Today's world is saturated with information. From 24-hour news stations to blogs based entirely around celebrity gossip, there are countless combinations of news sources (if you call celebrity gossip news...sorry mom) to digest. Yet while social bookmarking sites like digg, del.icio.us, and StumbleUpon have done a good job aggregating and categorizing the more interesting stories, I still feel intimidated when trying to stay informed. One of my favorite questions to ask others is, "How do you stay up-to-date with the world around you?".
I use iGoogle as a homepage, with MSNBC, The Wall Street Journal, and TreeHugger as my main sources of mainstream news. After scanning through those each morning, I usually dive into my 20+ RSS blog subscriptions, and if there's any extra time, I may scope Slate Magazine or Condé Nast Portfolio. I also like long walks on the beach, oatmeal raisin cookies, and crossword puzzles.
Anyways, that's how I get my information. Where do you get yours? If blog feeds and Internet sites are either 1) over your head or 2) taking too much time, then I wholeheartedly suggest Alltop.com.
Alltop launched on Tuesday and may best be described as an "online magazine rack" that enables users to browse the top five news publications and blogs within 40 categories. Sounds daunting, but the site is surprisingly easy to navigate, and the posts are updated every 10 minutes. Though I don't see myself using Alltop as a one-stop site for all my information, I will definitely add it to my constantly evolving list of news sources. Check it out and let me know what you think.
Here is a slightly related, NYTimes article on information.