you may see a screenshot of my pipes on Yahoo! Pipes.
I am using 5 Fetch Feed modules because one module can fetch up to 10 RSS feeds. Also I have a BabelFish module, inside another pipe, which helps me convert the content of a German RSS feed into English, so that I can read it. All these pipes are united into one using two Union modules, due to the large number of Fetch Feed modules.
The output is a large number of articles fetched from all the RSS feeds added and one feed translated from German into English. What a great tool!
On YouTube you may see the following video on how to use Pipes with filters. Yahoo! Pipes is a great way of getting only what you want from the web.
Yahoo! Pipes
My Personal Newsletter
Now I have my own newsletter delivered into my inbox, for free, only from the sources I want. All I need to do now is either add the resulted feed in my RSS feed reader or use the free subscription from FeedMyInbox and have my feeds delivered once a day. I chose the latter because this way I can now concentrate on my work and read the feeds when I want or when I have time, having them stack up if I don’t have the time to read them one or two days in a row, but I don’t want to miss anything. To add your RSS feed to FeedMyInbox, just copy the long URL of your feed from Yahoo! Pipes and paste it into FeedMyInbox. Type your favorite e-mail address, where you want your feeds delivered and that’s all. Now enjoy your own newsletter delivered into your inbox from sources you want. All the best,
