A few months ago, Google announced that they would be retiring Google Reader on 1 July 2013. Google Reader is a very popular web-based RSS reader, and despite a large outcry by loyal Google Reader users, Google haven't changed their mind, so you only have until the end of June 2013 to move your feeds elsewhere.

If you are still using Google Reader, you don't have a lot of time. Google provide functionality to allow you to download your Google Reader data in a format that some other RSS readers support, and some alternative RSS readers are providing functionality to directly migrate your feeds from your Google Reader account.

For many of the people who subscribe to the RSS feed of this blog using Google Reader, you will need to use something else in the very near future!



If you want a web-based RSS reader to replace Google Reader, Feedly appears to be a very popular choice, and they have developed a one-click migration tool to allow users to migrate feeds, categories and tags from Google Reader into the Feedly cloud. Millions of Google Reader users have already migrated to Feedly.

After using Google Reader for about six years, I migrated my feeds to Feedly, and have been using it for several weeks. I am finding it to be a worthy replacement for Google Reader, although it is not as fully featured as Google Reader. Mobile Feedly applications are also available if you prefer not to use the web interface on mobile devices.

Another alternative is The Old Reader - designed to look and feel like the old Google Reader. It also supports direct migration of your feeds from Google Reader, or via OPML import.

There are many other alternatives available, but many of them are rich-client applications that need to be installed, and I prefer to have access to my feeds via a web browser from any computer or any mobile device.



Another way to stay up-to-date with posts on this blog is to subscribe by email. Whenever a new post is published, you will receive an email containing the full post.
You can subscribe by email here:

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After submitting your email address, you'll receive an email requesting confirmation of your subscription, and will need to click the link in the email before your email subscription becomes active.

Your email address will not be shared, and will not be used for any purpose other than to send you notification of updated content. You can unsubscribe at any time using the unsubscribe link in the bottom of each email.

This post provides a brief overview of RSS, and how you can use RSS to be notified whenever new content is published on this blog.



RSS (Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary) is a technology for delivering updates about changes to web content.

It allows users such as yourself to be notified whenever new content is published on a website, without having to regularly visit the website to check for updates.

Many websites (including this one) use an RSS feed to publish information about updated content as it is published on the website.



The most common way to use an RSS feed is to use an RSS Reader.

RSS readers come in several flavours - either a stand-alone application that periodically checks subscribed RSS feeds for updates, or a web-based service such as Feedly or The Old Reader.

When you come across a website where you want to keep track of updates, and it has an RSS feed, you can subscribe to the RSS feed using your RSS reader, and you'll then be notified whenever updated content has been published.

Websites that provide an RSS feed typically show this using the recognisable RSS symbol (see above) on the page somewhere (this blog has the RSS icon at the top left of each page). Many browsers will recognise the presence of an RSS feed and will show an RSS icon in the address bar.

To subscribe to this blog using an RSS reader, you'll need to add the RSS feed URL to your RSS reader.



As an alternative to using an RSS reader, many RSS feeds also allow you to subscribe to the feed via email. Whenever updated content is published to the website, you'll then receive an email notifying you of that content.

To subscribe to this blog via email, you can either use the subscribe via email link shown at the top left of each page, or you can enter your email address in the form below.

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After submitting your email address, you'll receive an email requesting confirmation of your subscription, and will need to click the link in the email before your email subscription becomes active.

Your email address will not be shared, and will not be used for any purpose other than to send you notification of updated content. You can unsubscribe at any time using the unsubscribe link in the bottom of each email.

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I'm Martin (aka martybugs or mpot), a photographer based in Western Australia. I have been interested in photography for many years, and this blog is where I share some of the things I have photographed, learned and discovered along the way.

The blog contains photographs and photography projects, equipment reviews, tutorials and tips, and various other photography-related articles. There's also plenty of material covering some of the practical problems and experiments that come with photography, along with the occasional post on subjects that don't quite fit into the usual categories.

You can keep up with new posts using the blog's RSS feed or subscribe to updates by email.

If you have a question or something useful to add to one of the blog posts, feel free to leave a comment. Comments are moderated to help keep the site free of spam, so there may be a delay before your comment appears.
I hope you find something useful or interesting here.

For more details on my copyright policy, as well as info on purchasing prints, please refer to the Copyright and Other Policies page.

Martin

Coming soon - a new blog!

Black-winged Stilts flying over water

Bibra Lake, Western Australia, 2007-12-22