What Is RSS?

You may have seen those little orange RSS or XML buttons around the internet. These are "automated news feeds" and can come from news sites (like CNN or BBC) as well as content sites (like this one!)

Once you get an RSS reader, it's like having your favorite parts of the web come to you. It's much better than through clicking old Bookmark links to see what's new.

In fact, Facebook has a good example. When you log in, your homepage delivers 10 or 20 news feed stories, such as... "Arnold Schwarzenegger commented on your photo" :P

So, by installing a simple RSS reader, you can have all the latest news and stories filtered from your favorite websites. It's personalized - just for you!

(If you're interested, RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. Which isn't actually that interesting.)

How To Set Up RSS

Easy! Download a free RSS Reader first. This is special software that collects your RSS feeds:

Windows users go here: RssReader

Mac users go here: NetNewsWire

Once you're set up, here's all you have to do...

1. Right click (control click for Mac users) on any orange RSS button on a site, blog or news source that interests you.

2. Then select Copy Shortcut (Copy Link to Clipboard for Mac, or Copy Link Location for Firefox).

3. And finally paste the URL into your RSS Reader.

And that's it! You're subscribed.

Don't want to download new software? That's ok, you can subscribe through My Yahoo!, My MSN or Google Reader. Look for these icons: