Cool Tool: Bloglines

Admit it: You are addicted to design blogs. Otherwise, why would you be here? (Well -- not you, Mom.)

And sometimes your little blog-surfing habit threatens to get in the way of your productivity at work. There you are, clicking from one bookmarked blog to another, jonesing for new posts like a junkie in search of a fix. (Uh oh -- is that your boss walking by?)

Honestly, it can take hours out of your day, and leave you feeling frustrated when your favorite bloggers fail to post anything new, even after your third check in an hour -- not to mention guilty and ashamed of your growing eye-candy dependency. (Is there a BA -- Blogaholics Anonymous -- meeting around here?)

Click in vain no more. Bloglines is a free and terribly handy service that lets you subscribe to all of your favorite blogs so you can view them in one place.

Simply paste the blog urls into Bloglines’ “subscribe” form and they’ll be added to your “feeds” tab. (While you’re at it, go ahead and subscribe to More Ways to Waste Time right here.) Bloglines feeds can even be sent to your cell phone or handheld, and you can add a “subscribe” button to your browser bar so it’ll be right there the next time your internet wanderings lead you to a new blog you like.

When a blog you’ve subscribed to publishes a new post, its name will turn bold and the number of new entries will be indicated in parentheses (that’s my own feeds page in action, above). Simply click on the bolded blog title, and the latest posts will appear on your screen. You can also set up Bloglines to alert you to new posts via email, or download a “notifier” icon for your desktop that’ll clue you in when you have new posts to read.

Other features include “clippings,” which lets you save posts to read later (so surf while you work, but limit your serious reading and ogling for your lunch break). “Clip blogging” allows you to create a blog based on your clippings, either for your own enjoyment or to share with like-minded friends. And you can use the “email this” button that Bloglines thoughtfully includes on each post to ping your blog-loving buddies about posts you think they’ll enjoy.

With Bloglines, you can control your blog addiction. Don’t you feel better already?

Check it out here.