What the heck is RSS?

You may have noticed these symbols on some of your favorite web sites ... like GWTW. What this means is that these sites provide RSS feeds. Simply put this is just an easy way for websites, news services and weblogs to send you information in 'xml' format. In our case we use it to keep you up to date on changes/additions to our site.

In order to receive a feed you need an "RSS Reader", aka "News Aggregator". There are lots out these and they are free. A Google search on "RSS reader" will return lots of options. We use FeedReader it's easy to install, easy to use. It sits quietly in the notification area of your task bar and every so often it (once an hour is good) it goes out looking for new feeds from your selected sites. If it finds something new it gathers it and informs you that there is new info available. Simple, huh?

To receive feeds once you have the aggregator installed you just right click on the icons and click 'copy shortcut' (IE users), then paste that into the url area that you will see when you set up a new feed.

Need more info? Check out this article at Lockergnome (they also have some great rss feeds on lots of tech stuff!). Word of warning though ... these guys can get really geeky.

Firefox Live Live Bookmarks

Live Bookmarks is a new technology in Firefox that lets you view RSS news and blog headlines in the bookmarks toolbar or bookmarks menu. With one glance, quickly see the latest headlines from your favorite sites. Go directly to the articles that interest you—saving you time.

A site is enabled for Live Bookmarks when you see this icon on the bottom right corner of the browser. Clicking on the icon and selecting an RSS feed will bring up the Add Bookmark dialog. Select 'OK' and you will see Live Bookmarks with the rest of your bookmarks. Many people find it especially convenient to save Live Bookmarks in their Bookmarks Toolbar folder.