What are RSS and Aggregators?

The root word Aggregate means to bring together into a mass. An RSS Aggregator is a program which you can use that automatically retrieves new posts from blogs, or other popular sites you like which get updated frequently. RSS Aggregators can be important if you don’t want to spend a lot of time surfing for new updates. Using an RSS Aggregator makes it easier to find new posts.

Some popular web based aggregators are: Google Reader, My Yahoo, and Newsgator. To find other online RSS Aggregators you can follow this URL. http://www.newsonfeeds.com/faq/aggregators

Many sites or blogs have icons on the sides of their page usually displaying an icon that has the letters RSS. If you see this icon present you can click it and add it to your choice of aggregators, also some sites just have a link that says subscribe. If you don’t see either of these don’t worry you can still subscribe to the site, just copy the URL and manually add it to your aggregator. Here are some icons you may want to look for when subscribing.

 

Three ways you can easily find RSS feeds are to use these sites. Syndic8, Blogstreet, and NewsIsFree. With these sites enter the URL of the website you are trying to find a feed for and if there is a feed it will provide it for you.

 

Picnik

Picnik.com is a free online tool used to edit pictures. You can crop and re-size pictures, remove red eye, and enhance colors of the photo. Personally I was not impressed with this web-ware, the only thing that interested me was that it was online. If Picnik added more features like filters, brushes, and more effects I think this web-ware would be better

Here are the names of some photo editing software’s I would recommend.

Photoshop Elements 6 won the Photo Editing Software Review for 2008, you can get this program for about $100.  Adobe Photoshop is one of the most well known image editing software’s. You can get various editions of this product at prices ranging from $100-$700. GIMP is a free open source program but I would recommend this program if you are new to photo editing and don’t want to spend a lot of money. Picnik is free although you can pay $24.95 per year and get more features.

Here is a link to help you look at other photo editing software’s. http://products.howstuffworks.com/photo-editing-software-reviews.htm

Most reviews of Picnik I have seen are about the same. Stating that Picnik is an easy tool to use but it lacks features. http://photodoto.com/review-picnikcom-online-photo-editor/

 This is a photo I edited with Picnik.com. I changed the exposure and colors until I got this effect. I tried to make the jet look black and white while the sky still remains blue.

Overall for free photo editing that I have used, I would recommend GIMP over picnik due to having more features.