I'm not sure if many blog readers have noticed, but there is a link on the sidebar of this blog, and many other blogs throughout the blogosphere, that says 'Feed (RSS)', 'Syndicate this site (XML)' or something similar. What exactly does this mean?
RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication" - for allowing people to view, via a 'newsreader' updates of information (usually news or updated blog information, for our purposes). For more history and information concerning RSS, read XML.com's article, "What is RSS?"
So, what does this mean for you and I? This means you don't have to visit a blog or news website to find out if it has updated news or a new blog entry; you can simply open up your newsreader program (list of a few at end of this entry), and it will tell you if there are new blog entries! Some websites even give you some or all of the blog entry or news article, so you can see if you're interested in reading the whole entry by going to the site.
NewsFire Logo
Here are some RSS newsreaders:
For Windows PCs:
Feedreader - Free
RssReader - Free
For Macintosh:
NewsFire - Free (What I use)
NetNewsWire Lite - Free