Naturelich Games

Reading Naturelich Games on the Xbox 360

This blog is about board games. While I enjoy playing these games in a real-world, social environment I am also a technology fan. Somewhat job-related, I believe... ;)

Reading blogs via RSS feed
I try to stay up-to-date by reading several blogs with a feed reader (FeedDemon). At the minute, I am looking at 50+ RSS feeds. This extra piece of software makes the process of digesting content pretty comfortable. It helps me to reduce my personal signal-to-noise ratio. Some board game blogs are a must-read: each and every article is worth reading (or at least browsing) through. Other blogs might be somewhat less interesting, as they might talk more about wargames (but not exclusively) which is not as interesting for me. The feed reader software helps me to digest these lower priority blogs with topic-related "Watches" and other nice features.

Listening to podcasts
Some blogs come in an audio format, a podcast. Basically, this is like a little radio show that deals only with board games. Currently, I automatically download these podcasts via iTunes. They are then synchronized with my iPod. Unfortunately, I have to carry my iPod to my car manually (which introduces a big potential for errors into the process, as I am usually rather tired in the morning and I regularly tend to forget the thing). If the iPod successfully makes it into the car, it is then hooked into the car audio system. What follows is pure joy: listening to 30 - 60 minutes of "board games radio".

Why is the current method not fully satisfying?
Although I have started to develop habits for reading blog content via RSS feeds and listening to podcasts in my car, I am not fully satisfied with it. I would rather enjoy reading my favorite blogs (the ones with must-read content) in my living room while lying on the couch. I don't have a Media Center PC which could make things a little bit easier. However, I own an XBox 360 and I have just seen a piece of software that streams RSS feeds to the XBox 360: XBstream. This is an additional method I will try...

[...Naturelich goes away for 15 minutes and has now read his own blog in his living room...]

How I read my favorite blogs on my XBox 360
After installing XBStream, I am now reading my favorite blogs in my living room. It is much more relaxed on the couch than in this chair at my computer desk. The screen is much much bigger, too. It's probably still not the best of all solutions as a Media Center PC might easily do the trick. However, it's the best I can do with what I have.

In addition, I can also listen to my favorite podcasts while enjoying an Xbox Live Arcade game playing against my friends online. The "board game of choice" is currently UNO, only because it is the only board game available for online play. However, Carcassonne, Settlers of Catan and Alhambra have recently been announced for release on XBox 360.

And now, I am off to the couch, listening to The Dice Tower's interview with Martin Wallace.