Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is a new technology that ‘aggregates’ the latest news or web content from your favourite sources, rather than you having to go and look for it.

Most new sites, such as ABC, or BBC, offer RSS as a way to have headlines delivered to you. Increasingly, many popular blogs are now offering RSS feeds.

What is RSS?

RSS technology is used to create a "feed" (list) of headlines that you can have delivered to you. For example, when a number of web sites publish new content to their sites, they update their RSS feed to bring you just the latest news straight to your ‘news reader’.

The news reader is an application (commonly a web application) which aggregates and sorts the information.

Better still, you can add a number of (free) subscriptions to your news reader, making browsing all the latest information from your trusted sources as easy as clicking through folders.

What do I need to use RSS?

In order to receive RSS feeds, you need an RSS reader. You then subscribe to the Web site from which you want to receive content, and the information will be delivered automatically to your RSS reader.

Setting up your news reader:

1. Choose a reader to download, many, such as NewsGator, are free to use.
2. Follow instructions to install and follow any wizards to get the reader up and running.
3. Sites which run RSS feeds will display a icon. Click the icon (or link next to it) to subscribe.
4. Follow your news reader prompts to set up a new subscription.
5. Simply copy and paste the URL of the RSS file into your news reader (often an .xml or .rdf file)
6. Use your news reader to read news when it arrives and click the headline links to get the full web page.

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