Website Alerts FAQ

Please note, our previous e-mail alert system has been disabled in favor of  Twitter, Facebook, and our RSS feed.
If you wish to continue receiving e-mail alerts then please re-subscribe for FREE via Feedburner. To find out more about RSS please read the FAQ’s below.

What is RSS?

RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, is an XML-based format for content distribution on the Internet. It’s an excellent pipeline for Internet users to get updated news content and online articles — the stuff you want — without having to search for it.

Table of contents for the additional RSS topics below:

How Does It Work?

Basically, when a new article is posted or a change made to a our site, RSS keeps track of the changes and delivers them to you.

Is RSS Difficult to Use?

To view RSS feeds, you need an RSS reader (also called an aggregator), which trolls RSS feeds across the Web to regularly update content. All are pretty easy to use, offering users the chance to read, e-mail, save or clip content with a click of the mouse. There are many free, web-based readers, all which compile and update feeds, all which allow anonymous access to their feeds from any computer with Internet access. For heavier users, there are desktop, application-based clients like Microsoft Outlook and/or Feeddemon for Windows and NetNewsWire for Macintosh, that offer more features.

Can I Only Access RSS Through a Computer?

You can access our RSS feed on any mobile device and many cell phones or via e-mail as well as on a computer.

What is a Feed?

A feed is similar to a bookmark in a web browser. For example, if you subscribe to the feed of the New York Times home page, for instance, you will always see the latest content from that page in your reader.

How Do I “Subscribe” to a Feed?

There are various ways. You may see this ( ) on web pages, which is a link to the RSS feed or a page of feeds. Copy the url (the web address) of the feed you want and paste it in your reader to subscribe. Many pages offer one-click subscription to well-known aggregators like NewsGator, Bloglines, Rojo and Google Reader. The latest versions of the popular web browsers IE-7 and Firefox now incorporate RSS feeds into their bookmark programs.

Is RSS a Substitute for E-mail?

No. E-mail is a two-way communication channel. RSS merely keeps content current and is pulled to your favorite reader versus pushed to you like an e-mail. However, they both work together, and you can receive RSS content through e-mail.

Top RSS Readers

RSS feeds are a spam-free, quick and efficient way to read news and weblogs. To get the most out of newsfeeds, you need a powerful aggregator, though, that lets you organize, search, categorize and use news items just like emails.

  • Microsoft Outlook
    Starting with Outlook 2007  there is now a built-in RSS reader within Outlook. Meaning, you no longer need  a third party application like NewsGator to bring RSS reading to Outlook. Please read Microsoft’s Introduction to RSS for more information.
  • Google Reader
    Google Reader is a FREE web-based reader that is simple yet very usable and popular. It also offers a friendly mobile interface.
  • FeedDemon
    FeedDemon is a clean and well thought-out approach to reading RSS feeds. Easy to configure and use, FeedDemon still has a very comprehensive feature set and hardly any weak spots.
  • NewsGator Online Services
    NewsGator Online Services make your RSS feed follow you. Using intelligent subscription and item synchronization, you can read news on the web, via POP email, on a mobile device or in NewsGator for Outlook. Unfortunately, the NewsGator Online Services web edition lacks a bit in features and functionality.
  • NewsGator Inbox for Outlook
    NewsGator does the very right thing of integrating RSS feeds (and Usenet news) with an email client. NewsGator lets you read, archive, organize and search news with all the power of Outlook.
  • NetNewsWire
    Looking for an easy-to-use RSS and Atom reader for the Mac? You’ve found it! The “Eddy” award-winning NetNewsWire has a familiar three-paned inte?face – similar to Apple Mail – and can fetch and display news from thousands of different websites and weblogs, making it quick and easy to keep up with the latest news. You can also download podcasts and audio files and have them show up on your portable audio device.
  • Bloglines
    Bloglines is a great, web-based way to read RSS feeds. There’s no software to wrestle with, and using Bloglines is smooth and easy. You can even subscribe to searches in either your or all feeds and publish a blog with remarkable simplicity.
  • Blog Navigator
    Blog Navigator is a sophisticated RSS feed reader that packs a lot of power — search folders and offline article archiving, for example — in an easily approachable interface. There are still some rough edges, though, Blog Navigator comes with little documentation and search as well as organization show room for improvement.
  • SharpReader
    SharpReader is a great RSS feed reader that knows how to organize news and blogs in their logical order to make following them easy. Virtual folders and searches would be logical next steps.
  • NewzCrawler
    NewzCrawler is a fantastic RSS feed reader with a highly usable interface and tons of useful features and gimmicks. While NewzCrawler lets you post to blogs, its weak spot is news item relations.
  • READ3R.COM: Free RSS Reader
    The fast and free RSS News Reader. Spend less time searching for information and more time with your favorite news, videos, music, podcasts and blogs. Keep up to to date with your favorite websites by subscribing to RSS and Atom feeds.
 

Comments are closed.



Go To Top »