I’ve been using Logitech mice for years and though I don’t necessarily love their drivers, I’ve got these extra buttons on my current one that I don’t use, since I hate the supposed “features” they add, which led to Eureka Moment #2 (here’s #1) – why not map those buttons to keystrokes?

In Logitech’s current driver (and probably several versions back for all I know) not only can you map buttons to keystrokes, but you can set the actions to specific programs. So I added FeedDemon to the list of programs and set the “Document Flip” button on my MX Revolution to the newspaper shortcut for “Next Item (automatically move to next feed)” and, because I like to control read state on posts at the individual level, I also set the Middle Button (scroll wheel button) to “Toggle read.” So now I don’t have to touch the keyboard to while reading feeds and Nick doesn’t have to listen to me whine about wanting to do more with less keyboarding.

One thing I’ve been bugging Nick about for quite awhile about is providing a means to mark posts as read automatically, what I like to call and “anti-watch”:

I would love love love it if I could configure an “anti-watch” that would automatically mark any post that contained a specific word or phrase as read. Case in point – iPhone.

I could see this being per-feed/folder/all, though I’d be happy with applying it to all if that was the only choice.

This came to mind again due to all the new iPhone SDK news coming out today. The Eureka moment arrived when I recalled a recent exchange with Nick about how I’d discovered that if you mark something read in a Watch, it gets marked read in the source feed. (I’m not sure when that snuck in – yeah, even I miss a few features – and Nick couldn’t recall which specific build it was, but I think he said it was new in 2.6.) I just realized that I could create a Watch of Things I Don’t Care About, add the keywords I want to filter, and mark it as read before I start reading. It helps to use the Unread Folders view and Unread filter, too (Does anyone not use those?!)

Yeah, it’s a kludge – automatically marking things would be better – but it works for me and I figured there may be a couple of others out there who could make use of it.

That, and I figured I should post something before everyone unsubscribes due to seeing me in their Dinosaurs reports. :)

Update – This same trick seems to work pretty well using NetNewsWire’s Smart Lists, too.

This is awesome news. By releasing their best of breed applications (okay, maybe I’m a little biased, but probably not) into the free-as-in-beer wild, RSS uptake should increase because the cost of entry has just dropped to near-zero (still have to pay for that net connection, though).

No morel lame built-into-the-browser-or-mail-client RSS for you. Do yourself a favor and grab a great RSS reader right now.

My condolences to the NewsGator tech support team. :)

I challenge everyone to take back their applications – even if you have to quit your job! It’s totally worth it.

December 6, 2006 is my last day at NewsGator.

I’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to get to know Nick Bradbury better as well as work closely with the rest of the team at NewsGator. And it’s been very cool participating in the (lea/blee)ding edge of the RSS space. But after a year-and-a-half, I’ve decided that working from home just isn’t for me. As I like to joke (and my geek physique confirms), I miss birthday cake.

Now that I’m back in Olympia (after that bit of adventure of moving to Las Vegas which was the motivation for getting the job with NewsGator in the first place), an opportunity came up to go back to work in the IT department at the same school district that I left. I really enjoyed that environment and doing my small part for education, so I jumped at the chance. (Remember to vote “YES” on any school district bonds or levies that finance technology. The job you save may be mine. ;))

Special thanks to Ronnie Gilbertson (get a blog, dude) and Jonathon McDougall for being such a great team to work with. Those guys really care about NewsGator’s customers and I feel good knowing that they’re still there as our advocates.

I’m still a TopStyle and FeedDemon fanboy, so I’ll be hanging out in the forums; I’ll just be doing support for free again. (I still expect to have access to pre-releases, Mr. Bradbury.)

I really am much obliged, NewsGator. Thanks for the pleasant stay.

As Nick reports, NewsGator is looking for an experienced Delphi programmer to pick up the reins on TopStyle development, and probably kick in some assistance on FeedDemon.

This is a great opportunity to work with me as uber-TopStyle-user extraordinare (and, yeah, Nick too). And if you get on board soon enough, we’ll throw in a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert. It might even look good on your resume.

Check it out, and tell them I sent you.

Technorati goodies:
topstyle, feeddemon, nick bradbury, newsgator, denver jobs, delphi programming, red hot chili peppers

This is the first version of the popular Mac newsreader released under the NewsGator banner and includes synchronization with NewsGator’s services.

I figured since I’ve got to support the program, it would probably be a good idea to use it exclusively for awhile. I’m still a dyed-in-the-wool FeedDemon user (whether or not it pays my bills) but NNW is a really sweet app that does some things that I’m looking forward to seeing in future versions of FeedDemon (especially Smart Lists), at least until I go Mac-only. (Although I don’t see that happening any time soon since the new baby will likely cut into my geek-toy budget pretty heavily. :) )

Last week, Nick Bradbury opened the doors to a handful of long-time users to get their feedback prior to releasing a full public beta of FeedDemon 2.0 . He also gave them permission to blog about it.

Since I’m so biased, I try to avoid talking publicly about what changes I think need to be in FeedDemon. I prefer to let the customers do the talking. (That doesn’t mean I don’t give Nick my .02, though. ;))

Judi Sohn – A sneak peek at FeedDemon 2.0

Spyder – (one-half of the FeedDemon support farm team) posts twice:

• FeedDemon 2.0
• Signs of good design

Stefano Rausch – Testing FeedDemon 2.0

Maybe it’s just me and the feeds I subscribe to, but I can’t always tell if I want to click through based on some of the titles I’m seeing. So I’ve hacked up Prince a bit and added an excerpt from the post. I’ve tried to keep things subdued enough that you can still fly through headings while allowing a peek at the content, just in case you need it.

Ladies and Gentelemen, I present “The Artist.”

The Artist’s stylist and handlers are happy to get any feedback and will consider updating The Artist’s appearance to keep it relevant (i.e. let me know what you think).