Addicted to the net - Thanks Google Reader

I've recently renewed my internet addiction with Google Reader. I knew that great sites like Digg existed, but I visited them infrequently enough to not call myself an addict. Now I find myself constantly steering myself away from Google Reader while I'm at work, and working late after feeling guilty about catching up on Reader during lunch.

If you don't know about Google Reader, it's one of many ways that you can have the internet come to you instead of you surfing the internet, via RSS feeds. For a nice intro to RSS, see the Common Craft video RSS in Plain English.

The reason I'm falling in love with the internet all over again is that I've found my niche of blogs and news sites that keep me informed up to the minute on what's happening in the world of the internet. I never knew the extent of social bookmarking or social shopping sites available, and these RSS feeds are only whetting my appetite for more.

I would recommend that everyone get an RSS feed reader, but beware of putting too much appealing information at your fingertips at once, it's quite addicting. Begin with the sites you frequently visit anyway and opt for discovering more once you've conquered that load.

Mashable.com

Today, I stumbled across mashable.com, a social networking blog. As I'm about to start my Masters in Social Computing and Human Computer Interaction, I have since been in internet heaven. I feel like I'm finally educating myself about the career path I'm choosing, and it's wonderful.

Just a few of my discoveries (or rediscoveries, as they are all a bit older, since I'm starting with the entries from 2005, and link hopping from there):

• Friendster was granted a patent on Social Networking over 1 year ago.
• Stuff like Red vs. Blue, which uses video game graphics to create movies and music videos, is apparently called Machinima.
• Placeopedia, connecting locations to Wikipedia articles, might have comparedto the awesome and fast growing Wikimapia, but seems not to be very browsable.
  

I'm sure there will be more mashable inspired blogs from me in the future. If anyone else discovers a good HCI/social computing blog, let me know! They are few and far between, or simply hiding from me.