Tekk Spexx # 3 – Organize and streamline your information input with RSS feeds in 2024
Happy new year! Good resolutions for the new year, still? Have you ever wondered, where the good old days went, when you could screen your daily news headlines and website bookmark feeds, with the glimpse of an eye, like you would, when checking your e-mails for new messages, updated instantly, daily, instead of opening dozens of tabs, for different news websites, in the web browser of your choice? Well, they never went away, really, since Go*g*le killed its G*gg*l* RSS Reader! You may have been satisfied with less and more time consuming platform designs, most of the time, since then, because it fits the purpose of BigTech companies to keep you engaged on their platforms and collect your personal data.
Do you want to streamline your news and information consumption and bring back the good old days, with less time consuming and better organized research for different news sources, without extra costs? Do you value your time? You came to the right place! We’ll have a closer look at 4 solutions you can implement right away, in your daily life and follow your good intentions for this year through, in order to save time and optimize your habits! Just add the RSS feed links of your favorite websites and channels, like you would, if you’d bookmark a webpage in your web browser, in the RSS feed reader of your choice.
1. Desktop RSS feed reader software
The first solution which will not cost you anything and save you a lot of time, is a superb open source desktop RSS reader application named RSSguard, which the open-fab.org team tested and found to be a valuable solution. All available versions can be reviewed and downloaded here. Desktop installer application links are available for the following platforms: Windows 64bit installer – Linux 64bit AppImage – MacOS 64bit DMG. You’ll be limited to the computer, where you installed the desktop application on, unfortunately, though! But nevertheless you’ll be able to own your data, because the bookmarks / feeds are saved on the computer of your choice!
2. RSS reader plugin for your web browser
Another solution that might come to mind, if you dig a little deeper for constructive solutions, that will save you a lot of time with your daily screening of relevant news, are RSS reader plugins, for the web browser of your choice. One solution the open-fab.org team tested, which is feature packed and looks pretty decent is FeedBro. You can download and install the plugin for Firefox, Chrome and Microsoft Edge via their website here. It’s free. As with the first solution mentioned above, you’ll be limited to the computer, where you installed the plugin on.
3. Platform independent paid RSS feed reader services
If your’re looking for a real platform independent solution, where you can access the RSS feeds of your choice, from everywhere via a web browser, you can register to one of several paid online RSS reader solutions. These services usually charge a monthly subscription fee. Please be aware, that the following services might save and analyze your browsing and your news consumption habits and create a profile of you, like BigTech usually does, as well. Please review their terms of service. The following services can be tested for free:
| Service / US | Service / US | Service / US | Service / US | Service / US | Service / US | Service / US |
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| Image | Image | Image | Image | Image | Image | Image |
4. Platform independent self-hosted RSS feed reader/server
In case you’d prefer to host your own platform independent online RSS solution, which can be accessed from everywhere, via a web browser, you might find FreshRSS, which the open-fab.org team tested and uses, as well, very helpful. The advantage of this self-hosted web application solution is, that you’ll have full control of your data, without a third party snooping and analyzing your habits and potentially sell your data on to data brokers, for example. You can download the web application from Github and install it on your webspace. You will need a webspace provider with LAMP support, so all your news feeds will be saved in the database and updated frequently. Installation instructions can be found here. The Manual can be found here and here.
In case you do not have any webspace provider solution, which can provide the basic LAMP stack features and enables you to run your own web applications and access it from everywhere, within the web browser of your choice, you might take a closer look at the following webhosting services, where you can self-host the best open source web applications of your choice, build your website and own your data! Try it! It’s easy!
| Provider / US | Provider / US | Provider / US | Provider / US | Provider / US | Provider / Germany | Provider / Germany |
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| Image | Image | Image | Image | Image | Image | Image |
The data protection rules by law, might be stricter in certain countries/regions and hence protect your data even better from prying eyes of third parties. Research it for yourself! Respect your privacy!
* Using some of the links above, might earn the https://open-fab.org open source computer club a commission and helps with your support, to improve and expand this web service, for your convenience!
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