 #feditip: add .rss to the end of most pages you see on a Mastodon server to get an RSS feed for your RSS reader. Level 2: go about your day without internet, then in the evening settle down at your Computer Desk with a nice cup of tea to RSS-digest the day's shitposts. Level 3: Aggregates your RSS feeds into epub format. Load the output onto your 2000's e-ink e-reader via USB cable. Sit in an overstuffed armchair with a nearby lamp, say aloud "Ah, yes, today's internet" and sip your port. 78 comments
@ifixcoinops Not sure if you remember, but there was a service like that for the Palm devices (and I think WinCE as well) And that was literally how I consumed news in the late 90s/early 2000s :D @Longplay_Games @ifixcoinops same! i think i used AvantGo? or something like that. downloaded my feeds and read them on my palm pilot  @ifixcoinops I need to go back to making ebooks of rss feeds, such a good way to consume things @PetraOleum @ifixcoinops that's how I get my news every day. I use calibre to scrape news sites' RSS and compile it, then transfer that to my e-reader. Then I can read it at my leisure, and on the go since I take my reader everywhere.   @ifixcoinops On a quick search, it seems like eg. Caliber can be used to convert RSS feeds to ePub: http://freesoftwaremagazine.com/articles/how_convert_rss_feeds_epub_files_calibre/ @slothrop @ifixcoinops I do this daily for my news, and monthly for some magazines that release on their web sites. @ifixcoinops I read it like, “huh, that’s a good idea, I wonder if I could auto-add to #calibre “ @ifixcoinops You've reminded me I used to have a script that uploaded news to my kindle as a pdf each day... 🤔  @ifixcoinops@mastodon.social it cannot be understated how important these tips are. when given the opportunity: disconnect.  @ifixcoinops I'm only slightly joking. I do that for news, but not shitposts yet. Not a bad idea, tho. I won't be doing that, but for some reason, it makes me feel good that there will be people actually doing it this way. @ifixcoinops Okay. Question. I keep trying this, but I keep getting 404'd. I'm guessing that maybe my instance has RSS disabled? @lofenyy ah bugger they've changed it; mine is https://mastodon.social/users/ifixcoinops.rss @ifixcoinops funny and not THAT far off what i do. :-) i noticed that I need some AI to rank the posts by "more interesting"  @ifixcoinops People use msync like this and it makes me happy every time i see it, honestly @matz Oh, grazie. In effetti la mia esperienza con vari giochi si ferma a flipper, mattoncini, meteors e poco più. @ifixcoinops @oblomov @ifixcoinops honestly? This kind of purposeful and timeboxed consumption sounds like a joy @ifixcoinops I know this is mostly serious but I’m just imagining that Winnie the Pooh increasingly sophisticated meme set to this lmao @ifixcoinops in all seriousness, if I didn’t need my college email glued to my face at all times, I would have switched to a dumbphone years ago @ifixcoinops I used to do this with my HP iPaq H2200 back in 2003. I'd use ActiveSync to get the latest BBC news, cut up a nice Fuji apple and some cheddar in the early morning and have a peaceful offline read. @ifixcoinops level 4: load it into your reMarkable, make handwritten notes in the margins, and send the PDF to your bestie? @adriftinaotearoa @ifixcoinops this is my life. Use the Read on remarkable plugin, make notations and ship it off. ❤️ purpose built tech @adriftinaotearoa @ifixcoinops its a life saver. Prevents doom scrolling. Allows me to focus on the task at hand etc... @ifixcoinops There's got to be clay tablets involved around level 5 or 6, I reckon. ;) Loving the tip, thank you! @ifixcoinops what’s your rss reader of choice? I’m using feeedly but perhaps that’s level 1? You can’t reply if you consume via RSS.   @ifixcoinops it's really a shame that I wasn't reading blogs (because most were dead) when I had an ereader and now when RSS is back, my ereader is broken. Might need a new one, to get better use of my armchair.  @ifixcoinops Does this actually work? All I get is an error saying: "This page is not available in the requested format." @ifixcoinops This sounds like the single greatest thing ever for non-#IrishTwitter stuff (the latter being something you have to be in in the moment) @ifixcoinops I've never actually used RSS feeds, any tips on what to use them for exactly? I always found them quite redundant.  @ifixcoinops Once it's in a standard format, you can direct the stream anywhere you want. I once crouched outside the closed public library in Ulan Bataar, using the wifi that leaked into the street to sync the last three days of RSS over IMAP to my Nokia. Then gradually read through it all along the trans-Mongolian railway. Unfortunately, I neglected to bring port 😭
@ifixcoinops I'm loving level 3. I've had that idea for blogs for a while (I always read through RSS and usually a few weeks behind). Maybe tonight will be the night i read up on how to export that stuff to my Kobo. 🤔 @ifixcoinops @xtaldave I do this currently just with articles I find anywhere online that seem interesting. I save them up for when I want a break from the book I’m reading on the e-reader and just go through some articles saved to Pocket. I should get back into using RSS. Around 2010 I did have Google reader stuff automatically sent to my e-reader and it was great Kinda wild that my most-boosted thread had advice in it that didn't work because I was thinking about a different website huh  @ifixcoinops i remember using this thing back in the day to partialy mirror my mastodon posts to my twitter  @ifixcoinops "The Rider from the next commune has arrived with the latest memes! Huzzah!" @ifixcoinops Is it bad that I've been unironically thinking of creating a similar setup for myself? @ifixcoinops What level is having an AI (that learns from your favs) sifting through your aggregated rss items flagging potentially interesting new things for you? 😎 @ifixcoinops Running my own aggregator for years and have about 10k new items every day. @ifixcoinops is there a quick way to get all your users in rss format, something like /feed.rss? @ifixcoinops is port required for level three, or might I choose a simple red wine? Or whiskey? @ifixcoinops i would pay for this. I already have a remarkable and an eink kindle. Remarkable has changed my life with its "read on remarkable" plugin that turns website's into pdf and automatically sends them to the tablet with a single click. @ifixcoinops or a fine sherry 😆 @ifixcoinops does this work for a full instance, like all local activity in a single RSS feed?  @ifixcoinops 🤣 Now I need to get a 2000s eInk reader.... And I might replace the port with a whiskey or a red wine. And add a cigar... 🙈 @ifixcoinops I plan to do level 3 except never actually get around to reading it, and in ten years wonder why I have this massive directory full of pdfs |
Gregory's Server
(I phrased that like I was joking but there are people on here who really do that, who have that healthy of a relationship with technology. The internet stays in its box until it's summoned for a specific task, then when it's done being useful or amusing, back in the box it goes. They don't look at internet when they're bored or between things, they don't allow it to pester their pockets with notifications, they do internet only on their schedule. More of these people on Fedi than elsewhere)