What is RSS?
RSS (or Really Simple Syndication) feeds are free content feeds from Web sites, including Fam5, that contain article headlines, summaries and links back to full-text articles on the web.

What tools do I need to use RSS?
To start using RSS, you need a special news reader or aggregator that displays RSS content feeds from Web sites you select. There are many different news readers available, many of which are free of charge. Most are available as desktop software that you download and install on your computer. Several Web-based news readers are available as well, here is a List of news readers. 

I currently use Google Readerfor my RSS subscriptions.  You might be interested in viewing the items that I’ve shared through Google Reader. 

Once you have set up your news reader, you simply subscribe to the RSS content feeds you want.

What are the benefits of using RSS?
RSS is an easy way for you to be alerted when content that interests you appears on your favorite Web sites. Instead of visiting a particular Web site to browse for new articles and features, RSS automatically tells you when something new is posted online.

Click on the section title link to obtain the RSS URL, which you will see in the “Address” field of of your browser. Simply copy this URL and follow the instructions for your particular news reader to subscribe.

How can I sign up to RSS feeds from Fam5?
To sign up for RSS feeds from Fam5, look for the Subscribe link normally looks like  it can be orange, red, or one of many other colors.

I have ran into some interesting things from the Internet I wanted to share with you guys.First is a site called pageflakes

What is pageflakes?
Pageflakes is your personalized start page on the Internet. Your address book, local weather information, to-do-list, news, blogs and much more – all on one page that you can access from anywhere. I find it a nice alternative to your homepage. At first it was pretty cool but the more I enter my pageflake I find it not as cool as I hoped for. I have not had time to play with it a lot to see if it would allow me to add better content to my page. Worth checking out and seeing what you think. I feel it has potential.

The other thing I wanted to share with you is called Podcastready. It is a site that you can download a little player/downloader for listening to podcast. You add sites either through the desktop player or on the website. Then using the desktop player you can download various podcast and listen to them at your leisure. I have a couple of news cast and a few technology based podcast. I enjoy listening to the opinions and reviews of others. If you enjoy listening to talk radio or watch the news you will find this site up your alley.

Lastly I have been using the RSS feeds a lot lately. I use IE 7 for my browser and one of the new functions is the browsers ability to notice a site has an RSS feed. The RSS feed icon will light up allowing you to add it to your RSS favorites. Then you can visit your favorites and when the link is bold in color you will know to click on it and it will take you to the site so that you can read what they have added to there site for the day.

I hope you find these reviews interesting and you will check them out.

Later
JB