Speaking about a very plain approach to coping with information overload, I'm using my own application - Context Organizer - to summarize my reading material. When at a click of a button I see the keywords and the most important sentences - that helps me to quickly decide how useful the information is. In my experience summarization helps with finding specific information in a sea of disparate content and is critical in quickly focusing on the most relevant information. It is certainly very useful in going quickly through my RSS feeds.