Web, or "RSS" Feeds

What are feeds?

Web feeds (webfeeds, RSS feeds or just feeds) make it easy to keep up with websites you'd like to keep track of, without visiting each one to see if anything is new. Feeds bring changes from your favorite sites to one central spot. You subscribe to feeds with a feed reader. Subscribing is easy and unsubscribing is instant. :-)

Web feeds typically provide headlines and short snippets of new content. If something looks interesting, you go to the originating website and view the rest of the content. [more]

Original Signal is an all-on-one-page feed reader. There are various topic pages there -- buzz, jobs, tech, digg, gadgets, etc. You may not be interested in those specific topics but you'll get a feel for feeds there.

You can find webfeeds for virtually any topic: sports, digital photos Edinburgh, world news, movie reviews, Microsoft, the blues -- anything that strikes your fancy.

NewsGator, a leader in RSS readers, has the best RSS information I've found. Stephanie Quilao explains it all the Oprah way. The BBC has a nice way to explain RSS too.

Feed readers

Yahoo! also maintains a directory of feed readers Feed readers are also called aggregators, which is a strange name that only a publisher could love. :-)

Browser based feed readers

IE7 and Firefox have built-in feed reading. They aren't fancy, but they are an easy way to start. You can also beef them up with add-on readers, some of which are quite good (next).

Internet Explorer 7 has an integral feed reader, which you can enhance with Feed Plus, written by the IE RSS team at Microsoft. There are many ways to use IE6 as a feed reader until you upgrade to IE 7.

LiveBookmarks for Firefox provides basic feed reading. The Brief feed reading extension is "Designed to be easy to use and streamlined, with exactly the right set of features."

If you're looking for something more powerful, try Wizz RSS News Reader or NewsFox for Firefix. There are more ideas at the Firefox Facts blog.

Some email programs, like Thunderbird, also have built in feed readers. It's very easy to set up feeds in Thunderbird. [Use "Tools" > "Account Settings..." > "Add Account" > "RSS News and Blogs".]

Web-based feed readers

Web-based feed readers (aggregators) are an easy way to start reading feeds. Think of them as "Web-mail for RSS". Nothing to install, and you get instant gratification. :-) Most of these also let you search for feeds you're interested in.

Original Signal -- not exactly a feed reader, but it will give you an instant feel for what you can get with feeds.

Rojo is a simple, clean web-based feed reader that you might want to try first.

I use Google Reader. It's simple enough for beginners, yet fast and powerful enough for most others. I uee Google Reader because it's fast, integrates seamlessly with tabbed browsing, and I can quickly and easily skim lots of feeds. It works well in IE7 or Firefox.

Netvibes is similar to Original Signal, but allows you to customize your content.

Bloglines -- easy to use, and you can easily search for all kinds of feeds. It is now much faster than it used to be.

NewsGator -- is tightly integrated with FeedDemon so that you can read feeds offline, at home or at any other computer. FeedDemon is perhaps the most powerful feed reader you can find.

Feed Lounge is a powerful aggregator that many users swear by.

Roundup of web-based feed readers

Gmail and Yahoo! Mail, which are web-based of course, both include feed reading.

PC-based feed readers

These readers (aggregators) run directly on your PC. Some of them, e.g. FeedDemon, are stand-alone programs that work like email clients. Simple "extensions" add feed reader function to Firefox or Thunderbird.

FeedDemon is simply the best PC-based web feed reader there is, IMHO. (And it's now free.) FeedDemon seamlessly integrates with the Web-based NewsGator, so you have the best of both worlds. You can also synchronize FeedDemon with Bloglines. FeedDemon has very good security, both for feeds and enclosures (feed attachments). [using FeedDemon] [FeedStation]

BlogBridge looks very interesting. It's free (and open source), with a lot of active development going on. [installing]

SharpReader and RSSOwl are very capable free feed readers.

RSSMate is a simple free feed reader.

Feed examples:

Robert Scoble is a prolific, entertaining geek-blogger. He is a master of open communication.

The Huffington Post, together with a group blog is an interesting new experiment in journalism. [RSS/XML]

Thomas Hawk's photos on the Flickr photo blogging site.

Jim McLennan's blog on the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Google blog. [Site Feed]

What are blogs?

Blog is a shortened version of "weblog" (web log), which is often a personal website in the form of an online column or diary. Blogs may be updated daily, weekly, or whenever...

Blogs are usually arranged to have the newest entries at the top. Many are trite, but some are entertaining, informative, or both. Most blogs have a web feed with the same content, or a snippets with a links to the blog posts (items).

Blogs often display comments (responses) as well: "One of the beautiful things about blogging is that I can present ideas, concepts, situations or hypotheticals about anything and then open it up to comments. Often I have found the comments offered by readers to provide more value and insight than what I originally wrote." --Mark Cuban, "Blog Maverick"

What is a blogroll?

"It is common for weblog publishers (bloggers) to list on their web page the weblogs that they subscribe to. This list is called a "blogroll" and it facilitates networking in the weblog community (the "blogosphere") as well as provide weblog readers with links to information that they might also enjoy." --NewsGator help

What are podcasts?

A podcast is an audio or video recording posted on-line, often part of a regular series linked by a Web feed. There are thousands of podcasts on every conceivable topic. Podcasts are distributed as MP3 or video files. You can play podcasts on your computer or on the go (with your portable player). Podcast.com, PodShow.com, Podcastalley.com, and Odeo are good places to find and start learning about podcasts.

From Slate Magazine: "None of the individual elements of podcasting (iPods, MP3 files, RSS feeds) is especially new. But the clever folks who combined these elements created something bigger: an audio system that marries portability (a must in radio) with the TiVo-like ability to time-shift programs you don't want to miss. Reception also isn't an issue with prerecorded programs -- you can listen just as easily in a subway or basement as you can outside. The only thing podcasting doesn't offer is live breaking news, but hardware makers are already building MP3 players that include radio tuners. Problem solved."

National Public Radio (NPR) provides Program Feeds as well as regular feeds. They are very similar to podcasts. Program Feeds let you to listen to NPR programs when it's convenient, not when they're broadcast. You can also listen to programs from previous dates. They also provide true podcasts. Other radio stations as well as "Web Stations" have similar feeds.

Getting started with blogs and feeds

Dave Taylor's answer to "How do I subscribe to an RSS feed?" is as good a place as any to get started with blogs and feeds. There's a non-technical explanation of RSS (feeds) at "Of Zen and Computing", and I also have instructions for subscribing to feeds.

There are several free public services where you can establish your own blog, including Blogger and MSN Spaces. You can also set up syndication (an RSS feed) for your blog so that your subscribers will be notified when you update it.

TIP: Links to feeds are quaint. If you click one you'll usually get what looks like an outline of something that doesn't make much sense. That's because most links to feeds are not meant to be clicked -- it depends on the context. To subscribe to a feed, you usually right-click the link; choose "Copy Link Location", and then paste it to your feed reader. Feed links also have a variety of appearances -- look at the feed examples directly above for some of them.

Unfortunately, like email, instant messaging, file sharing, web page scripts, etc., podcasts have enabled yet another attack vector, i.e., a way for bandits to attack your computer. For now, I'll point you to some information that Brian Livingston has about avoiding the threat. Look more here later.

If you're interested in creating your own blog...

"A blog is your easy-to-use web site, where you can quickly post thoughts, interact with people, and more. All for FREE." --Blogger.com Your blog can also have a Web feed if you want one.

"MSN Spaces is a fantastic Web publishing tool for beginners. If you're already using a more advanced tool such as Blogger, it's unlikely that you'll be swayed by the niceties in MSN Spaces. But if that's so, MSN Spaces wasn't designed for you anyway. If you're among the 99 percent of the population who doesn't know HTML from RSS and frankly couldn't care less about the distinction, and you're interested in communicating with others online, MSN Spaces is certainly worth a try. Highly recommended." --Paul Thurrott, SuperSite for Windows

More on blogs, feeds and podcasts

It's not easy to explain in simple prose just how feeds work. You'll catch on quicker by just trying a few of them. But I've pointed to some pretty good attempts at describing them anyway:

From Slate "How To Speed-Read the Net"

FeedBurner has a short but inclusive summary of RSS, feeds and more.

TechWeb and CNET have more comprehensive but readable articles, along with links to more background information.

What is RSS

NewsGator: Search for web fees on any topic

The mother-lode of things you can do with feeds

WSJ.com: Walt Mossberg's brief "Personal Technology" article

Blogs 101: A good sampling of blogs

Robert Teeter's: "RSS: What it is, Where to get it, How to make it, How to use it" will lead you to anything else you'd like to know about this topic.

Globeandmail.com: "In one stroke, podcasting hits mainstream"

Forbes.com: "The Coming RSS Revolution"

NewsMax.com: "Enthusiasts Call Web Feed Next Big Thing"

Last modified 01/10/08