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A whole new way to get news. It's called RSS


RSS is used all over the web. The BATC has its own RSS feed too now. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary. Why RSS? Here is a "nutshell history":

E-mail was the first good way to exchange ideas on the Internet, it's fine for one-to-one or one-to-many distribution, but it has its limits. The Web was the Next Big Thing. But it takes a lot of time to find the good stuff. Here comes RSS. It's more recent and delivers the content you want right to an RSS Reader. Having your own RSS Reader allows you to keep track of new content from your favourite sites.

Using these RSS readers, (you'll have to download a free one) you can view an aggregation of headlines and blurbs from dozens of different Web sites. You add these Web sites as channels. Every headline, in every channel, is linked back to the full article on the originating site.

RSS allows web site owners to make their content available in the RSS format, written in lightweight XML. That's why you often see an orange XML button indicating the RSS-feed option. Making web content available is also called "content syndication".

How does it work? You get a free RSS reader and you point it to the sites you know have good stuff. It checks them regularly and updates your RSS reader. Viola! No more web surfing for the data you need. Very smart and simple, you just check your RSS reader on a regular basis. RSS was originally designed for news sites (like us) to make their content available. Nowadays it's also heavily utilized by bloggers.

Here is just one example of an RSS Reader (for Windows), but there are many you can choose from: http://www.rssreader.com

Also, the current version of the Firefox web browser now supports RSS. You see the RSS icon () at the bottom right hand corner of the browser window. Clicking on it will display what feeds are available and you can subscribe to the ones you want.

Some examples of  RSS Feeds, there are thousands more!

And if you are interested, here is a link to the history of RSS: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/syndication/message/586

Have at it, it's fun and saves time!!