This month I have been using two new tools that help me stay on top of "breaking" news: Google Homepage and Digg. Both of these are so useful I thought others should know about them.
Google Personalized Homepage
Google Homepage is basically a custom designed webpage for you. I think of it as a personalized newspaper. Using RSS feeds, the webpage constantly updates with items from my favorite blogs and news sources. There are also some little tools like a calendar and the weather. Best of all, there is no software to install on your computer because it is just a webpage. Register with Google and then "personalize" your homepage with the link at the top of the page.
Granted, Yahoo started offering this service well over a year ago with my.yahoo.com. I used to use the Yahoo service but find that I like the Google product better because it is easier to configure. So try them both and pick your favorite.
Digg
Digg is another interesting product. This is basically a web page that rates other web pages and the ratings are entirely done by readers like yourself.
If you read an article or see a website that you like, you can "digg" it. Others can do the same and the Digg website shows the most popular sites. There is also the ability to post comments about the website within Digg, which can be pretty interesting. So check it out.
