Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is a new technology that is a format for easily sharing information, such as headlines, articles, news items, or blog entries over the web. It allows any content or website publisher (such as Simple Station) to create their own news feed, which people all over the world can subscribe to. RSS is becoming very main-stream and is used on blogs, corporate web sites, and news websites such as the Globe and Mail, CBC, CNN, and the New York Times.
Why would I use RSS?
Here are a few reasons why you would want to use RSS:
- Read headlines from many news sources all at once.
- Be updated instantly on new information published to your favorite websites.
- Create your own mash-ups of headlines and information. You control what you read, and where you read it from.
- No advertising when you read your news in the morning.
- No emails - You read your RSS in a RSS reader. No need to clutter your inbox with news headlines.
What does Simple Station use an RSS feed for?
A very good question. We use our RSS feed to let you know about all the the latest happenings at Simple Station. Our feed includes news updates, articles, and our musings on technology and life. It covers just about everything that is new on a daily basis to our website. We want to keep you informed, and RSS is the tool we're using to keep everyone up-to-date.
A simple example
Perhaps the best way to explain RSS is just to give a simple example. Every morning when I wake up I like to read news headlines, and I like reading news from a diverse range of topics. I start off by reading news about the lastest and greatest stuff in the tech industry, then I progress to reading my favorite Dilbert comics, and then I catchup on everything that is new in business and in the world. Prior to the invention of RSS I was getting my news by visiting around 6–7 different websites every morning, and having to filter through advertisements and poor navigation to find the content I was looking for. RSS was the tool that simplified my morning news reading by 600%. Now I get my morning news through a free program called NetNewsWire Lite 2.0 for Mac OS X. There are of course similar programs for Microsoft Windows such as Feedreader.
I can quickly scan articles of interest based on the headlines in the top right pane, and once I've found a headline that looks interesting I just click on it and it provides me with a short description of what that article is about. If I want further information I just click on the name of the article and it opens the article in my internet browser. Once I have read a news item it becomes grayed out so I know which articles I have read and which I have not read, and the best part of it all is that it downloads new articles as soon as they are available so I'm always up to date with what's current (hence the term syndicated). Give it a try! You'll love it!
How can I view your feed? What program do I need?
There are a few things you will need in order to view our rss feed
- A RSS feed reader (which is free) - If you are running Windows, we recommend Feedreader and if you are using a Mac we recommend using Netnewswire Lite. For a more comprehensive list of RSS readers scroll to the bottom of the page.
- Click the subscribe button, and enter in our feed address (URL): http://feeds.feedburner.com/simplestation
Subscribe to Simple Station's RSS Feed
Copy this URL and paste it into your favorite RSS feed reader, or click on it to see it on FeedBurner: http://feeds.feedburner.com/simplestation
More Feed Readers
Below is a list of RSS readers that can be downloaded and installed on a variety of platforms. Some are free, and some are not, but you should certainly be able to find something that you like.
- Windows – RSS Reader
- Windows – Sharp Reader
- Windows – Feed Reader
- Windows – AmphetaDesk
- Windows – NewsGator
- Windows – RSS Bandit
- Windows – Thunberbird
- Mac OS X – Netnewswire
- Mac OS X – Safari
- Mac OS X – Newsfire
- Mac OS X – FeedTicker
- Mac OS X – Thunderbird