Thirsty For Information? Guzzle.it

Guzzle is a service that allows you to create a personalized start page. You don’t even have to create an account to get started. Simply plug in topics that you like to set the site up. Drag things around, add separators, even switch a topic to image view. It looks like Alltop, but the implementation is slightly different and somewhat easier to work with.

Traditional methods of tapping into the firehose of information available online involve collecting sources of information manually and grouping them so that you can see them all in one place. Think about your RSS reader or your inbox, for example. Then came services like FriendFeed and Twitter that make it a little easier by allowing you to tap into what others are doing. Rather than picking and choosing content sources, you could subscribe to or follow an individual who just so happens to be an excellent information filter. This still involves knowing who or what to subscribe to.

At this point, it seems even picking content sources has become tiresome for us. I must admit, locating really good blogs and actually keeping up with them is sometimes a pain. Even with Alltop, which is broken down by category, you still end up having to choose individual blogs to watch. Now, services like Lazyfeed and Guzzle make quenching your thirst for knowledge slightly easier. You don’t have to know anything about the sources the articles come from, you just need to know what topics you’re interested in and Guzzle does the rest.

I’m not a startpage kind of guy. I would rather stumble across things “in the wild” that people I find interesting have posted or shared. This brings me a lot of interesting content, but there is also the disadvantage that I sometimes miss things or lose my focus. If you need an easy and customizable way to keep track of specific topics, check out Guzzle and tell us what you think in the comments.