Feedly or Taptu when Google Reader Retires?

So we've known for a while now that Google Reader is closing up shop the summer. I've taken this time to test out several other RSS readers. I think I've finally settled on Taptu. But I tried Feedly and Currents first.

Here are my requirements:

• I want to access my RSS Feeds (blog subscriptions) on any of my laptops.
• I want to access them on my phone. 
• I want a cool widget on my phone
• I want to access the on my tablet.

So...in other words, I'd like to access them anytime I'm online. This turned out to be a pretty steep order. And it knocked out several nice applications right away. I like Google Currents, but I can only access that on my phone. Flipboard is beautiful, but I can't access that on my laptop.

The reason I want to use the same app is so that they sync. If I've already read that article on the newfangled gadget review on my phone, then I don't want to open up my laptop and see it again right there front & center.

Feedly was the next reader app, since it got a lot of buzz after the Google Reader announcement. I tried it and stayed with it a while. It met all of the aforementioned requirements. But I don't like having to download a browser app. I don't like those. They feel like browser extensions and too many of those can slow down your browser. I'm just finicky that way, I guess. I just want to go to a website and see my stuff, like I can with Google Reader. I use several different laptops and I just want to go the URL, not have to install an app.

So, then I found Taptu. Bingo! There's a bit of a learning curve, because it's laid out differently than other RSS readers. But after fiddling with it, I got it all set up. The web version is gorgeous (no app installation needed), the phone version is beautiful, and the widget is darn nifty. Screen shots below.

What it looks like to share. There are 2 more
 pages of choices to scroll through.

The Widget - you can flip through the stack of headlines

What it looks like to read an article.

The home page of the app

The layout of the web version is just as lovely and totally customizable! Yes, it will import your Google Reader RSS feeds!

Feedly does much of the same things. I just personally liked the way the Taptu widget functions better than the Feedly widget, although they were both equally appealing visually  Also, as I mentioned, I have a thing about browser apps.

Overall I chose Taptu, but either should function fine for your needs. You might want to go ahead and import your feeds somewhere soon before Google Reader rides off into the sunset!

Why I Use Google Keep AND Evernote

I really love Google Keep!

Even though the URL is mysteriously similar to Google Drive (drive.google.com/keep) - you can't access it from your Drive account. You just bookmark the URL. But I use it most on my phone. You can download the Android app here.

Below are some screen shots of the app:
You can choose a blank note, a checklist, create a note with your voice, or create a picture note.

With the voice note - it will dictate what you said as text in the note AND you'll have the little file to replay if you want. It's like one of those little voice recorders.

You can also color code your notes. I LOVE the way the notes are displayed in the little Google "card" format that is becoming ubiquitous throughout Google and Android. Plus, it enlarges the font to fill the space (see on the green note) - I didn't do that - it happens automatically. Pretty, right!?

I like that I can access my notes online too. It doesn't look as pretty, but it certainly works. The colors are merely a strip along the top. But all your other stuff shows up just fine.

Now...people are saying that Keep can't compete with Evernote. Well, duh! But in my opinion, it's not designed to. I use Google Keep for:

• A quick grocery list that I can whip out at the store
• A picture of something I want to remember for later (and then delete almost immediately afterwards)
• A short checklist that I can add to quickly & easily and access anytime
• I want to write something down (I haven't used an actual paper notepad in years - that's so last century!) ;)
• To keep an on-going list of songs I want to download (I use the "what's this song" widget to keep a note)

Whereas I use Evernote for more complicated notes and folders like:

• Bookmarking while online to collect ideas for a lesson
• Notetaking in meetings or at conferences & workshops
• While at the bookstore to snap pics of books I might want to purchase for library to keep in a folder
• Pics of dinners my hubby cooks to annotate in my "yummy dinners" folder
• Collections of websites, along with notes, to share at collaboration meetings

In other words, I use them both. They both have extremely useful functions. I need a complicated notetaking app AND a simple notetaking app. My over-riding requirement for ANY notetaker is that I can access it on my phone, my tablet, and online on my laptop. This is why the lovely notetaking app that comes on the ipad doesn't work for me. You can only access it on that ipad and nowhere else.

That's my 2 cents about Google Keep!

Ender's Game Trailer!!

OMG!! It's here! The official trailer for ENDER'S GAME due out in November:

Also, check out this awesome interview with OSC where he gives his thoughts about the movie, describes his visit to the movie set, and talks about his brief voice cameo.

Jennifer Roy. MINDBLIND

Fourteen-year-old Nathaniel Clark, who has Asperger's Syndrome, tries to prove that he is a genius by writing songs for his rock band so that he can become a member of the prestigious Aldus Institute, the premier organization for the profoundly gifted.

I was drawn to this book, because I was curious to view the world through a character with Asperger's. I enjoyed Nathaniel's journey to become a "true" genius, but I enjoyed even more his quest to relate to people in social situations. He has trouble reading people and their emotions. It was humorous when he spouted off facts in a situation when the person really just wanted a little sympathy. This gives you a glimpse into the minds of people with Asperger's or Austism and how difficult it must be for them. Most of us take for granted the ability to read people and judge situations based on nonverbal clues and facial expressions. But there many people who don't have this luxury. Life is very different for them.

What I really loved most was how his mother supported him. She deserves mother of the year for her fierce loyalty and creative ways of supporting Nathaniel. I also appreciated Nathaniel's friends for accepting him with all of his quirks. Great characters all around!!

Check out the author's website for more. You'll find out that she writes with authority and experience in regards to Asperger's.

C. K. Kelly Martin. YESTERDAY

In 2063, Freya and her mother are captured and taken away. When she wakes up, she doesn't remember anything and....it's 1985. This is weird for us, but not for Freya, because she doesn't remember anything, at first. But she slowly begins to feel like she doesn't belong. She begins having nagging feelings that she can't explain. She even runs into a guy that she feels she's met before, although he doesn't remember her. The circumstances around her father's death are also sketchy. She begins investigating the few details she has about his death and her past.

This is an ambitious book. The author takes on time travel, dystopia, global warming, ESP, the 80's, as well as robots. For the most part she succeeds. I began to care about the characters, and that usually is the saving grace for me. If I can't care about the characters, then it's downhill with no going back on my part.

I enjoyed the time spent in 1985, but I felt the author was a little heavy handed with the 80's details. Maybe it was because I recognized them and felt they were gratuitous  Maybe I wouldn't have noticed it so much if it had been a time period I wasn't familiar with? I don't know. I'll be interested to see if other readers felt that way too.

One other aspect that I want to comment on was the chapter long exposition that took place in the middle of the book. It couldn't be helped. But it was still jarring. Since the main character left 2063 so quickly at the beginning of the book for the mystery to begin, the reader didn't know anything about her world. So, this forced the author to tell us all about it in the middle of the book. I'm not sure she had any other way to go about this large task. Nevertheless, it interrupted the flow of the book.

There were many other aspects that I did enjoy. Again, I loved the two main characters, and the relationship they formed. I liked the way the clues seeped into Freya's life in interesting ways to help her figure out the mystery. Finally, I was intrigued by the future society that Freya lived in. I was interested enough to want to read more about that, even if I was troubled by the premise of how the society ended up the way it did.

If you're intrigued by the idea of someone being thrown into the past, without any clear idea why, you'll love this. Read more about the book and the author at her nifty website below: