Continuing my research into the use and abuse of RSS feeds among both the internet cognoscenti and those who still insist on using old media like newspapers.

Speaking of newspapers - I have on friend who publishes one, and another friend who edits one. Niether of them has any feeds at all. The editor said he had to go to the newsroom to find out what an RSS feed was.

I liked Dave's comment from Monday - that is a LOT of information Dave! I have no idea how you keep up with it.

The members and board of the IAOC seem to have a little more interest in these things, and Don Dunnington contributed a few of his - though with the disclaimer that they are "mostly predictable!"

For online PR, B.L. Ochman's What's Next Blog  and Steve Rubel's Micro Persasion  are at the top of my list. Some might say that's out of loyalty: B.L. and Steve were both early IAOC supporters. With Steve O'Keefe, they both helped lead the march to get us on the agenda for last year's PRSA International Conference. And they both participated in the BlogFest 2004  that launched the IAOC blog. But the reason I keep going back to them is that they're good writers and reporters who I can trust.
 
For fun stuff, I like BoingBoing  and Kevin Kelly's
Cool Tools . I think BoingBoing is popular because it has these short items with good photos like Cory Doctorow's "How
to build a bike-frame from bamboo" and Mark Frauenfelder's "Submarine rides are coming back to Disneyland." I don't ride bikes anymore, much less have an interest in building them, but it's a fun read.

But they have really useful information, too, such as "Multiple elements on TV screen are distracting" from David Pescovitz:

"Researchers say that the chaotic, distracting mess of multiple information streams that is CNN and many other channels today isn't working. (Surprise!) ...people [are] splitting their attention into too many parts to understand any of the content...."
 
You never know what you might find on Cool Tools. This week they had the "Nozzle Socks Tube sealer," http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/000717.php
which looks like a condom for caulking tubes. They say it really works to keep the contents of opened tubes fresh.
 
My favorite Cool Tools item this week was on Lindsay Publications.  Cool Tools describes it as catalog that specializes in hacking metal: "But why stop there? The same skills apply to hacking with chemicals, electricity, and home-made versions of big science equipment. In fact, if it is big, heavy or dangerous, Lindsay will tell you how to do it." The example pictured with the story is of a book on home metal casting and building your own foundry. This actually is useful information for me. Before he got his MBA, my brother was a metallurgical engineer. Cool Tools just solved this year's problem of what to get him for his birthday.

Next, a couple of hot picks off my feedlist!