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The way I've been learning, is to do a quick getting started to get the gist of the new technology, and then read through the documentation. What I have realized is that by reading the documentation, you get to really understand that technology you want to learn.
Good Luck!
I don't think you really know a technology until you've build something with it.
If it's something like a new language or database, then I might be more interested in getting a book on the subject (if there exist any decent ones). I'll usually skim through the book looking for areas that differ significantly from previous languages/databases and focus on reading about those parts. Following that, build something with the language/database.
Reading stuff only online if it's not official docs, can really burn you though (not that books can be any better at times, but books at least get reviews). Most of us probably already know that, but the quality of content of many blog posts and tutorials can be sub par (especially for things like PHP and Android). The faster a piece of technology changes and the way one uses it, the higher the variance it seems in quality of online content (just looking at bad practices in PHP from version 5.2 and before to 5.5 and also Android 2.x and before to 4.x).
Pretty much though, it all comes down to building. Reading can get you past some of the basics, but applying what you learn reinforces. Also, it doesn't hurt to eventually teach/discuss what you're learning with someone else, as it helps to also reinforce what you already know and question what you are unsure about (either actively or in retrospect).
Always build something. Nothing teaches you about a technologies limitations and benefits like building something with it. I don't think you really know a technology until you've build something with it.
Lots of RedBull
You never really stop trying
When possible I seek out free information rather than buy it.
2. Get really excited and go to technology's homepage.io
3. Get 40% through homepage.io's tutorial before I get frustrated and confused
4. Shelve new technology away in my brain as a list of potential things I could build something with
5. Months later, get a really Cool Idea for something I could build with new technology and become overwhelmed with a need to build it
6. Fight my way back through homepage.io's tutorial, "getting it" much more this time, and augmenting the tutorial to start building Cool Thing.
7. Fight through errors striving for how I think the technology should work by hundreds of googles and stack overflows
8. Create minimally viable Cool Thing, get really excited. Friends don't understand what was so hard and why I'm excited, as I could have built the same thing in X technology I already knew, but they think Cool Thing is pretty neat
9. Start fixing bugs on Cool Thing and realize I don't understand how the internals are actually working, so go back to documentation/notable book resource/new technology videos and devour them because I have the clear purpose of refining Cool Thing.
10. Cycle through several iterations of Cool Thing and realize I know New Technology pretty well now
11. Hear about cooler newer technology, and read that I could accomplish in one line what it took me 100 to do in cool new technology...
12. goto 1