Soaking in Samsara

Time for a Gratitude Post

My, it has been a long time since I have listed the many, many things I have to be grateful for.  There are so many that fall into the "profound" list - a very happy marriage, good health, wonderful friends, a new job function that I am really digging.  For fun, I think I will list a few of the little things in my gratitude bin:

• I didn't have to take prescription medication for a migraine this weekend.  Just a little Tylenol.  That is pretty big, given the increasing frequency and intensity of my migraines lately.  On a lighter note...
• My vet's office is open all weekend, so Bob and I were able to take the boys for their check-up on a Sunday morning.  Only to be told Bodhi is getting chubby...
• However, the lovely lady from whom we got the kitties says that he is probably just big-boned and we shouldn't worry about it.  They are the largest breed of domestic cat, after all.
• The Broncos won last week!
• True Blood (my new favorite show) has three more episodes for the season and it just keeps getting better.
• We are spending Christmas in Vegas with three of our closest friends. 
• I get to test out all kind of fun new features in NewsGator Social Sites and that is the REAL reason I am posting.
• My darts partner and I am starting to really hit our stride and demolish our rivals.
• It is Monday and I am psyched to be at work.

Back to testing...

NewsGator Launches Facebook App - NewsFriends

We are proud to announce our entrance into the world of Facebook applications with the debut of NewsFriends.  If you are one of my friends on Facebook, there is a very good chance I have invited you to add the application.  NewsFriends is a lightweight news reader that allows you to see what folks in your network are reading and add that content to your own list of news feeds.    Even as an experienced and avid RSS user, I am always looking for new and interesting content - this is a great way to leverage the power of my network to broaden my reading scope.

If you have a Facebook account, you can easily add the application by visiting the signup page.  Or, if you want to know more before diving in, you can read all about it here.

Please give it a try and let me know what you think. 

An easy way to get syndicated content on your blog

A call to all fellow bloggers...you can quickly get a cool "Buzz Box" like the one in the left hand corner of my blog by using our newest product in beta called Editor's Desk.  You can sign up by going to NewsGator News and clicking on the "Add Buzz to Your Site" link in the upper right hand corner. 

Once you sign up, you will walk through a few easy steps that will help you select content and choose your design style.   You then copy and paste a small code snippet to your website and you're all set.  Now, what makes it even cooler is that you can "editorialize" your content once your Buzz box is published.  The content comes from selected RSS feeds, but you can choose to take out articles that don't suit your audience. 

If you have a blog or website, please try it out and let us know what you think.

NewsGator Online Beta - Come See us!

It's here!  After a lot of hard work from a group of very talented folks, we have publicly announced the NewsGator Online beta.  The new reader is light years faster than the "classic" version and has a number of cool new features, including infinite scrolling and keyboard shortcuts.    Please take a look and let us know what you think at our forums.   Or, drop me a line and share your feedback.  We're very proud of this next generation RSS reader and look forward to hearing from you.

Yet another way to become addicted to your CrackBerry

Like most addicts, I spend way too much time reading something (anything) on my CrackBerry.  While they are largely understanding, some of my friends have tried to snatch the thing out of my hand and drown it.  They assume I am always reading work-related email.  And that is often the case.  But there is also a good chance I am catching up on all the latest news, blog posts and other articles of interest.  Especially when I am waiting for something else to happen (car wash, doctor's appointment, my husband to get ready for a date, etc.). I spend the majority of my RSS feed reading time using the NewsGator Go! for Blackberry mobile client, which was released to general availability yesterday.  I've had the pleasure of using in early tests and beta for some time now and I am thrilled to announce its debut to the world. 

Wanna be the cool kid who gets all the latest info?  You can learn more, trial and purchase NewsGator Go! for Blackberry here.  And if for some unknown reason you are still not getting current information via an RSS reader, get thee to NewsGator Online and sign up for a free account.  There are feeds for just about every topic imaginable.   My feed list includes the following (+ a lot more):

• Blogs of my colleagues at NewsGator - gotta know what folks are saying
• Crackberry.com Blog - obviously
• Word of the Day
• On Becoming Agile - geeky development stuff
• Daily Dilbert cartoons
• Poker Magazine
• CNN News
• The Everything Yoga Blog

I promise you will find plenty of content to suit your information needs.

RSS and The Super Bowl

I had the pleasure of watching the Super Bowl this past weekend with my husband and several of his co-workers from REI.  For those of you who don’t know, REI is Mecca for outdoors-y types and the flagship store in downtown Denver is one of the coolest places in the city.  All of Bob’s co-workers were charming, fun individuals and it was a treat to watch a sporting event with them.

However…I’m not a huge football fan.  I am a pretty loyal Broncos fan, but we know they didn’t have the greatest season.  When the game was actually being played, I treated myself to an RSS reading fest via my NewsGator Go! mobile client - I use the Java version which is in beta.    I was able to skim headlines and blog post summaries from content on yoga, fitness, RSS technology, agile software development and general news.  I found a bunch of great articles to read when the commercials weren’t on…because that was my favorite part of the entire four hours.

A mobile RSS reader is such a treat in situations like this.  It is also a great diversion when you are standing in line at the DMV, commuting to work on public transportation or waiting to see the dentist.

Yoga and NewsGator Buzz

Notice that cool content in the left hand panel of my blog?  Those articles are generated by a NewsGator private label product known as "Buzz".  Buzzlets are small snippets of code that generate articles according to a number of criteria (top rated, most popular, etc.).  What is really cool is that you can generate buzz around a topic by specifying a feed group...which I have done for yoga.  If you want to know more, visit our Private Label marketing page.

Throughout the year, I will be modifying my buzz content to reflect my more prominent activities.  While I practice Iyengar Yoga all year, I am particularly grateful for the stress relief and sense of well being it affords me during this busy season.  I practice at the Iyengar Yoga Center of Denver, which has a beautiful studio and fabulous teachers.