Bye Google Reader, Hello Feedly!

So over the Easter weekend I switched to Feedly!

feedly

My stalling for switching has largely been because of compatibility with one of my favourite apps – Buffer. Previously on Google Reader, I used IFTTT so that any starred post would get posted to Buffer. I reached out to IFTTT to see if there was a replacement. Their response was the rather unhelpful “sign up for updates!”, so I put it on the backburner for a while.

That was until I saw a post by Leo Widrich on the Buffer blog entitled “Top 5 Google Reader Alternatives that Work With Buffer“, after trying Feedly first I was happy with it, and decided to stick with it.

I was more than happy, I was impressed! It played a lot nicer with third party services that Google Reader did. I think is because each reader seems to be their respective company’s main focus, whereas Google’s is search. As such, it’s probably in the best interests for them to innovate and keep things new.

It isn’t perfect. For one the Android App is dreadful, so much so that rather than the app, I am simply using the desktop version on my tablet. But apart from that it is pretty good.

But as things stand, I’m happy with Feedly. And as such, I need some new blogs to read! So what blogs have I missed so far? Bear in mind, I am into in WordPress, SEO, shit like Lifehacker, Football, Travel, Wrestling and General Bumpf.

March Challenge Update & April Goal

Again, this month’s review of the challenge is a little late (again, apologies – blame the Easter Bunny).

March’s Goal – Launch a Website: Complete!

Yes! I finally pushed a website I had out of the door from one of the domains I had. Hurrah! The website – if you cannot tell from the banner at the top – was Wrestling Betting. It is a domain I’ve held for a while, ever since I had a run of 6 Pay-Per-Views where I predicted the result of every single match perfectly last summer, and it was just when twitter accounts such as @FootyAccums & @HashtagBetting were beginning to become popular, so I bought the domain and sat on it until the end of last month.

Anyway, had some great ideas to push it, one of which from Britannia Wrestling which is brilliant and could result in me not walking for days afterwards, but I’m seeing how it does in Wrestlemania Season in terms of traffic and people viewing it. Would love to grow it into a more substantial idea, and keen to get your thoughts on what to add to it. It’s basic at the moment, but will be adding to it! But for now, please have a read of my Wrestlemania 29 Predictions on the site.

You can also like Wrestling Betting on Facebook and follow @Wrestlingbets on Twitter.

April’s Goal – I’m Not Telling!

Yes. There is a big goal for April. It’s actually massive and could be life changing, but I cannot say what it is. A few people know what it is though, but

The worst thing is a few choice people know. I’d love to sing it from the rooftops, but I cannot.

But all I can say it’s exciting, and it may involve a party. Keep your evening’s free.

Trip To Glasgow – March 2013

Recently I visited Glasgow for a long weekend. Really the reason was to watch Wales play Scotland in Hampden Park, but as it is a city I’ve never been before, I took some time out to visit the city.

All in all, I had a great time, Glasgow is a great city, people were dead friendly, and we were even allowed in The Iron Horse, the Tartan Army pub. So many memories and happy thoughts such as the spine tingling rendition of “Caledonia” on karaoke on Thursday night by some amazing singer, an American stumbling into The Iron Horse with not a clue with what’s going on (even going so far as to wearing an Irish jumper!), eating horrible food and not giving a damn, stumbling upon a great hotel full of Welsh people. Kippers for breakfast (a relevation!), a solid Wales performance. Ashton Lane in Glasgow for pints, and Partick Thistle. Especially Partick Thistle.

Anyway here are my “cultural” photos. The matches I went to see will be covered on You’re Supposed to be at Home, with the Wales match up first!

A proper post is on the way soon!

As an aside, and here’s a Social Media Tip you’ll never hear at conferences:-

If you ever want to get a lot of retweets, followers and replies, talk about Partick Thistle. They love their club being mentioned. Seriously. Work it into your digital marketing strategy today.

Google Reader To Shut Down: My Thoughts

So yes, I woke up to the news that Google Reader is To Shut Down.

Usually I am rather flippant when Google services shut down (remember Google Wave?), and I am usually that dickish mate who responds to my less intelligent mates who whinge about Facebook changing it’s layout with “If you don’t like it, ask for a refund.”.

But gah I am annoyed with this move.

Where's the "I AM NOT OKAY WITH THIS" button?
Where’s the “I AM NOT OKAY WITH THIS” button?

You see I use RSS in 3 ways. Despite the usual way of keeping up with news, I also use it to provide basic content to my Twitter feed quickly and easily, using a combination of Buffer (which is amazing, use it), and IFTTT (which is amazing, use it). It helps keep me relevant and useful even when rushed off my feet.

The second is that, at least with this here blog, RSS is the fourth biggest source of traffic, and has the biggest engagement. I assume many of these people come from Google Reader, so to lose that source is really frustrating.

I have signed the petition on change.org with the unbelievably vain hope the behemoth that is Google listens, but I doubt they will. I am looking at alternatives as we speak (suggestions welcome! Especially those that have recipes already in IFTTT), but I guess this is a timely reminder that you should always always build your services and legacy on your own domain and hosting, and obtain email addresses when marketing. Whilst not 100% secure, it is more secure than building on services that are open to the whims of large organisations.

What are your thoughts on Google Reader Closing?

P.S. Even with this move, RSS isn’t dead. I think WordPress would have to stop offering RSS feeds, and this doesn’t look likely, at least for WordPress 3.6. Feedburner users should be worried, though.

February Challenge Update & March Goal

Apologies for the small delay in the blog post. I completely missed a blog post last week, which is practically inexcusable, as I do have posts to post. I celebrated my 29th birthday last Monday (Happy Birthday to Me!) and generally spent most of the week either celebrating or recovering.

I have also have some amazing news on the horizon on the next couple of months, which may take quite a bit of my time, so I’m not sure how much time I’ll spend on this site for the next couple of months. Next months’ goal for example is “fucking finish what is causing the amazing news”, so that’s all sorted! But onto this month’s goal & last month’s.

February’s Goal – Decluttering: Complete! (ish)

Yes! I managed to declutter a fair bit from my room and domain portfolio, making about £100 in the process. Money which is appreciated as in under two weeks I am heading to Glasgow to watch Wales play Scotland in the footy (as well as the bonus attraction of Glasgow Rangers vs Stirling Albion the next day – Scottish Division 3 doesn’t get the International break that higher leagues do). It wasn’t without it’s faults, here were a few things that could’ve scuppered me:-

ebay-request

eBay  Throttling My Listings

I talked about this briefly in another one of my other posts, but something I didn’t realise was eBay would only allow 10 items (or £500 value items) for new sellers. As somebody who rarely dabbles in eBay, this was frustrating as I had to split my listings up over two days, nearly missing the February deadline.

Bad/Late Payers

So I had two auctions won, however at the time of writing I’ve still to receive payments for. They were also fairly high selling items, so I’m a bit gutted to not get the cash in my back pocket yet. I’ve chased and chased, and not sure what to do if I’m honest. eBay don’t exactly support sellers over buyers, so I’m thinking I may have to suck it up and relist. Boo hoo.

Godaddy

What a bunch of monumental weapons. You see, I snapped up a domain on backorder a few years ago, and it came with a “free domain monitoring service” which automatically links me with the domain. However, after realising I had fuck all to write about Belgium I sold it to a friend of mine. Said friend has let it lapse, Godaddy paced it into auction and because I have the “free domain monitoring service” still on my account they very kindly put in a bid for the domain. A bid that wasn’t matched, and I now once again own  said domain.

I’m not happy. It’s not expensive, but frustrating as GoDaddy have been as helpful as a chocolate teapot, often throwing answers in legalese to me. In this one dickish move, they are losing me as a customer. Sucks to be you, Godaddy.

March’s Goal – Launch a Website

And so onto March’s goal – it is to get a website out of the door. I’ve been sitting on a domain for about 3 or 4 months for an idea that I’ve never even started, so decided to launch a website by March 31st.

I’ve bought the domain name, secure the Twitter & Facebook accounts for it and invested a little bit of money for advertising. The domain however is going to try and make money, and I have a plan for doing so. Wish me luck!