RSS: Get Notified When Your Favorite Websites Are Updated

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a way for a site to publish it's updates. RSS readers can read these notifications and display a listing of the updates to you, the user.

It's sort of like having a special 'inbox' for emails announcing updates to your selected websites.

Many applications and websites support RSS feeds. You can add RSS feeds to your My Yahoo! page, Firefox has several RSS extensions such as Sage, there are sites that deal w/ RSS feeds such as Feedster and FastBuzz. Thunderbird even allows you to set up RSS feeds similar to your inbox.

There are also stand alone applications for RSS feeds like Pluck, RSSReader and SharpReader.

Different readers allow you to subscribe to a feed differently. Using Firefox w/ Sage, for example, you can drag-and-drop the RSS icon into your RSS feed folder and it's done.

What's the benefit?

You can use RSS feeds to see if there's anything new at a given site before visiting the site. This wouldn't be a big help if you only had one RSS feed. However, if you have several sites you check routinely, this can cut the time down tremendously.

It gives you more of an 'at-a-glance' view of all your monitored sites. Imagine if when you went to click on your bookmark for a site that it also said right then if the site had changed and how.

Also, depending on the RSS reader you use, it can tell you when you have a new update on the site.

Sites with RSS Feeds

There are many sites w/ RSS feeds. To know if a site has an RSS feed, look for an "RSS" link on the site or a button/icon w/ RSS, ATOM or XML on it.

One cool use is to set the RSS feed for a news search on a site. At Yahoo! News you can search on a topic in the news and then subscribe to that feed using the XML icon.

A lot of news/info/blog sites have RSS feeds that can help you keep up to date on the info you want.

It's a collection of tech info that's updated regularly. You can see if/when it's been updated in your reader, see the title of the updates and a short summary and then decide if you want to load the site or that post or nothing.

Bottom Line

RSS readers allow you to see the latest updates to sites (and possibly be notified) at-a-glance without having to go to all your sites and load them. It's like peaking into many sites from a single place.

Bear Cahill is a software engineer in the Dallas, TX area and runs a few websites including: The Armchair Geek (thearmchairgeek.com),http://www.webpagehostinginfo.com, http://www.gotocollegeonline.com and http://www.videoexchange.org

Publish freely if this resource box is included and links maintained as links.

MORE RESOURCES:

JDA Software, i2 Scrap Merger - Wall Street Journal

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WorkForce Software to Host its First Annual Career Fair in Michigan - MarketWatch

Microsoft Warns Against Fake #39;Blue Edition#39; Software - CRN

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Everest Software Partners with Foxfire to Offer Integrated ... - MarketWatch

Apple yanks antivirus advice from its Web site - Computerworld

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/4i-0fd=Rurl=http://www.dailytech.com/Apple%2BTells%2BUsers%2BGet%2Ba%2BMac%2BAntivirus%2BProgram/article13562.htmcid=1276552788ei=XCo4SaivHqqi9gSM26GlDwusg=AFQjCNEzZxycB1s6g5eYvo0yo-cWLY78Zgimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=sqbp0eow7VcJimgurl=images.dailytech.com/frontpage/fp__mac_pc_guy.jpg width=80 height=80 alt= border=1brfont size=-2DailyTech/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/4-0fd=Rurl=http://computerworld.com/action/article.do%3Fcommand%3DviewArticleBasic%26articleId%3D9122359cid=1276552788ei=XCo4SaivHqqi9gSM26GlDwusg=AFQjCNEG8tdcVn5w5pGlguWCXSb20XhBegApple yanks antivirus advice from its Web site/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fComputerworld,nbsp;MAnbsp;-/font nobr4 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1quot;The Mac is designed with built-in technologies that provide protection against malicious bsoftware/b and security threats right out of the box,quot; he went on. b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/4-1fd=Rurl=http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/mac/showArticle.jhtml%3FarticleID%3D212201455%26subSection%3DNewscid=1276552788ei=XCo4SaivHqqi9gSM26GlDwusg=AFQjCNEmlWkSPJJrfhX0tJOpsEU8viLczQApple Recommends Antivirus bSoftware/b For Mac OS X/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrInformationWeek/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/4-2fd=Rurl=http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/12/apple-on-the-ne.htmlcid=1276552788ei=XCo4SaivHqqi9gSM26GlDwusg=AFQjCNGyJE9IZQc5rM69CLJSUtRYmw0muAApple on the Need for Anti-Virus bSoftware/b: Now You Do, Now You Don#39;t/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrWired News/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/4-3fd=Rurl=http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10110852-83.htmlcid=1276552788ei=XCo4SaivHqqi9gSM26GlDwusg=AFQjCNFbqlXALTSQ8uSYZFKP_bGTUMMh3wApple suggests Mac users Install antivirus bsoftware/b/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrCNET News/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1 class=pa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/4-4fd=Rurl=http://www.toptechnews.com/story.xhtml%3Fstory_id%3D0030003Q2LU6cid=1276552788ei=XCo4SaivHqqi9gSM26GlDwusg=AFQjCNGCFcf0rt-6SrROo-lIQr3gV_5QjwnobrCIO Today/nobr/anbsp;- a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/4-5fd=Rurl=http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_50/b4112084938245.htm%3Fchan%3Dtechnology_tech%2Bmaven%2Bpage%2B-%2Bnew_this%2Bweek%27s%2Bcolumncid=1276552788ei=XCo4SaivHqqi9gSM26GlDwusg=AFQjCNH3DmUu_LRensnEdircfQmVDPHIDgnobrBusinessWeek/nobr/a/fontbr/font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1276552788hl=ennobrall 250 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Software maker beats Wall Street estimates, wins praise for ... - MarketWatch

Insight Distribution Software Announces Advanced Route Accounting ... - MarketWatch

FOX Systems Relies on Robust Neocase Software#39;s Solutions for ... - MarketWatch

AVG Named #39;Spicies Award#39; Winner for Top Anti-Virus Software for ... - MarketWatch

Nokia Buys Mobile Software Firm Symbian - NewsOXY

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/9i-0fd=Rurl=http://www.newsoxy.com/nokia/article11423.htmlcid=1276830944ei=XCo4SaivHqqi9gSM26GlDwusg=AFQjCNGzSZ4fEFxsqZ63spvgp6ZYOVAIDwimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=QVIDSsVnFXUJimgurl=www.newsoxy.com/img/news/nokia_symbian.jpg width=80 height=60 alt= border=1brfont size=-2NewsOXY/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/9-0fd=Rurl=http://www.newsoxy.com/nokia/article11423.htmlcid=1276830944ei=XCo4SaivHqqi9gSM26GlDwusg=AFQjCNGzSZ4fEFxsqZ63spvgp6ZYOVAIDwNokia Buys Mobile bSoftware/b Firm Symbian/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fNewsOXY,nbsp;FLnbsp;-/font nobr4 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1By Rob Adams Nokia has purchased mobile bsoftware/b company Symbian Foundation. Employees are expected to join Nokia in February 2009. b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/9-1fd=Rurl=http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081203-nokias-oss-strategy-gets-boost-as-symbian-deal-completed.htmlcid=1276830944ei=XCo4SaivHqqi9gSM26GlDwusg=AFQjCNGa0GefHkcNBhhyeh_UWa1iRJl2GANokia#39;s OSS strategy gets boost as Symbian deal completed/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrArs Technica/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/9-2fd=Rurl=http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Maximizer-Mobile-CRM-Now-Available/story.aspx%3Fguid%3D%257B70A6A2F1-F4D8-431B-8363-B63B615EA94C%257Dcid=1276830944ei=XCo4SaivHqqi9gSM26GlDwusg=AFQjCNFVoEEn7V0FkoAold1zNIthBWd2_QMaximizer Mobile CRM Now Available for Nokia-The Global Leader in b.../b/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrMarketWatch/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/9-3fd=Rurl=http://call-center-software.tmcnet.com/topics/call-center-software/articles/46573-maximizer-crm-maximizes-reach-with-symbian-os-deal.htmcid=1276830944ei=XCo4SaivHqqi9gSM26GlDwusg=AFQjCNF_xKAYt9D37lOfQj2Qtj1l4FOG3AMaximizer CRM Maximizes Reach with Symbian OS Deal/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrTMCnet/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1 class=pa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/9-4fd=Rurl=http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%252BNews/Tech%252Band%252BScience/Story/STIStory_309486.htmlcid=1276830944ei=XCo4SaivHqqi9gSM26GlDwusg=AFQjCNF-dC9_i4XPxqS--GKTmUVUasGhOAnobrStraits Times/nobr/anbsp;- a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/9-5fd=Rurl=http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/40412/118/cid=1276830944ei=XCo4SaivHqqi9gSM26GlDwusg=AFQjCNGppH_vWMe_VNgxWrvDa_UlwfcAjAnobrTG Daily/nobr/a/fontbr/font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1276830944hl=ennobrall 81 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Software - Google News

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