I used to follow a lot, and drank a bunch of the kool-aid from Jigsaw Trading. Now I read very little, other than the economic calendar for US/Canada/Europe each morning. I'm looking for high volatility events(such as FOMC, GDP, etc) so I can make sure I am not in the market when they take place.
I haven't read any books about algorithmic trading(but I've read a ton about trading in general...favorite is Mark Douglas's 'Trading in the Zone'). Most of my introduction to algorithmic trading came from a trading platform(Multicharts.NET). I wasn't a .NET programmer specifically, but they include the source code for all indicators/signals that ship with the product. This made it really easy to tinker with automated trading signals, and I don't think I would have ever attempted it without that exposure.
Also, you didn't ask for this piece of advice...but: be very cautious of tips from any blog or news outlet. The people producing those are under tremendous pressure to produce "something", even when there isn't any insight to be had for a day/week/event/etc. They will produce something anyway, relevance be damned. If you needed some help/ideas, you would be better served joining a live trading group. Many of these are free, and they give you a chance to listen(and speak) to other traders, all trading at the same time, usually with the same instruments. I learned some things from GPI Trading Group(http://www.gpitradinggroup.com/) that saved me a lot of time and headache. They are focused on the ZB(bond futures, not equities), but back at that time so was I. I got a lot of feedback from their members about my indicators and automated signals I was working on, and much of it was invaluable.
I haven't read any books about algorithmic trading(but I've read a ton about trading in general...favorite is Mark Douglas's 'Trading in the Zone'). Most of my introduction to algorithmic trading came from a trading platform(Multicharts.NET). I wasn't a .NET programmer specifically, but they include the source code for all indicators/signals that ship with the product. This made it really easy to tinker with automated trading signals, and I don't think I would have ever attempted it without that exposure.
Also, you didn't ask for this piece of advice...but: be very cautious of tips from any blog or news outlet. The people producing those are under tremendous pressure to produce "something", even when there isn't any insight to be had for a day/week/event/etc. They will produce something anyway, relevance be damned. If you needed some help/ideas, you would be better served joining a live trading group. Many of these are free, and they give you a chance to listen(and speak) to other traders, all trading at the same time, usually with the same instruments. I learned some things from GPI Trading Group(http://www.gpitradinggroup.com/) that saved me a lot of time and headache. They are focused on the ZB(bond futures, not equities), but back at that time so was I. I got a lot of feedback from their members about my indicators and automated signals I was working on, and much of it was invaluable.