RSS for Teams with Tiny Tiny RSS

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Posted in Business Information, Feed Management, News, RSS, Social media and tagged , , ,

Google Reader’s imminent departure is a great opportunity.  It is like cutting down a large overgrowth of kudzu that may enable other interesting options to grow and flourish.  One that interests me is the open source Tiny Tiny RSS server.  If you have more than one person in your organization who follows RSS feeds or who might want to, this could be an excellent way to centrally offer this service.

Tiny Tiny RSS runs on the same LAMP / WAMP technology that runs WordPress.  It requires the same technology skills.  This means it’s a bit more advanced than a desktop application you download and install but it by no means requires heavy duty programming chops.  I was able to download and get Tiny Tiny running in about 30 minutes on Ubuntu.

[Update:  here's a related post on customizing & using Tiny Tiny RSS]

Installation on Ubuntu

There are other guides, although a bit dated, for other systems.  To install on Ubuntu, assuming you already have Apache 2, MySQL, and PHP 5 installed:

1.  Download the basic files and extract them into the folder from which they’ll run.  I placed mine in a subfolder of my WordPress installation, so that I could re-use my current domain name and just treat it as part of my overall site;

2.  Use the MySQL steps outlined in the WordPress 5-minute installation to create the database.  These instructions granted fewer privileges, so you may want to try that but I granted ALL.

3.  Then, following that set of instructions, insert the necessary SQL information into the new database:  mysql -u ttrssuser -D ttrssdb -p < schema/ttrss_schema_mysql.sql  Obviously change the username and database to the ones you created. Look for the schema folder within the folder where you extracted Tiny Tiny.

4. Read the README.md file, copy the config.php-dist file to config.php, and complete the necessary information about your database username, password, database name, and server.  You can also turn on the “simple” updating method. There is an automatic update function using a daemon, but the simple will work for a small site.  Update:  here’s another installation checklist for Ubuntu but it also has the simplest explanation I’ve seen for activating the daemon.

5.  I didn’t see this mentioned in any of the tutorials but you also need to secure the files themselves.  In the folder where you extracted the files from step 1, make sure you set the ownership and rights.  I again copied WordPress, so my Tiny Tiny installation uses the www-data user.  The files and directories should be as secure as you can make them:  chmod files 644 and directories 755.

At this point you’re ready to go.  I went to http://mydomain/tiny-folder-name and saw the login screen.   I logged in (username:  admin, password:  password) and changed the password and created a new user.

Add Your Users

This is one of the nice things about Tiny Tiny.  You can have more than one person using the server, with their own account and their own news feeds.  You can import your old Google Reader subscriptions.xml file under the OPML setting and there are a lot of other customization you can apply.

Tiny Tiny RSS server, user list of unread feeds

Tiny Tiny RSS server, user list of unread feeds

There is a lot of functionality under the hood.  You can customize the CSS to make it look the way you like across your entire installation, set up e-mail digests of information, control how many posts are stored and more.  Features I like:

  • Easy to read all unread messages and mark all read;
  • Sharing tools built into each message, so I can activate plugins and send to Google+ or send as an e-mail to someone else;
  • Tiny Tiny will apply Google Reader tags when you import but you can also apply your own to categorize feeds;
  • Clicking on the title of a document will open the original post in your Web browser;
  • Like Omea, you can add annotations to a post, so that you can add additional context to it;
  • There is a public sharing function, so that a Tiny Tiny installation within an organization could be used by a research team to share posts with lawyers and others who otherwise wouldn’t be monitoring the RSS

It’s an incredibly light application.  Tiny Tiny RSS is entirely Web-based, so it will work in any Web browser on tablets or computers.  I have not tried it on a phone – it should work but I’m not sure the experience would be very enjoyable.

A single message displayed in a preview window below the unread messages in Tiny Tiny RSS

A single message displayed in a preview window below the unread messages in Tiny Tiny RSS

Google’s cancellation of Reader and the general state of confusion that the RSS reader world is in makes a tool like Tiny TIny more compelling.  It allows you to ensure availability of this powerful research tool and it can be easily made available to multiple lawyers or researchers in your law firm.  It’s open source as well, so your IT staff can customize it specifically for your firm as well as understand exactly what’s going on under the hood.  Tiny Tiny is not like the social, image-heavy RSS readers that are proliferating, particularly in the mobile app market.  Instead, it can be a heavy duty replacement for Google Reader.

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Goodbye Google Reader, Hello RSS

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Posted in Apps, Business Information, RSS and tagged , , , , ,

Google has announced the sunset of Google Reader.  It has been my primary news reader for years and I’ve continued to stick with it, even when it lost some functionality with the shift to Google+.  The decision to get rid of it means finding a decent replacement but I’m probably going to have to change my reading habits.

There are loads of very good RSS clients.  Unfortunately, many of them are mobile – see Flipboard and Pulse, for example – and shift away from the universal access I enjoyed with Reader.  Some services, like Feedly, offer RSS support over the Web and a mobile app.  I took a quick look at Feedly but can’t figure out how to access feeds without a Google Reader linkage.

Some of them also lack the ability to import your current RSS subscriptions, which you’ll be able to export from Google Reader as an OPML file.  Feedly allows importing OPML through a work around – which requires Google Reader!  The ubiquity of Google Reader meant that a number of the other RSS feed readers relied on it.  If you read an RSS news item in one reader, it won’t necessarily be marked as read in another one.  These other readers would synchronize your activity with Google Reader.

Alternatives to Google Reader:  Desktop, E-mail, Browser

There are plenty of desktop RSS readers for Windows users.  Of the ones I’ve reviewed recently, I really like JetBrain’s Omea Reader, which has a variety of extra features for managing RSS.  Newsgator got rid of Feed Demon, but the developer has kept it going and it’s worth a look. Update:  Nevermind:  the developer’s decided to stop supporting it.

Mac users can try NetNewsWire, which also works with iOS devices.  Ubuntu users might look at Liferea for a straightforward desktop RSS reader.  Your e-mail software can also sometimes act as an RSS reader.  Microsoft Outlook can track your feeds and you can add feeds to Mozilla’s Thunderbird, although it’s reaching the end of its life as well.

Your Web browser may also have a good RSS extension.  It won’t provide you universal access but it can enable you to re-use your current technology.  For those of us in organizations where we may not be able to install new software, this may be a good option.  Mozilla Firefox users should take a look at Sage or Brief.

Another option may be to use a portable RSS reader.  Portable Apps has a packaged version of the QuiteRSS reader.  It will import your RSS reader and you can take it with you and run it on your current computer.

Next Steps

I’ve already downloaded my OPML file from Google Takeout and am moving on.  I’m probably going to go with Omea Reader.  It will change my work habits – I’ll probably read my RSS less often away from work – but it has a lot of powerful features that should help me to manage the information that I come across better.

Update:  No, I’m not.  Something’s not quite right with Omea and it’s not updating properly [I decided to go cold turkey this morning, so totally flipped off Google Reader].  I’m liking using Brief + Firefox at the moment, and am wondering if I can use Firefox’s sync feature to keep my unread information updated across machines.

Real-Time Social Media Search

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Posted in Business Information, News, Search, Social media and tagged , ,

At one point in time, there were a number of sites trying to provide search to information as it came whistling by on social media streams.  Most of them have gotten out of the business or, if they have a social search, it’s not necessarily that current.  Kurrently caught my eye because it seems to provide a fast rolling response to any search you put into it.  It retrieves messages posted to Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.

To be honest, I was a bit skeptical so I put in a hashtag that I was following on Twitter and watched the search results on Twitter and the stream on Kurrently.  At least in this case, Kurrently was displaying results before Twitter was, although it was a matter of a few minutes so it may have just been a matter of freshening my browser.

Kurrently.com showing latest results on #reinventlaw hashtag

Kurrently.com showing latest results on #reinventlaw hashtag

Kurrently can filter out messages from any one of the three buckets it is monitoring, so you can limit the stream to just Facebook or Google.  You can also speed up or slow down the stream, in case it’s roaring past or just dripping like water torture.  You can also bookmark your search term – just as you can by bookmarking a search on Twitter – so it would be relatively easy to create a folder of saved topics.  However, since the whole goal is to see what’s happening at the moment, I’m not sure bookmarking on Kurrently makes a whole lot of sense.

I’m adding Kurrently to my toolkit when I want to watch a broad topic that is likely to be discussed in more than one of the main social media locations, or as a quick dive into a discussion or for a sense of sentiment.

Metadata for Bookmarks

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Posted in Add-on, Bookmarklet, Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Research Management and tagged , , ,

When you bookmark a site, you are typically able to capture 3 pieces of information:  the site name, the site URL, and a location you create to store and organize that bookmark.  The first two are the whole point of creating a bookmark.  The latter is the folder structure that you devise to manage all of your bookmarks.  In most cases, there’s not much else you can do with a bookmark without an extension.

I was reminded of this when I saw MakeUseOf‘s review of Bookmark#, an add-on for Google Chrome.  Plug-ins can add the ability to extend a bookmark with additional metadata.  The failure of folder structures is that you can only put a bookmark in one place.  The ability to add tags can make that bookmark appear readily.

Chrome isn’t the only browser to have plugins that support additional metadata.  Delicious and Pearltrees are Web sites that enable additional markup to bookmarks.  Delicious was bought, then sold by Yahoo!, and appears to have returned to its roots.  Pearltrees is a site I like because it has a graphical node organization structure – the metadata is in the organization.  In both cases, though, you use a bookmarklet to save the site and then add the metadata.

The ability to add the metadata directly to the bookmark within your browser seems more useful, based on how I use my bookmarks.  A survey of the bookmark plugins didn’t show any category killers, although it surfaced Zotero, which I haven’t used for awhile.  The standalone version plugs into any browser and it may provide the best all-around option since it allows for substantial metadata around any resource – not just Web sites – that you bookmark or save for later citation.  The downside is that the metadata leaves your Web browser so that, if you synchronize your bookmarks across computers, the metadata doesn’t come with it unless you are synchronizing and using Zotero in each location.

Mozilla Firefox’s latest versions have added tagging to the bookmarking feature.  Chrome and Internet Explorer 10 still only take the URL and title and leaves you to organize it.  You can improve Chrome using a plugin but you’re on your own with IE.  If you’re an Internet Explorer user and are interested in enhancing your bookmarks, give Delicious or Pearltrees a try.

ZeroPC Makes Cloud Information Management Easier

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Posted in Android, Document management, Evernote, File Management, iPad, Mobile and tagged , , , , ,

I am starting to see more about cloud desktops: virtual operating systems that you access through your browser that look like your normal desktop computer.  ZeroPC caught my eye because it offers some of the information management tools that I think are important for lawyers managing information with cloud-based services.  It has the added benefit of additional tools although it is not rich enough a desktop OS for a lawyer to rely on.

ZeroPC does an excellent job of relying on your pre-existing accounts and passwords.  When I signed up to ZeroPC, it used my Google account – which has a very strong password – rather than creating a separate username and password.  I prefer cloud services that employ this method because I trust mature cloud providers over more recent ones.

The service uses your Web browser and I was able to use it with Chrome on both my desktop and tablet.  You are presented with a Windows-like desktop when you access your account.  Unlike remote connection resources like GotoMyPC, where you are accessing your own computer, this is a virtual desktop running on a cloud server.  There is a button where the Windows Start button would be and icons on the desktop.  This is a cloud service, though and it enables you to manage your information across multiple services.

One feature that I like is the storage management.  You can connect your ZeroPC account to cloud file synchronization services like Dropbox, Box, Sugarsync, and Google Drive.  Once connected, you can move files from one account to another from within the ZeroPC interface.  I recently looked at another site that does the same thing.

Storage Dashboard in ZeroPC shows all of your accounts. It aggregates information to show you available space over all of your linked accounts, as well as used/unused space in each individual service.

ZeroPC does a good job treating multiple resources as one.  You can attach multiple e-mail accounts in the same way., creating a unified inbox.  It will auto-configure Google and Yahoo! mail accounts but you can add other IMAP mail servers as well.

It also provides another feature that I think can be powerful:  cloud search.  There is a search box at the bottom of the screen, on your virtual task bar.  When you search for files with the box, it searches across all of your connected cloud services for results.  This is not new – I’ve discussed both Cue Up and CloudMagic before – but ZeroPC has done a good job of providing it as part of a much more functional environment.

Search results from Evernote, Google Drive, and other cloud storage using an Android tablet and Chrome Web browser

This approach to a cloud desktop would seem to be useful for someone who had a variety of cloud-based resources that could be connected using ZeroPC.  It is distinctive because they not only provide the connections but a familiar interface in which to use them.  It appears to be based on a Linux operating system, and comes with a simple text editor, image tools, and other applications, like the tablet-familiar ThinkOffice productivity suite.  If you want to view a document, you can open it using the Google Docs viewer, for example.  There is even a Web browser on the desktop so that you do not need to open a second window or tab.

There is a free version so you would have to watch how much information you were transferring or storing in the extra space ZeroPC offers.  Paid versions offer additional benefits and features, mostly in the areas of bandwidth and storage space.

Inky E-mail is an Attractive New E-mail Client

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Posted in E-mail Management, Macintosh, Windows and tagged , ,

Microsoft Outlook’s e-mail is the behemoth in the legal world.  Lawyers who don’t use it are likely using one of Microsoft’s free products (Outlook Express, Windows Live Mail) or going directly to their Web e-mail.  Inky is a new e-mail application that installs on Windows and Mac and provides an attractive alternative for those not using Outlook.

Inky describes itself as cloud-enabled.  It’s a bit confusing because you don’t actually do anything on their site.  Once you install Inky (octopus logo!), you tell it how to access your Web mail or other e-mail servers.  It automatically loaded settings for both Google Mail and Yahoo! Mail, which is now common among e-mail clients, including Zimbra and Thunderbird.  It also picked up my own mail server, which has custom settings, and this impressed me because I added 3 accounts without actually configuring anything.

The cloud element of Inky appears to be entirely a processing function.  They store your Inky password on their site, but it is encrypted.  Their FAQ says that their staff can access neither your password nor information about your e-mail.  When you open Inky on your computer, the cloud servers synchronize what you see on your computer with what’s in your e-mail accounts.

I am really attracted to the interface.  It’s exceptionally clean – it reminded me of the very crisp MetroTwit twitter client – and the layout is intuitive. The default view is a unified inbox.  As you can see below in the Windows client, the feel is very much of a modern Web site.  There is a scrolling icon bar on the left with clear flags for new messages.  The icons either use a product logo, for Google Mail for example, or common icons for things like Compose Mail (envelope with pencil).  When you click the inky logo at the top left corner, the menu widens to give you full labels.

inky-unified-inboxI really liked the drop down menus at the top where I could quickly switch to view just unread e-mail or go to a specific account.  If you leave the inbox and view just the Google Mail account, you will have a folder list at the top that reflects your inbox and other Google Mail labels.

The compose mail view is also clean and easy to use.  If you are using Web mail, you’ll find the toolbar similar to the options in Google, Yahoo!, or Outlook.com Web mail sites.  It will access your contact list for auto-filling the address and you can send from any of your configured accounts.

inky-compose-screenIt lacks the integration with calendars and other tools that products like Microsoft Outlook and Thunderbird offer.  On the other hand, it has some additional filtering tools to automatically flag mail as a subscription, for example, and have an icon on the left menu show you when you have new messages that apply.  You can’t customize what goes in to these so you may still want to rely on setting filters in your Web mail account and having e-mail sorted into folders before you access it with Inky.

It’s hard to know where Inky is going, since it’s a free application and very new.  If you need a lightweight, easy to read and use e-mail client, Inky will fit your bill.

 

 

Create Research Dashboards

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Posted in Research Management, Web Browser and tagged , ,

This is for librarians or people who support other researchers.  If your organization doesn’t have an intranet – or even if it doesn’t – this might be something interesting to use.  Middlespot creates a Web-based dashboard that you can customize to share resources.

It supports the addition of both live and flat content.  For example, as you can see in the screenshot below, there is a live Web page (library search engine) with a downloadable PDF next to it.  You could list papers or frequently sought after content for easy download in addition to Web pages.  I added an RSS feed (using Feed43.com) to the dash as well.  You can create multiple dashboards and, because they are stored online, you can access them from any computer.  Dashboards can be either public or private.  Free accounts are limited to 25 MB in content.

middlespot-dash The company appears to be shifting from a digital newsletter or booklet site (check out Simplebooklet.com ) and it shows that they’re not really focused on shared dashboards.  It would be nice to create groups to share a given dashboard with, rather than just public or private.  It’s an interesting idea, and the size of the canvas can hold a ton of content.