I was using Anothr.com in November/December of 2006, which was a cool concept at the time, and still is as we can tell with the new emerging alternatives & competing web apps. Anothr.com, currently still in Beta is a Taiwanese-based web application which allows the user to receive RSS feeds via Skype. No sign-up required, and use is quite simple!

Now for the new ZapTXT Beta, this is so far something I would have to give a two thumbs up! ZapTXT is a member-based, web-based application which does merely the exact same thing as Anothr.com, but with more features, capabilities, customization (Search, Tags, and will reach a larger user base with virtually all IM clients supported,(including Skype recently added to the lineup) as well as supported Cellular providers, not just USA based (yup, that’s right us Canadians can use the SMS features too). With ZapTXT you can “monitor RSS-enabled websites in real time: newspapers, blogs, classifieds, jobs, movie listings and millions of Web sites that support RSS”! RSS feeds include not only current feeds you read, and enter manually, but there is also a vast number of pre-defined feeds to choose from.

Supported IM’s: gabber, gtalk, MSN, AIM, Gizmo, LJ Talk, Skype and Yahoo.

Currently supported cellular providers: AT&T, Cingular, T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint, Nextel, Virgin Mobile, Alltel, CellularOne, OmniPoint, Quest, Bell Mobility (Canada), Fido (Canada), Rogers (Canada), Skytell, Telus/Clearnet (Canada), Edge Wireless, SunCom, Aliant (Canada), Motropcs, & Cincinnati Bel.

This one is likely to blow Anothr.com out of the water, unless Anothr.com is planning a comparable release that we are unaware of at this point. Anothr.com, a great service and I do recommend them for quick and easy subscriptions to your Skype Client. For those that are not on Skype, or even if you are, and have just been waiting for the means to get RSS to your preferred client, ZapTXT seems a promising answer!

I haven’t forgotten about yet another relatively new service, Twitter.com. Same concept of monitoring feeds in your IM, E-mail and SMS, but with a slight twist, with it’s follow me feature! Twitter.com, once signed up gives you a widget for your blog that viewers can subscribe to and get up-to-the-second information as to what you are doing at any given moment, from leaving the house for work, catching the next plane, to the more intriguing, who’s discovered something hot, be that in technology, news or anything that fancies you & your followers (viewers).

All cool technologies, and all of these applications are worth trying out.

Thanks for reading!
TheTechMonkey