ReadWriteWeb

Xerox PARC famously invented the graphical user interface (GUI) for modern computers, then just as famously failed to capitalize on it. Now called "PARC, a Xerox company," it continues to innovate to this day in a variety of domains - including web applications. PARC (which stands for Palo Alto Research Center) tackles large computing problems and its newest consumer web service is no exception.

Information overload is something that afflicts web users on a daily basis. PARC wants to fix it with a product called Kiffets, a topic-based news aggregator which quietly launched in beta recently.

Lazyfeed, the site we previously described as a "super-simple feed reader" is coming out with a whole new design today that not only makes everything even lazier, but changes the core purpose of the site itself.

Instead of just watching "live updates on every topic you care about, simultaneously," the site is now the "super-lazy way to blog about everything you love".

We've been keeping an eye on super-simple feed reader Lazyfeed for about six months now. Cofounder and CEO Ethan Gahng wrote us today to let us know about some exciting changes users will see tomorrow morning when the startup launches Lazyfeed Squared, the second version of the product.

"In our previous version," he said, "users had to click on updated topics to see what's inside. That is not lazy. And it wasn't fun enough. With the new version, it's not just the topics that update - each topic has its own live updates which show the latest headlines along with images."

If your job requires you to have your finger on the pulse of an industry, then you should take note. Curated feed community Collected offers users a great option for aggregating the latest info from their favorite sites. First developed by Stockholm-based new media agency Great Works, Collected aggregates feeds from blogs, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr and Friendfeed and allows you to create fast web-based collections.

We test a lot of software around here, on the web, on our desktop and on our phones. It's a great job to have, but only so much of what we test really sticks and becomes a part of our daily routines. Every once in awhile we like to compare lists in our team chat room and then share them with you.

Here are the latest tools and services we've come to love, maybe you'd like to give them a try too.

In an email today, Lazyfeed cofounder and CEO Ethan Gahng informed us that the RSS reader is now supporting both RSSCloud and PubSubHubBub protocols, allowing for real-time integration of Wordpress, Blogger, Typepad, and Feedburner content.

"Our internal tests show that the service has actually become significantly faster," Gahng wrote. "Now some content from as recent as several seconds ago is being notified through Lazyfeed."

Hot new RSS reader LazyFeed just announced that it intends to implement support for RSSCloud, the real-time element in RSS that WordPress turned on for millions of blogs today. Perhaps already more hip to the real time web than any other RSS aggregator on the market, LazyFeed is a very logical place to see RSSCloud in action.

LazyFeed is a service that tracks blog posts by topic and notifies users in real time when new posts of interest from across the web are available. You don't subscribe to RSS feeds in LazyFeed; users select topics manually or the service can suggest topics based on the interests you've already exhibited in your Twitter, Delicious or other social media account. Now the site will serve up posts from WordPress blogs in real time.

Appealing to users' laziness is a two-sided coin. On the one hand, you risk offending users who like to think of themselves as essentially industrious, on-top-of-it, finger-on-the-pulse go-getters.

On the other hand, who are we kidding? We love being lazy, and if your app will allow for ever more user laziness, well, that's just what we call "driving innovation," now isn't it? For those of us who are too lazy for RSS feeds but still in the market for real-time, personalized blog searches, we recommend checking out LazyFeed. We've got invites, too; just keep reading.