01 Creating and Integrating Information Sources: Reader+RSSHub#
1.1 Aggregating Information Sources: RSS Reader#
Different types of information are distributed across various platforms, which can be quite inconvenient to switch back and forth. Using an RSS reader allows you to gather all these information sources together and read them in a unified manner. I think feedly and Inoreader are both pretty good options, and their free features are usually sufficient.
Since I use my computer more often, I use the web version of Inoreader. Open the Inoreader official website and register with your email or Google account.
Next, you can start adding information sources. I mainly input RSS links to subscribe. You can also customize your preferred browsing style based on the type of information source.
1.2 Creating RSS Feeds: RSSHub#
However, many websites do not provide RSS feeds because RSS is not conducive to commercial activities such as advertising, data collection, and user retention. This is where RSSHub comes in handy for creating your own RSS feeds. DIYGod, the founder of RSSHub, explains it in this blog post "My Special RSS Usage Skills":
The principle of the project is simple: RSSHub requests data from the target website that you want, and then outputs them in RSS format, making it possible to generate RSS feeds for almost anything. After more than a year of active development by nearly 200 developers, RSSHub now supports nearly 600 types of data from over 300 websites, and these numbers are still growing rapidly.
The official documentation also provides a wide range of information sources and comprehensive categorization, with rich extensions available for each category, such as Social Media, New Media, News, Blog, Programming, Design, Reading, Finance, and more.
1.3 Finding RSS for the Current Page: RSSHub Radar#
In addition, you can use RSSHub Radar to quickly find the RSS feeds for a website.
RSSHub Radar is a derivative project of RSSHub. It is a browser extension that helps you quickly discover and subscribe to RSS and RSSHub for the current website. It's easy to use. When we enter a new page, RSSHub Radar will automatically detect if the current page supports RSS and RSSHub. If detected, a badge will appear in the lower right corner. If we want to subscribe to the RSS of the current page, we can click the extension icon, and a list will pop up as shown in the image. The list includes three items: RSS on the current page, RSSHub applicable to the current page, and RSSHub applicable to the current website. You can choose to copy the link or subscribe to it with Feedly, Inoreader, or TinyTinyRSS.
Regarding the similarities and differences between Newsletters and RSS, I agree with what DIYGod mentioned in "Say No to Newsletters":
RSS is an open protocol that allows users to independently subscribe to and pull RSS feeds from websites of interest, obtaining the latest updates and articles without the need for permission from others. Users can also freely choose the desired content through personalized settings in the reader, and receive notifications through various channels. They can even subscribe using Telegram Bot.
On the other hand, Newsletters are subscription information pushed by publishers to users' private email addresses. The entire process relies on the platform, and the channels are completely closed. This closure greatly limits the user's choice. Users are forced to receive fixed information through specific channels and formats, subject to the platform's permission.
In comparison, RSS is more concise and efficient. Subscription sources can be centrally managed, and the processes of categorization, bookmarking, subscribing, and unsubscribing are very simple.
Newsletters, on the other hand, mix various emails together, making it very scattered and difficult to manage. It's hard to know exactly what content you have subscribed to and when it will suddenly appear. Moreover, the content formats are also diverse, making it chaotic to view and read. Therefore, you cannot bookmark an article, let alone convenient third-party integration.
Newsletters are difficult to effectively categorize and filter, and they are mixed with all regular emails, requiring manual effort to organize. This easily leads to information overload and spam email issues.
RSS, on the other hand, allows for easy categorization and filtering. For unimportant content, you can mark all as read with just one click, relieving all the pressure.
The openness of RSS lies in the fact that it does not require users to provide personal information, ensuring better privacy and security. However, Newsletter requires at least an email address, which increases the risk of data leakage or misuse. Moreover, emails may contain malicious links or attachments.
02 Recommended Information Source: Buzzing#
I'm delighted to have discovered the website Buzzing. It is an English website aggregation platform set up by Owen, the developer of Immersive Translate. Buzzing uses RSS to gather content from multiple globally renowned news websites and social media platforms, and translates all article titles into Chinese, making it easier for readers to quickly discover interesting content. If you want to read in-depth, simply click on the article title to be redirected to the original article. Buzzing currently has 36 sections, and each section can be subscribed to via RSS.
I really like what Owen said:
I have benefited from countless free tools developed by volunteers in the past, gaining a wealth of knowledge that has benefited me for a lifetime. This has made me even more convinced that equal access to information is a right that everyone should have. So I have created many free bilingual tools to help people more effectively access the vast amount of foreign language information resources on the Internet.
In Buzzing, I have selected the most reputable media outlets in the English-speaking world (such as The New York Times, The Guardian, Financial Times, Bloomberg, The Economist, etc.), high-quality forums (such as HackerNews, Buzzing Depth, etc.), and other popular social media discussions. I use Deepl to translate the titles of this information into Chinese (while also retaining the English titles for easy reference). Finally, I provide a well-formatted, ad-free, login-free, and no-nonsense static page (supports imageless mode to reduce distractions) with first-class RSS support.
The immersive translation plugin developed by Owen is also very useful. The translated and original texts are displayed side by side in bilingual format, divided into paragraphs, and the layout is exquisite. It also provides customized optimization for some mainstream websites. It is worth mentioning that you can also perform bilingual translation of PDF and EPUB e-books with just one click.
In addition, Owen introduces many valuable websites in a blog post titled "Exploring High-Quality Content on the Internet".
For me, this constant jumping of links is similar to the pleasure of finding books through books. It is also a great channel for constantly breaking through the boundaries of existing knowledge and exploring new fields and knowledge.