My earlier post on timed quizzes, How Many Xs Can You Name In Y Minutes?, has proven popular. However, as I was adding new links, it struck me that there are better ways to keep it updated.

In addition to the post itself, the list of timed quizzes is now available as an RSS feed! The address for the feed is http://mentalgym.freehostia.com/files/timedquizzes.xml. That address will remain available over in the rightmost column (If you're not reading this on Grey Matters, click here to see the page) under the Site Feeds section, listed as Timed Quizzes Feed. All you have to do is copy this address into your feed reader, and you'll always know where to find your favorite timed quizzes, as well as when new ones become available.

The feed itself describes each timed quiz very simply. The title is the category of the quiz, such as USA capitals, Canadian provinces and territories, or Lucky Charms marshmallows (yes, that quiz actually exists!). The body describes the source (the site hosting the timed quiz), the quiz's time limit, and tags related to the quiz. The tags are very handy. If you decide you want to limit your quizzes to sports, you just search for sports in this feed in your feed reader, and you'll be shown all the sports related quizzes.

Being an RSS feed, though, there are so many other ways to use it above and beyond just using a feed reader. You may be able to read the feed right in your internet browser. For example, Firefox users can install Sage, and Safari users already have built-in RSS support.

Another fun way to use the RSS Feed is as a screensaver. If you run Windows, you can use RSSMore (Vista users might prefer UniveRSS), and Mac users can use the built-in RSS screensaver. This way, you can be updated any time you come back to your computer!

Finally, widgets and gadgets are a very popular way to read RSS these days. I've already prepared two for you. If you use iGoogle, look over in the rightmost column under Google Homepage Gadgets, and you'll find my Timed Quizzes gadget. Just click the link, press the Add It Now button, and you can have up to the 9 most recent quizzes available on your iGoogle homepage.

For users of Mac OS X 10.4.3 and later, I've also created a How Many Xs Can You Name In Y Minutes? Dashboard widget, which keeps a complete list of timed quizzes:

This will remain available in the Downloads section on the right. Just click that link, or the previous link (or even the picture of the widget!), let it download, click "Install", and select "Keep" when it shows in your Dashboard.

It shouldn't be too hard to adapt the feed to other platforms. Users of Vista should have no problem adapting the RSS Feed Sidebar gadget for use with this, nor should users of Konfabulator/Yahoo Widgets. Do you want this RSS feed to post on your blog or other webpage? Go over to Widgetbox and automatically build a Timed Quiz feed widget!

Regardless of how you choose to use the feed, I hope you enjoy these quizzes. If you know of any timed quizzes I'm missing, or have other comments, please contact me by either leaving a message in the comments, or by clicking the Contact Me tab at the top of the page.