Take the 2-minute tour ×

update: Based on the 3 responses I think I need to clarify this question.

I read a LOT of news, technology and other sites, daily. I am using two methods for managing this in order to a) spread it out and b) ensure coverage of my list of sites over a given period - lets say one week.

The two methods I am using are 1) a Firefox add-in called Morning Coffee and 2) separating the site bookmarks into folders I call "everyday", "Monday", "Weekend", "Morning", etc. On those days, or times I right click the folder and select "open all in tabs". Both methods work but leave room for improvement.

The QUESTION is: does anyone have a better way to do this?

Please ignore the original wording below... left here for reference only...


I am in the process of improving my "daily read" approach with more mechanization and with the following goals in mind:

1) Move (where possible) from hard copy to some combination of digital sources (e.g. mostly websites but some list servers, some PDF and maybe others). This question will be limited to the websites.

2) Cover a wide swath to ensure that I have covered the range I want to cover and have the processing (that's me reading) spread out somewhat evenly over time.

3) Want to avoid overload and the "certain something" I miss when using RSS news readers.

4) Fairly easy to maintain.

Does anyone have a good solution to this?

For criteria #1 and #2, I have been trying the Firefox add-in "Morning Coffee" and also custom making bookmark folders that correspond to each day and or everyday, morning, evening, weekend and so forth. It is sort of working for this criteria but have their limits such as criteria #4 and some other issues.

Aside: This is part of a bigger personal project regarding personal knowledge management systems but I will address that in another question or two.

share|improve this question
Since this is a complete reworking of my previous question I have deleted the older question. –  Arbalest Sep 10 '13 at 23:56
add comment

5 Answers

I have been using Netvibes.com dashboards as an easy way to quickly visualize which RSS feeds have been updated.

You can have several dashboards, and each dashboard can be organized in tabs. Setting-up an RSS feed widget is easy, and middle-clicking on the widget title will open the website in a new browser tab.

Personnally, I have set it up so that each dashboard covers a theme (Health, Law, Entertainment) and then split the content in tabs: eg., on my 'Entertainment' dashboard I have a tab for sites that are updated daily, one for those that are updated Mon-Wed-Fri, and one for those that are updated any other day.

My 'Law' dashboard has a tab for each website I follow, and with the site's RSS feed, I have a widget for the RSS feed of the website's main contributors Twitter accounts.

I think it could help you with your predicament.

share|improve this answer
+1 thanks. I'll check it out. –  Arbalest Sep 23 '13 at 16:36
add comment

I don't know if this will work for you but I use "Pocket (formerly Read It Later)" chrome extension. While browsing, when I found something interested but have no time to read, I save it to pocket. When I have free time, I pull my saved bookmarks and read any of them.

Pocket allows you to tag your book marks so you can tag them as 'Morning','Evening', 'At coffee' etc.

you can get it at following link: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pocket/mjcnijlhddpbdemagnpefmlkjdagkogk?hl=en-US

They have an iPhone app as well which allows you to browse all your bookmarks and add bookmarks from safari browser.

share|improve this answer
I have rephrased the question. –  Arbalest Sep 20 '13 at 0:56
add comment

Reading in the computer is tiring, because the screen width obliges you to do several eye movements per line, and the screen is like having a flash of light pointing at your face. I improved my flow by getting a Kindle (shorter screen, and paper-like, not lit), and an Instapaper account, which has a one-click option to send stuff easily from the browser to your Kindle. The Kindle also allows PDF conversion, pretty good for documents when they're not too crammed with images.

share|improve this answer
add comment

I suggest you process your readings in two passes.

First skim through the document very fast to identify if it is worth proceeding. If it is, store it in a read it later type of application. If it is not, discard it.

Second, block time in your agenda to read. Try to make it a habit if possible. One way to achieve it is to make it a ritual at fixed time in your day.

share|improve this answer
I have rephrased the question. –  Arbalest Sep 20 '13 at 0:55
add comment

I've started subscribing to email newsletters from news sites because they come into my inbox (which I look at several times every hour), and they usually contain the headlines so I can decide quickly whether or not I want to read this.

Some of the suggestions above are very solid like Pocket. I could name dozens of apps that try to do that kind of content bookmarking/storage or even curation that others suggested, e.g. Flipboard, Pulse, Cir.ca, Zeit. Each has its advantages and disadvantage.

I'd recommend something like Twitter. I know, it's so 2009. But you can design your lists and add people you're interested in following. Use your lists to filter what information you want. You can customize to day of the week. It's also nice to see the headlines and what your friends are sharing if you don't want something that's just designed for and by you and your tastes. If Twitter is too overwhelming, then you might want to try to block off an amount of time that you WILL NOT go over each day.

It's a problem I seriously sympathize with. Working in the news business really makes me feel like I don't have enough minutes in the day...ever.

share|improve this answer
add comment

Your Answer


