Everyone is unique with regards to his/her fingerprints, aspirations, and the news he/she reads. Regardless of the topical interests, it’s still very easy to get overwhelmed with managing bookmarks, feeds, readers, interfaces, and social networks.

I’m sure at some point you’ve felt at least the feeling that you are behind in the latest technologies, the feeling that you are missing some major news of interest to you, or the feeling that you haven’t updated your account often enough. With that in mind, I’m going to list some subscriptions I have and technologies I use with the hope that it might help you become more efficient and comfortable with accessing news. If not, maybe you can offer up some advice to me as you’ll see I’m still hitting a hodgepodge of sites/links.

Note: Obviously this doesn’t include everything but tries to show main sites, sources, and technologies I hit on independently. For my categorized blog rolls check out the widget on the right side of my blog (directly from Google Reader). And although I don’t use them very often, everyone should know about Technorati for blogs, Delicious for bookmarks, and Digg for all content.

Major News Sites, Aggregators, and Readers

• BBC News – Quick glance gives quick review across all regions of the world.
• CNN – Top news on homepage gives quick review across all topical categories. Top of the page is good for breaking news.
• ESPN – Best (and most timely) source for sports news.
• Twitter – Most customizable feed of informal news links, blog posts, and sentiments. Best for breaking news.
• Google Alerts – Very targeted news (search results) in an easy-to-use format. Helpful for breaking news.
• Google Fast Flip – Newest, most-efficient and well-categorized interface for paging through news.
• Google Reader – My favorite. Best aggregation and categorization of RSS feeds with email-like features.
• My Alltop – Good way to find new things to read by category and/or search term. See my previous post on some feature enhancements that would make it a primary news hub.
• NYTimes – Today’s headlines email comes in around 7am ET every day.
• SmartBrief – I get the daily SmartBrief on Social Media. That’s just 1 of 120+ briefs they have.
• Stratfor – I get weekly geopolitical intelligence reports by email. They’re easy to read and they hit on global topics of current interest. This week: “Misreading the Iran Situation”.
• USA Today – iPhone app is nice interface and lets you interact with the news (polls, comments, link sharing/posting, etc)
• Washington Post – You can customize daily email newsletters by topic, columnist, etc. Good to check out your local paper to make sure you hit on news relevant to your hometown.
• Yahoo! – The OLD homepage. I like to see what’s the most popular news of the day/hour.

Events

• Eventful – This weekly email is specific to my location and points me to all types of events by topic, location, venue, genre, etc.
• Ticketmaster – This weekly email points me to all events in and around my area, and particularly shows newly posted events or those with tickets going on sale in the coming days.

Friends & Family

• Facebook – Kevin Berardinelli likes this.
• LinkedIn – Best for professional updates and networking for business/employment/research opportunities.
• Twitter – TweetDeck is best on desktop. With a categorization of actual close friends you follow, it’s helpful for staying up-to-date with friends and colleagues. Twitterfon (now called Echofon) or Twitterrific are good on iPhone.

Magazine Subscriptions

• Amstat News – The magazine of the American Statistical Association. I’m sure some associations or groups related to your topical interests have free or cheap newsletters and publications… so be sure to look around!
• National Geographic – Best photography ever. And simple stories on basic science that should be of interest to readers aged 6 to 106.
• Washingtonian – Good local magazine (and it’s cheap). Look around for a hard-copy publication specific to your hometown. It’ll make you feel good.
• Wired – The best, although I hear FastCompany is on its heels as being coolest?

And Some Rules To Live By…

1. Stay calm. News and technology will always find a way to come to you. You’re the consumer.
2. Stay sane. Take vacations from technology and the internet. Read the paper version of the paper.
3. Stay human. Get news through conversation. Hear what others read. See what others use.

And so I ask you… how do you get your news?