You don’t necessarily need an RSS feed reader for Mac to keep up with your favorite blogs. Google Reader is more than decent in handling your RSS feeds. But if you are looking for a Mac client to do the job, do not look past NewsRack for Mac. It is an attractive RSS reader that lets you keep up with your favorite blogs and keep your feed list synched with your Google account.

NewsRack for Mac has a quite sleek look and feel to it. Its tabbed interface makes it much easier to keep up with multiple stories. Changing your feeds does not take more than a drag and drop. This application is keyboard friendly as well (perfect for you Mac warriors). NewsRack does show thumbnail previews for posts so you can find interesting stories quickly.

So what happens to your Google Reader account if you use NewsRack? You can always sync your reader with your Google Reader account. Use the tabbed interface to explore sites without leaving your RSS reader application.

NewsRack for Mac is quite sleek and has a lot of potential. If you are tired of Google Reader’s interface and want a new tool to explore your favorite RSS feeds with, NewsRack could be the answer to your prayers.

BoxWave Capacitive iPad Stylus: the iPad has a shiny screen but does not have a finger-print proof glass. We are talking about a touch-screen device after all. This stylus makes it easy to operate on iPads without leaving finger-prints all over them.

DMS Flexible Bluetooth Keyboard for iPad: intend to write blog posts using your iPad? This flexible keyboard is portable and flexible. Great for travel.

Arkon Portable Fold-Up Stand: iPad can be used to keep track of Twitter and Facebook. It is also a great tool to keep up with RSS feeds. Having a stand for your tablet can make it easier for you to use your device hands-free.

Levo Kindle Stand & iPad Stand: I use one of these to turn my iPad into an information center in my office. This way, I blog on my computer and keep track of top social networking sites and the news on my iPad.

Hard Candy Cases Bubble Sleeve Case: a bump proof case for iPad and iPad 2. It keeps iPad safe from bumps, shocks, and scratches. Another powerful iPad accessory for travel.

Which iPad accessories can’t you live without?

When you are young, it’s easy to go overboard with your blogging efforts and get less sleep than your body needs without paying for it the day after. I have not met a serious blogger who didn’t wish he/she had a few more hours each day to get things done more properly. Some bloggers find those extra hours by cutting their sleep time. If your body can take it, more power to you. But research has shown time and time again that those who do not get enough sleep each night fail to reach the optimal performance level  the day after. You don’t want to sleep-walk your way through your research or writing time, now do you?

Tons of sleep aid devices are available on the market. You can spend hundreds of dollars on these devices. But the first step is to figure out whether you have a problem. Yawnlog is just the tool for that. It helps you keep track of your sleep hours and the quality of your sleep. After using it for a while, you can clearly see whether you need to take drastic measures.

This tool is pretty easy to use. All you have to do is tell the app when you went to sleep and the time you woke up. It takes care of the rest. It even calculates your “Sleep Debt.” Even though research has shown that you can’t make up for lost sleep, it’s still good to know whether you are staying on track with your sleep each and every week.

YawnLog is a free, simple-to-use tool that can help you figure out whether you are getting enough sleep (tracks your sleep quality too). You can share your results with your friends and get some advice from them. Remember, lack of proper sleep is not going to help you over the long run.

Website Grader runs a quick analysis of your blog, its content, and how it is optimized for the search engines and social media. For starters, it tells you what your blog’s score is, so you have an idea where you are and where you need to get to. It also shows you the links and mentions that you are getting from top social networking websites (as well as the number of backlinks based on Google’s numbers).

While this tool does not give you detailed steps to optimize your website for the search engines, it does give you some high level information about ways you can improve the structure of your blog. For instance, it tells you if you have too many images on your blog or when you are missing alt tags or header tags.

I also like the fact that the service gives recommendations on how to get started with social media. It tells you your Twitter grade, Google Buzz count, and delicious bookmarks. If you have not taken time to promote your blog with those services, now’s the time.

Website Grader (the free version) is not designed to give you a complete overview of what you need to do to take your blog to the next level. But it does give you some starting place. The rest is up to you. Of course, you can always sign up for the paid version of HubSpot software to get even more information on how to optimize your blog. You can’t do it all overnight, but everybody has to start somewhere.

iPhone: Apple iPhone doesn’t need any introduction. It’s the best tool if you want to blog and tweet on the go. The contract is a bit pricey, but being able to take advantage of all the apps available on iTunes to get more done is truly a blessing. Of course, you can settle on Droid.

Netbooks: netbooks are not only portable but also energy efficient (most of them anyway). They are not as powerful as your home desktop or laptop but they are great for blogging.

HP Officejet Pro 8500 Premier Printer: gives you a very good bang for your buck. It may be an inkjet printer, but it is high quality and full of features you’d only see in more advanced printers. Having a decent printer never hurts, whether you are a blogger or a stock broker.

Canon Digital Rebel T1i DSLR: if you own an image heavy blog or just want to capture video and display it on your blog, a DSLR is a must have. And they are not too expensive these days (not most of them).

Kindle Wireless Reading Device: the new Kindle is more than capable of giving you a decent reading experience on the road. The battery lasts you for a while too. Being able to buy books and get them in under 60 seconds is priceless. If you don’t buy too many books from Amazon, try Nook. It’s another decent eReader.

What are your favorite blogging gadgets?

Choosing a webcam is not that hard, but you do want to make sure you get the right model that is compatible with your system (Win 7, Mac, …). You also want to pay attention to video quality as not all webcams are created equal. You certainly don’t want to go for the cheapest model on the market as you do get what you paid for.

With that in mind, here are 4 cool webcams to get you started in the world of video production:

Logitech QuickCam Orbit AF Auto Focus System: it’s a unique webcam that comes with motorized tracking to help you capture better video on your computer. The camera literally follows your face. The quality of video and still photos is superb as well.

Logitech Webcam Pro 9000: it’s less fancy than the above webcam but it does allow you to take 8 MP photos and high quality videos on your Windows machine. It works with ustream and similar services as well.

Hercules Dualpix Infinite Webcam: another high quality webcam for XP and Vista computers. The video quality could be as high as 2 MP while your still photos could go as high as 7.6M in resolution.

Microsoft LifeCam Cinema: if you happen to have gotten a Windows 7 machine lately, you are going to enjoy working with this webcam. The quality of video can be as high as 720p. The noise canceling microphone is a big plus.

These webcams are no replacement for a decent camcorder. At the same time, they are great for beginner bloggers. If you have never produced videos in the past, the above units are a good place to start.

Unless you have totally spaced out for the past few months, there is a good chance you have heard of Amazon Kindle. Amazon Kindle is an innovative e-book reader that lets you read and download books from Amazon on the go. So no longer do you have to carry a few books with you when you go for a little trip around the nation. Most bloggers do spend a lot of time reading new material and keeping up with the latest developments in the world around them. For these folks, Amazon Kindle can be a life-saver. You can not only download books, but also newspapers and magazines on your Kindle. So it does provide bloggers with a lot of tool to stay on the top of their niches.

The international version of Kindle, which was released just a few days ago, allows you to download books all around the world. So if you happen to be interested in going to that conference in Europe, you won’t have to sweat about carrying books for your trip. You can just grab your Kindle, and you are set. Kindle international costs only $20 more than its domestic counterpart. But is it worth a try? Here are a few facts that you need to know before getting one:

Wireless Connection: Amazon Kindle international is supported by AT&T (unlike previous generation Kindles that worked with Sprint). You won’t have to pay a monthly fee to take advantage of it. But there are some additional download and delivery fees.

Fees: unfortunately, there are some international fees that you need to take on if you want to download content to your Kindle: $1.99 per book from Amazon’s store or your archived books and $4.99 per week for subscriptions.

Formats: Amazon is a bit controlling when it comes to allowing third party document formats on the device. You can always convert your content to Amazon format, but it’s far less convenient. Some of the popular open format documents are not supported on Kindle.

Language: unfortunately, you can’t read international books on your Kindle just yet. English is the only supported language, though I expect Amazon to add more language support in the future.

Power: depending on the country you are planning to travel to, you may need a special adapter to keep your Kindle charged. It’s inconvenient but not a deal breaker.

Coverage: many countries are already covered by AT&T’s wireless network. At the same time, there are a few that aren’t. Always check the coverage charts to make sure.

Is Kindle international worth it? It is if you are planning to take a long trip abroad. For short trips, it’s tough to justify all the document fees and so on. If you are not planning to travel internationally, you are probably better off with the original Kindle 2 or Kindle DX. The device may not be perfect, but it’s a great tool for international bloggers to read books more conveniently and save money in the process.

Your take: does Kindle help you with your blog?

If you have been following this blog, you probably know that I like to talk about fancy gadgets from time to time. I’ll try any tool that can save me time and help me become a more productive blogger. A few months ago, I finally decided to take a chance on Livescribe Pen. I had heard about the smart pen a while ago, but I was a bit skeptical about what it could do for me as a blogger. I had tried smart pens a couple of years ago and was not impressed with their quality, so it was hard for me to justify paying close to $200 for this pen. But after 4 months of playing with Livescribe, I can tell you now that it’s been an amazing experience.

If you are not familiar with Livescribe, it’s an innovative smart pen that lets you keep track of your notes and link them with audio notes when you are on the go. The pen records everything you are writing, and you can always upload your latest notes to your computer and online. The pen comes with a high speed infrared camera that enables you to take and store notes in a convenient fashion. There are many positives to Livescribe pen, but here are the main reason  I love my pen:

• Convenience: it’s so convenient to take notes and search through them on your computer. Once you sync up your notes, you can easily use the search functionality provides to go through your notes and find the specific part your are looking to review.
• Features: being able to record what others are saying during a meeting is a big plus. You can always refer back to your notes and find out what you may have missed. You can also leave yourself with audio notes. I don’t know about you, but from time to time I fail to understand my own notes. By providing background information in audio and linking them to your note, you always know what your notes are about.
• Easy to use: this gadget is very easy to use. When you open up your kit, you are going to find a guide that helps you master the art of using this pen. The menus are very straight forward too. So you won’t have to spend too much time getting a hang of this pen.
• Online Features: Livescribe provides you with free storage online, so you can always export your notes and keep them safe online. A great way to store those highly valuable notes.
• Quality: the pen is very well made and solid. It has yet to fail to capture my notes. With my previous pens, I always had to worry about them missing my notes. But with Livescribe that hasn’t happened yet.
• Apps: there are plenty of cool apps in the works for Livescribe. Whether it’s the translator, the calculator, and other cool features, there are plenty of things you can do with Livescribe.

Livescribe has made it very easy for me to take notes during events and check and organize them a few days later. It’s true that you need special notebooks to get Livescribe to work but they are not too expensive and well worth the investment. Being able to search through thousands of pages in notes is a big plus if you ask me. So your notes are not stored as just images. The device is not that expensive either. All in all, if you are looking for a gadget that can help you capture your moments of inspiration or your daily notes, Livescribe comes in very handy. It has saved me a lot of headache with my notes. It might help you too.

You may have noticed in the past few weeks that I have been talking more about video-blogging and the tools that can help you get vlogging done more effectively. The most essential vlogging tool is your camcorder. If you intend to make a professional quality video for your web show, you are going to need a decent cam. The mini camcorders that you see in retail stores do a good job taking videos on the go, but if you intend to conduct interviews with the experts at conferences or professional gatherings, it’s always good to have a pro camcorder.

I have always wanted to own a pro camcorder to not only check it off of my wish-list but also capture better quality videos to share with others. I do have a Zi8, so I am all set for my road trips. But I have never really cared for paying $5000 or more for a pro camcorder. I have never wanted to be a director or professional producer, so spending that much money on a pro camcorder has never made sense for me. Besides, there are a lot of other things you can do with $5000-$10000.

Thanks to Panasonic, I didn’t have to spend that much money to get my hands on a super cool camcorder. Panasonic Professional AG-HMC40 is a brand new pro camcorder that is decent enough to capture HD videos, and it doesn’t break the bank either. It may not be as powerful as some of those high-end pro camcorders, but for what I want to do, it’s the perfect gadget.

This camcorder is a dream come true for newbie video producers. It’s affordable enough for most to invest in it, and it’s of high quality, so you do get a lot of bang for your buck. I won’t bore you with technical specifications for this device, but the fact that it can take 10.6 MP still photos is a big plus.

Panasonic Professional AG-HMC40 may not be as portable as a Flip, but it does work great for those interviews and serious videos. It’s certainly not for everybody, but if you are hoping to take your vlog to the next level and try your hands in the field of video production, this is a good camcorder to get started with.

Your take: how’s been your experience with AG-HMC40 pro?

There are plenty of ways to get a logo for your blog. You can always design one for yourself though I wouldn’t recommend it if you are not a designer. You can use a DIY logo service to design a generic logo for your blog. Or you can use a custom-designed logo to set yourself apart from everyone else. Your budget may dictate the option that works for your business, but you should never think of your logo costs as expenses but rather as a long-term investment. With that in mind, here are 3 cool blog logo design services that make things easy:

LogoYes: an innovative service that lets you design your own logo from generic images. It’s so easy to get a handle on, and you’d be surprised how many professional looking logos you can come up with this service. You also get the files you need to make further changes, if that’s what you prefer.

LogoMaker: another innovative do it yourself logo service that makes it easy to design a logo for your blog fast. You can choose symbols, letters, or images to base your logo on. You can always download your files and customize them later.

LogoWorks: if you are not too content with DIY logo services out there, LogoWorks is a great place to get your logo designed by professional designers. These are a bit more pricey, but the quality is top notch. You are in control as you can go through concepts provided to you to choose the logo that works the best for your business. Great investment for your business.

There are plenty of other services out there that you can try. I have used the above three services for my own blogs, and I couldn’t be happier for them. The service I use really depends on my goals for the blog I intend to use the logo on. If it’s just a hobby blog, I probably use a cheaper logo whereas if I have grand plans for a blog, I don’t hesitate to spend more money up-front. So your choice will depend on your situation. But the above companies do deliver a good service and don’t cost too much money. Who says the logo design process can’t be smooth?