Interesting post flagging the info overload things that we have all come across. The second point in the 5 point list is part of the concept that Downes & Siemens have used in the Connectivism MOOC i.e. don't even attempt to read everything - that's not what it's about. Instead choose & filter your information, create networks and trust platforms for 3rd party filtering.
The File Information Tool Set (FITS) identifies, validates, and extracts technical metadata for various file formats. It wraps several third-party open source tools, normalizes and consolidates their output, and reports any errors.