RSS: What it is, why you need it

Perhaps need is putting it a little strongly, but RSS can add some power to your web browsing. RSS stands for 'rich site summary' or 'really simple syndication.' It's a way to read what's on a web site without actually going to it. An example may help: Let's say you have a handful of weblogs you like to read every day. You load each page by typing the url or clicking a bookmark, but sometimes the blog has been updated and sometimes it looks the same as it has for the last 2 weeks. If a blog has an RSS feed, then you can subscribe to it with your RSS reader and with one glance you can see what sites have been updated. With a few clicks you can read all of the new content. So now that you're not clicking through several sites every day (or every 2 hours) you can add more subscriptions and read them all very quickly and efficiently. I have 79. RSS can save you lots of time and help you read more content than you would have been able to. Now you just need a good RSS reader . . .

Bloglines: The best reader I've tried

Since I learned about RSS I've been trying to find a good reader. I've tried FeedDemon, SharpReader, NewzCrawler, NewsMonster RSSOwl, Pears, FeedReader, Abilon, Akregator, AmphetaDesk, PocketReader and NewsIsFree.com. I finally found one that I like: Bloglines.com. I've already posted about this twice now on Brendoman.com. Brendan has switched to it, too. Basically, Bloglines is a free web service. You sign up, add a few feeds and then you can read your subscriptions from any web browser. It keeps track of what you have and haven't read, so you can quickly see which content is new to you. It's easy to add and manage you subscriptions. It's even easier if you're using Firefox and you download the Mozilla Toolkit. There are all kinds of little features I could talk about, but you'll just have to take my word for it and give it a try. If you must see what it's like before signing up, you can take a look at my subscriptions, which I've made public. It won't remember what you've read, but you'll get the basic idea, and you might find some feeds you want to subscribe to. RSS + Bloglines + Firefox can make you a power surfer, so what are you waiting for?