RSS offers service that never quits

RSS stands for really simple syndication. It’s a Web feature built into most sites or blogs allowing you to find or receive updates whenever new content is added.

Instead of checking the full site regularly, the RSS system lets you know, and delivers, changes to the Web site. It’s like you’re always getting pizza delivered to your door; you never have to drive somewhere and pick it up.

The way those feeds are delivered to you depends on the aggregator or the RSS reader program you’re using. You can see the updates through that program or even have alerts on RSS feeds sent to your e-mail inbox. All of the feed readers do more or less the same thing. Check out Bloglines.com or Newsgator.com for their versions.

If you love the Googleplex, there’s also a Google RSS reader that does the same thing.

RSS is being used all over the map, creating thousands of ways to monitor or find information. Amazon, for instance, can deliver RSS feeds based on your shopping preferences. Some individual users of Amazon have created dozens of specialized RSS feeds, including one that tracks only free music downloads available at Amazon.com.

If you use the Firefox browser, any site that provides RSS feeds reveals a rectangular orange icon in that specific site’s address bar.

Two other ways to track down RSS feeds are Syndic8.com, which maintains a great search tool for feeds; and Google.com, which allows RSS searches by typing “KEYWORD:rss” and then searching.

Yahoo offers a primer on RSS feeds at http://news.yahoo.com/rss/