Power Downloader feeds his news

Hunting down dastardly captcha hackers and spyware slimeballs is busy work, even for a man as talented as Power Downloader. Power doesn't have a lot of free time, so it's hard to remember to check all the Web sites that are important to him. His solution: instead of surfing a list of bookmarks, Power Downloader uses RSS feeds and FeedDemon to make the news and podcasts come to him.

FeedDemon is one of the best programs for managing your RSS collection. The interface is slick and easy to personalize, which is important since Power wasn't too impressed with the default look. What he did like, though, was FeedDemon's setup wizard, which allowed him to subscribe to an unlimited number of popular RSS feeds by simply checking boxes. The program also provided links to several other RSS directories. The utility's Watches and Clippings feature searches for news items containing user-specified keywords and places them in separate groups so they're easier to find. Archiving a story for later use is easy with flags, an important feature when collecting research on suspected criminals.

FeedDemon manages feeds and podcasts for Power Downloader.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Three other compelling features make FeedDemon an essential tool for Power: one is the integrated podcast manager, which will automatically send new podcasts to your music jukebox. The second is that FeedDemon exists for the Mac, but is called NetNewsWire. The third is that both come with automatic synchronization to NewsGator, FeedDemon's Web-based client that makes sure that whether Power is at his computer or in a Net cafe, he's always able to stay on top of the news he needs.

Power Downloader fans hungering for more can read more about how to use FeedDemon and how FeedDemon manages podcasts.