RSS--Get the News and Information You Choose

What is an RSS feed?

If you can't afford to miss out on the latest news, are having a hard time managing the deluge of information you receive via e-mail, or simply want a more convenient way to manage and control your online news and information, RSS feeds may be the answer.

Using very simple, easy-to-use, free or low-cost software called an RSS reader, you can have all the latest headlines on topics you choose delivered to your desktop for free. You can even choose the source. When your reader displays a headline of interest, click the headline and you'll be whisked to the source Web site for the full story. With RSS you no longer have to visit your favorite Web sites to check for new updates--you simply open up your reader and see all the headlines from all your selected sources in a matter of seconds.

You can even choose to get "aggregrated" feeds on a particular topic, in which headlines are delivered to you from a variety of sources. RSS makes keeping up with the information that matters to you easy.

Who sends out RSS feeds?

PCWorld.com, CNN, MSNBC, the BBC, Slashdot, and many other major news and information sites now provide their content via RSS feeds. When browsing your favorite site, look for the RSS icon: . Click on the orange icon and you'll be taken to that site's RSS feeds.

PCWorld.com provides a long list of RSS feeds, including Latest News, Editor's Techlog, Most Popular Downloads of the Week, Most Popular Desktop Computers, Most Popular Digital Cameras, Most Popular MP3 Players, Most Popular Notebook Computers, and many more.

Where can I get an RSS reader?

New RSS readers are being developed every day. Here is a list of some of our favorites:

• ActiveRefresh
  
  
• Pluck RSS Reader
  
  
• NewsGator
  
  
• FeedDemon
  
  
• FeedReader
  
  

When you've found the reader you like and you want to add an RSS feed to it, here's the general procedure:

You need the URL of the RSS feed page.

1. Click on the icon of the RSS feed that interests you--for example, PC World's Latest News.
   
   
2. Copy the URL of the page that opens (for PC World's Latest News, it's http://rss.pcworld.com/rss/latestnews.rss).
   
   
3. Open up your newsreader software and paste that URL into the appropriate place. For example, in SourceForge's FeedReader software, click New and a window will open. Paste the RSS URL into the box. Click Next, and then click Finish.
   
   
4. The new feed will appear under "My Feeds" as "PCWorld.com - Latest News Stories".
   
   
5. Click on any headline, and the story will appear in FeedReader's built-in browser in the lower right window of the application.
   
   

Get started!

Download your own reader now and start exploring all that's available through RSS. Start by subscribing to PC World's own RSS feeds now!

For more even more information on RSS, RSS readers, and RSS feeds, read " News on Demand" by Bob Stepno from the July issue of PC World.