Another Tech Tip Tuesday

That title's a bit cheesy, I know. It's my last ditch effort at alliteration. I'll stop soon, I promise. But for the next few times, I want to remind you to check back on Tuesdays for tech tips that I think you NEED. Today, a "do" and a "do not." The "do not" first, because it's funny.

1. Remember the techie husband I've mentioned before? Well, this weekend he decided to do a little cleaning. Not the conventional sweep/dust/mop kind, but a little keyboard cleaning. Seems essential, especially considering the constant upheaval of toys, clothes, and miscellaneous items strewn about our house. So to clean said keyboard, he puts it under running water. He tells me this is acceptable. I believe this. Turns out you shouldn't wash keyboards under water. There are exceptions, apparently, but I would just stick to a dry cloth or can of air.


2. Now for the "do." Do you like to read?

Books are good, but I was thinking blogs. We are going to talk about a "Reader," another name for an RSS feed. If you read more than one blog, this may be a tool you can use. If you are a "Sweetest Pear Only" reader, we'll resume crafty, witty, regularly scheduled programs tomorrow.


I use Google Reader, so I'm going to focus mainly on that. Here's the short version:

• This is not for techies only. It's also for people who don't like to have a million unorganized bookmarks or those who have limited time to browse.
• This is not difficult, though it takes a little getting used to.
• Google Reader and other feeds are tools that take content from blogs or sites and keep them in one place
• The updates don't come to your email, but to your reader
• You go to one place to see all the updates for all the blogs/other material you read
• To access, you only need a Google account. If you already have Gmail, you're halfway there--just look in the top left corner and click on "Reader"

To set it up, get yourself a Google account. You can add subscriptions by searching. What I love to do is find a great site, then look for the little "feed symbol" in the address bar and click on it (It the orange thing above). Then I select "Google Reader" and voila! This seems to be a ton of info, so please email or post a comment with any questions.

What did we learn today? Water +keyboard=new online purchase and a new one coming soon. Until then, here's a water appreciation pic. the spouse took.