TOP TOOLS
Google Reader

Google Reader is a free web-based reader to aggregate and read all your news and blog (RSS) feeds. 

Comments from those who selected Google Reader as one of their Top 10 Tools in 2008

• "for managing RSS feeds"  Jay Cross

• "The only way that I am able to keep up with the things that I want to read. Outsourcing my subscriptions and read/unread statusses to Google makes it possible for me to use my laptop, my cellphone or any random computer and see the same information. I just wish there was an open source project that would do the same and could run on my own server." Hans de Zwart

• "RSS seems like magic to me, and I recently switched to Google Reader because it seems so much more reliable than other RSS readers out there."  Larry Ferlazzo

• "Very useful to track all those blogs where I can learn more about learning and share other people thoughts and ideas"  Guy Boulet

• "I was (and still am at some level) a huge fan of Bloglines, but Google Reader has captured my heart. I love the way it allows me to scan and read and share awesome posts! Students can share their research with me in a split second; this is the BEST feature!"  Beth Ritter-Guth

• "the best feed reader bar none. Customizable and simple to use as are most Google apps"  Kate Foy

• "A great RSS reader ... I prefer web-based readers to a reader on my local machine. Easy access all over the web"  Andreas Büsing

• "While I used to use Bloglines, I find the Google franchise provides a common look/feel for my daily work."  Rodd Lucier

• "Keeping up-to-date is a rapidly changing field, and knowing what the market is saying about learning, about technology, and about us is critical for success. An RSS reader allows me to do that without having to go to dozens of websites to see if they've got anything new. Google Reader has been my reader of choice for a year now. I can use it from any internet-connected browser. I can organise things just how I want. I can even share particular items, or whole groups of items, with other people in many different ways. I like the way it allows me to choose how I use it - its flexibility. "  Mark Berthelemy

• "The ability to have web material pulled into one location for review has made this my second must-have tool.  I routinely follow a dozen blogs, another dozen technology feeds, and my delicious network’s tags through my reader."  Britt Wattwood

• "News feed reader"  Daniel O'Shea

• "is my RSS reader of choice. Last month I wrote about how RSS is one of my primary personal learning tools. Reading RSS feeds gives me a constant flow of information to absorb and a route to interact with so many great people in the blogosphere." Christy Tucker

• "Efficient to have this reader coming up on my google home page to be checked regularly"  Anne Paterson

• "RSS actually. I use Google Reader manage my feeds. RSS has really helped me stay up to date with new articles of various blogs and sites that I track. I really like this tool."  Manish Mohan

• "My rss reader of choice.  Keeps me up to date on my favorite sites. "  Kora Stoll

• "It is a nice RSS feed aggregator. I tried many alternatives, but it has very nice and simple features that are missed in other tools like a short summary of what is new in your feeds right on the front page."  Daniel Lemire

• "Still use this great tool. It allows me to read all my key blogs in one format and in one place, and even offline with the Google Gears browser plug-in."  Charles Jennings

• "Effective, free tool for rss feeds. My personalised news kiosk."  Stylianos Mystakidis

• "the means for to keep my finger on the pulse without having to break a sweat!"  Karyn Romeis

• "Manages my RSS collection online. Now I can access my RSS collection from any computer device with Internet access. However, I still use Omea Reader (offline RSS reader) if the Internet access is a problem or slow. They both serve their purposes to make my learning more efficient."  Zaid Algasoff

• "It’s my aggregator of choice and has become a personal learning portal that I dive into most days."  Patrick Mayfield

• "To manage my RSS feeds"  Benjamin Hamilton

• "Used every day.  Simple, quick and connected to my other Google tools."  Kevin Jones

• "could not live without it"  Will Richardson

• "I store all my RSS feeds on Google Reader, it basically sits there all day updating content live."  Mark Schumann

• "Let’s me keep track of all of my RSS subscriptions, is very easy to use, and I can access it anywhere"  Jason Edwards

• "Use it everyday to look at my feeds"  Harold Shaw

• "At first I didn't think I needed an aggregator.  I was using Safari as my reader, but it was limited to that computer. Google Reader being integrated into the Google suite made it my choice for a reader.  I can't always keep up on my RSS and blogs but it is easy to review them when I have time using this tool.  I haven't used it with students yet, but see the potential of setting up feeds for customized searches for different topics."  Kevin Amboe

• "Allows me to browse fast through the feeds, search them, mark those I want to get back to."  Andrea Back

• "My daily reading of news, blogs, technology, updates, geography - it all gets delivered to my Google Reader account."  Richard Allaway

• "is an absolutely phenomenal aggregator. This is another of my main source of web 2.0 updates daily. I use the same search terms for each of the tools I use, only expanding them as new concepts and tools appear out of the “blue sky”." Elaine Talbert

• " I use this feed reader for my numerous blog subscriptions.  It is easy to manage, and I like its design."  Anastasia Prynikova

• "having feeds come directly to my reader saves enormous time. I’m trying to introduce it to staff and students individually to highlight its potential."  Jenny Luca

• "All my rss feeds in one place. The iGoogle widget makes it easier."  Juan Antonio Ortiz

• "Another key tool for personal knowledge management and daily learning. I hope to start taking more advantage of some of the sharing functionality soon."  Jeff Cobb

Comments from those who selected Google Reader as one of their Top 10 Tools in 2007

• "A great RSS reader ... I prefer web-based readers to a reader on my local machine. Easy access all over the web"  Andreas Busing

• "It's the first page I open every day. It allows me to easily keep track with current thinking, and to join in conversations."  Mark Berthelemy

• "This is the best RSS reader I've found." B J Schone

• Hands down the best web-based RSS aggregator. This is how I scan my world quickly and stay connected with my communities of practice all over the world." Brent Schlenker

• "I have long used an RSS reader of one sort or another and my current reader of choice is the Google Reader. As always, this selection will last until (a) some better reader comes along, or (b) I finally get Edu_RSS (my website software) working just the way I want it. Until them, I use Google Reader to keep track of 400 or so RSS feeds ranging from school bloggers to ed tech to new media."  Stephen Downes

• "I admit it; I check my Google Reader pretty obsessively. I know that I simply wouldn't read and learn as much without it. I star posts to remind myself to review a post or write about it later. My shared posts are shown on my blog to point out interesting reads."  Christy Tucker

• "I like the Google Reader because I can get through a lot of reading quickly and usefully tag blog posts for future use."  Janet Clarey

• "I use Google Reader for my learning blogs and Bloglines for my non-learning blog. This way when I am devoting time to see what topics my peers are addressing I'm not lured to a non-learning blog"  Dennis Coxe

• "All the news I need to know about e-Learning in one place"  Cammy Bean

• "It is a nice RSS feed aggregator. I tried many alternatives, but it has very nice and simple features that are missed in other tools like a short summary of what is new in your feeds right on the front page."  Daniel Lemire

• "A great tool. It allows me to read all the key blogs I keep up with in one format and in one place, and even offline with the Google Gears browser plug-in"  Charles Jennings

• "Great aggregation app"  James Farmer

• "I live in my feed reader. I *never* browse the Web. I've switched away from GR a couple of times but always come back."  Kevin Gamble

• "I've started with Bloglines, but later consolidated to Google Reader. I really like its keyboard control."  Daniel Molnar

• "The easy way to handle my blog-subscriptions"  Michael Prophet

• "It is a good tool to manage lots of feeds in an easy way. You can even share them with others. I used Bloglines before, but I think Google Reader is better. I also use the feed reader in Elgg to share some of them."  David Delgado

• " let’s me digest a ton of info quickly"  Matt Lisle

• "Manages my RSS collection online. Since I discovered this tool I have given up on PC-based RSS tools. Now I can access my RSS collection on any computer device. Yummi!"  Zaid Algasoff

• "a bit overwhelming at times, but still the hands down best resource for learning"  Patrick Higgins

• "Google Reader, Search, iGoogle & NoteBook - An integrated set of online tools for research, documents, notes, and a start page."  Mike Taylor

• "Through blogs, we humans learn from each other every day. Google Reader lets me quickly scan my favorite blogs with keyboard shortcuts." Gabe Anderson

Directory of Learning Tools

• RSS Feed readers