RSS - Huh?

If you've found yourself scratching your head when the abbreviation RSS comes up, you are not alone. The following information may prove lucrative:

RSS - Rich Site Summary (dictionary.com)
RSS - Really Simple Syndication (Wikipedia)

RSS is bascially a format for delivering regularly changing web content. It is used to publish content such as news headlines, blog entires, revision history of a book, yada yada yada. The document itself is called a "feed," "web feed," or "channel." Once information about each item is in RSS format, an RSS-detection program can check the feed for changes and react to the changes in an appropriate manner.

A feed reader or news aggregator software is required to read the RSS format. Some of the more common web-based readers include Google Reader, My Yahoo, and Bloglines.

It comes in handy for those who have the constant need of browsing and staying informed, yet dislike visiting multiple websites for the latest information. It saves time and ensures privacy by eliminating the need to join each site's email newsletter. There are a number of sites that offer RSS including CNN, BBC, and our favorite site LearningRemix, etc.

As a matter of fact, the navigation menu bar on Windows Internet Explorer 7 has a RSS button (a dot with three arcs around it - next to the HOME button) which turns orange (the RSS icon color) as soon as the browser detects feeds at the website you visit. You can click the RSS button and browse the content of that particular website as headlines.