Information overload got you down? Beat your favorite RSS feeds into submission with Yahoo Pipes.

 

WHAT YOU NEED

 

> A Yahoo account (free, pipes.yahoo.com)

 

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds are an info junkie's dream - they automatically deliver selected online news, photos, and even videos straight to your Mac. But that convenience quickly leads to overload. With Yahoo Pipes, you can reduce your RSS signal chain noise by creating smart feeds that filter stuff according to your tastes. The idea behind Pipes is so liberating, we're surprised Apple didn't think of it first. Here, we show you how to mash up your favorite RSS feeds into a single stream that returns results from a simple keyword search.

 

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1. Create Your Pipe
Sign in with your Yahoo ID (or create a new ID if you don't already have one) at the Pipes home page at pipes.yahoo.com, and then click Create Pipe. Click the Untitled tab at the top left and give your project a name. Lots of pipes are in the, uh, pipeline, so be creative if you want yours to stand out in the list. (You can always change it later.)

 

What's in a name? A lot - especially if you want to share your work with others.

 

2. Select Your Feeds
Don't know programming? Scripting? The toolset on the Pipes editing screen seem tough? Fear not - it's just drag-n-drop. Under Sources, drag the Fetch Feed module to the workspace. Click the plus icon to create enough text boxes for the feeds you want to combine, and paste the URL for each feed into a box. The URL must be the full Web address to the RSS file. Most sites advertise this address under a RSS, XML, or Atom link, which you can Control-click and copy. Or just look for the RSS icon.

 

A "?" icon in the Fetch Feed module means the feed address is wrong.

 

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3. Sort the Results
Click the arrow next to the Operators set and drag the Sort module to the workspace. Connect the Sort module to the Fetch module by clicking the circle on top of Sort and dragging it to the circle at the bottom of Fetch. A blue pipe will appear to connect the two. (All modules must be connected this way.) In the Sort module, select PubDate from the first drop-down menu, and select Descending from the second. This will list the entries in our combined feed from newest to oldest. (If you'd prefer to read them oldest to newest, then select Ascending instead.)

 

Connect modules by dragging a blue pipe from the top of one to the bottom of another.

 

4. Filter by Keyword
Drag the Filter module from the Operators toolset, drop it below the Sort module, and connect the two modules. In the drop-down menus under Rules, select Title, Body, or Description, depending on which you want to search. (Description generally returns more results than Title, but if you don't see it as an option, your feeds don't provide a description, so pick Title or Body.) The drop-down menu at the top lets you block or permit items on the basis of the keywords you provide in the Rules section. If you want to see only items that contain Steve Jobs, then select Permit and enter Steve Jobs into the text box. Want a broader filter that allows anything but Britney Spears? Then select Block and type Britney Spears in the text box. (Block is an excellent tool for creating annoyance filters for general news feeds.) You can add as many conditions as you like by clicking the plus icon and typing more keywords.

 

Don't be too picky with your keywords in the Filter module, or your feed will return no results.

 

5. Eliminate Redundancies
Nothing wastes time like a duplicate, so drag and drop the Unique module below the Filter module. Select Title from the
drop-down menu and your pipe will show only original items. Connect the Unique and Filter modules with the usual drag-and-drop method.

 

 

 

Dump duplicate entries with the Unique module.

 

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6. Go Public
To complete the pipe, connect the Unique module to the Output module, which is already in the workspace. At the bottom of the browser window, the Debug area should fill up with your new feed's output. (If it doesn't, be sure all of your modules are connected, top to bottom. If the Debug area returns no items, your search terms are probably too restrictive.) In the top-right corner of the browser window, click Save and then click Publish. In the pop-up window, enter a description for your pipe. Click Publish again, and your Pipe will go public.

 

If all your modules are connected correctly, the Debug window will list items from your feed.

 

7. Subscribe and Enjoy
At the top of the page, click the Back To My Pipes link. Your new pipe will be listed toward the top of the page. Click Run This Pipe, and Yahoo will display the contents of the resulting RSS feed. Finally, notice the Subscribe button. Copy the Get As RSS link that appears when you hover over this button, and paste it into your favorite RSS reader. The feed is yours to enjoy.

 

Running your new pipe displays the output in your Web browser.

 

BONUS TIP: Taking Care of Troublemakers
If a feed has more than 100 items, or is in Urdu, you have problems. When a feed needs help, drag a second Fetch Feed module to the workspace and put in the problem feed. Then connect a second set of Operators to the new Fetch Feed module so the feed behaves. (Tips: The BabelFish module translation of non-English feeds is so-so, and the Truncate module only uses a few items from bloated feeds.) Connect the new module set to the old set with the Union module. Your pipe will look like a giant Y, with the Union module at the bottom, just before Output.