What are some good tech newsletters?

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Summary: There is a LOT of information on the internet, particularly for tech. Here are some newsletters and other on-line periodicals that I find worthwhile.

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[Update: since this question was originally asked and answers I have, in fact, started my own email newsletter: Leo's Answers. Naturally I encourage you to check it out! -Leo]

In other words, you'd like me to point you to my competitors, right?

Not a problem. Really. In my mind it's not a competition at all. There's plenty to go around, and there are some really good resources out there.

And I'll happily share some of the ones I've found.

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Let me start with a plug for RSS. As we all know, getting email delivered reliably is getting harder and harder. As a result many good sites that are chock-full of information are not publishing newsletters, or are moving away from email publishing. Email newsletters aren't dead, but they're not exactly thriving either.

Enter RSS. More and more sites are adding RSS feeds even if they never planned to publish a newsletter at all. It's a quick and easy way to push information out to those people that really want it, and as a consumer it's a great way to stay abreast of information from the sites you really care about.

Hopefully sites like Ask Leo!.

On to my recommendations, in alphabetical order: (One bit of full disclosure up front: several, though not all, of the folks below are acquaintances of mine in various forms. However I believe my recommendations to be impartial, based my opinion of the quality of their publication.)

• Ask Dave Taylor [RSS] - if you've spent any time on Ask Leo!, visiting Ask Dave Taylor may bring about a sense of deja vu. Dave's a prolific author and industry veteran who's taking the same approach to open on-line tech Q&A. The scope of his site is a bit broader, ranging from Mac, to Unix shell scripts, to publishing and even the Sony PSP. Tell Dave I said hi!

• Dave's Computer Tips [email], from a different Dave, is a bi-monthly newsletter containing important computer news, computer security tips, software reviews, computer hardware, and software tips articles, as well as discussion about programs Dave finds useful. I'm always looking for pointers to good tools, so that later section is particularly useful to me. Easy to understand and free.

• ExcelTips and WordTips [email & RSS] - Allen Wyatt also publishes both a free and premium weekly newsletter for each of Word and Excel (the premium version published as a PDF), and you'll find a tremendous amount of information in every issue. Both WordTips and ExcelTips have searchable sites as well, cataloging hundreds of tips and answers for each. And there's an RSS feed featuring a "tip of the day" for each.

• Gizmo Richard's Tech Support Alert [email] is a list I just stumbled onto recently. Paraphrased from the site, the newsletter contains "new freeware and shareware utilities ... ... tech support sites ... free tutorials ... latest security advice ... useful Windows tips and tricks" and more. There's both a completely free edition, as well as a "supporters edition" for a very nominal fee. The website's worth checking out also - I may not agree with every selection, but I found many interesting tools in his frequently updated "Best Free Utilities" page.

• The Internet Patrol [email & RSS] - "The Internet Patrol is maintained by the Institute for Spam and Internet Public Policy, and written by ISIPP President Anne P. Mitchell, Esq. ISIPP provides analysis, information, and consulting on industry issues, policies and processes regarding email and the Internet." I find myself frequently finding out about important breaking issues first courtesy of The Internet Patrol's RSS feed.

• Larry Osterman's Weblog [RSS] - Larry's is a fascinating look into Microsoft, and often includes some seriously techie stuff, in addition to the normal meandering's we've all come to expect from a blog. Larry's a 20+ year Microsoft veteran (I can't pass up saying he started the year after I did).

• Lockergnome [email & RSS] - Chris Pirillo, of TechTV and Gnomedex fame, has pulled together an impressive set of publications across a wide variety of topics. Chris is the ultimate RSS evangelist, so it's no surprise that there's RSS pretty much everywhere on Lockergnome. There are mailing lists for many of the topics, as well as public discussion forums and much more.

• The Old New Thing [RSS] - there was a running joke within Microsoft: "Raymond knows everything". The problem is that it's no joke - Raymond Chen probably knows more about Windows than any other person on the planet. His blog is another fascinating collection of tech information, particularly when it comes to answering "why did you do it that way?" - interspersed are Raymond's own observations on all sorts of other topics, like any good blog.

• ResearchBuzz [email & RSS] - it seems like every time I hear about something new or cool in the world of search engine and related news, it turns out the Tara Calishain had published about it weeks, and occasionally months, earlier. Lesson learned: pay attention to ResearchBuzz. Tara's also the author of Web Search Garage and Google Hacks.

• Windows Secrets [email] - "The Windows Secrets Newsletter brings you essential tricks of running Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Windows Update, and more - weekly, free." Windows Secrets recently joined with my formerly recommended Langa List newsletter by Fred Langa.

Those are all sites, newsletters and RSS feeds I check regularly - meaning every day, or as soon as they're published. I'm sure there's a ton of other good information out on the internet - if you've got a favorite site, newsletter or feed, share your thoughts and add a comment! If I like it and start monitoring it regularly myself, I'll add it to the list above.

Related:

• Ask Leo! - Where do you get your answers?

Article C2409 - August 21, 2005

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