Why Should I care about RSS Feeds

Why Should I care about RSS Feeds SPAM and viruses have wreaked havoc with a communication medium and reduced its value. Users have become admittedly paranoid about privacy issues and have begun "tuning out" and mentally filtering mail.
What this means is that vendors really ought to begin exploring alternatives means of communciation in order to be heard. One of these alternatives is RSS or Really Simple Syndication. While I'm not suggesting that you abandon email I think that many might want to consider RSS feeds as well. Because RSS Feeds are selected by the end user spam is not an issue. RSS is created using XML, a very basic markup language. One that does not contain the risks inherent to email. Endusers select the feeds they wish to view. Content providers select the feeds they wish to display.
By providing a RSS feed another site may pick up "news" about your software and post it. If email continues on a self destruct course RSS will become a new standard and an accepted viable alternative or more likely an email supplement. For now if you have a "technical" customer base RSS might be a "cool" thing to add.
What are RSS Feeds - In very simple non-technical terms RSS is an XML file containing a directory of web pages with related news or information. The RSS is contained in an XML file and referred to as a "feed". RSS format is very simple, in fact even I was able to create a feed with little effort. The XML file basically contains what would be commonly used as a title and description in an html document, along with the url of a web page containing the actual content.
Sample feeds can be seen at:

Syndication is the heartbeat of the web 2.0 movement

Syndication is undoubtedly the heartbeat of the web 2.0 movement. A feed reader, the most common solution to consuming synidcated content, saves the user time by monitoring countless sites and sources and providing near real-time updates to one location.
There are a number of different types of readers: web-based, desktop, Outlook based, etc… This post is focused solely on web-based feed readers. I’ve included the big guys plus some up and coming readers with outstanding features and/or performance like News Alloy, Gritwire, Attensa and FeedLounge.
All the web-based feed readers reviewed are free except for FeedLounge, which charges $5 per month.
The Web-based Feed Readers
I examined nine web-based feed readers (for previous reviews of each of these, see the TechCrunch Index):
Attensa Online
Bloglines
FeedLounge
Google Reader
Gritwire
News Alloy
NewsGator Online
Pluck Web Edition
Rojo
I did not evaluate MyYahoo, the most widely used web-based reader, or similar products like Live.com, Google IG and Netvibes because these are more virtual desktop applications or portals with RSS reading built in. Heavy RSS users need a more industrial strength application like the ones I have listed above. I believe MyYahoo is a great option for a quick read of your feeds or for on the go feed readers viewing the Internet via cell phone or handheld device, but this service does not have the feature set for a heavy information consumer.
Researching these nine readers further underscores the extremely competitive atmosphere surrounding this industry’s development. On a feature-set basis only, two companies stood out: Rojo and Bloglines.
Google Reader and FeedLounge won my subjective feed-load test, which determines how well the application pulls up a particular feed. The test consisted of loading five feeds and taking the average of the load times and rating the reader on a five-point scale. Interestingly, FeedLounge is the only premium service of the group at $5 a month. Aside from the exceptional performance rating, I wonder what else sets FeedLounge apart from its free competitors. However, many users are religious about readers with a three pane display that FeedLounge, Attensa and Gritwire all offer.
Web 2.0 Features
Rojo, a San Francisco-based company which was reviewed previously on TechCrunch, has the most prominent web 2.0 swagger. News Alloy offers a close second though with itís tagging, rating and other content repositioning (i.e. add to Digg, add to del.icio.us).
User Ratings: Several of the readers offer rating systems, but I think Rojo’s “Mojo” is the most appealing. Mojo, a term reflecting user-generated reviews, mirrors a feature on the popular social news aggregator digg. After entering an item in the feed you can Mojo it to boost its relevance. NewsGator Online also offers a user generated content feature called “Latest Buzz,” which determines and displays the number of people linking to items in NewsGator. News Alloy employs a rating system similar to Rojo that tallies the number of times someone rates an item.
Tagging: Rojo generates a tag cloud from user-generated tags. Google Reader offers the same feature under a different name, “labels.” It seems FeedLounge uses tagging as the sole search and discovery mechanism. News Alloy also allows tagging of posts.
Social Aspects: Rojo and Gritwire feature “contacts,” which adds a social aspect to the reader, allowing a user to share information within a network of contacts.
Feed Discovery & Recommendations: Pluck, a Texas-based social media company, built a feature called FeedFinder into its Web Edition, which improves feed discovery. Rojo recommendations feeds in the top right corner of the layout while you browse.
Up and Coming Readers
Attensa, a Portland-based company, offers a reader that has a very professional and clean interface. While lacking many features the rest of the pack has, it pulls feeds up very quickly. In talking with Matthew Bookspan, Attensa’s Director of Product, I learned Attensa will be launching a new and improved version of the web-based reader that should fare better on the comparison chart. Additionally, Attensa will soon offer a mobile-enabled view of its reader, rendering nicely in handheld devices or cell phones.
Gritwire, a company based just north of Chicago, boasts a Flash-based feed reader that performs very well and offers integrated social networking features similar to Rojo. Gritwire uses a contact-list approach that allows you to share feeds among friends. I spoke with Ian Carswell, Gritwire’s co-founder and COO, who said Gritwire has more web 2.0 features in store, and I am curious to see them in action.
News Alloy, offers an Ajax driven reader with lots of power user bells and whistles. Though it underperformed in the subjective feed-load test Mike and found it to be extremely fast in other operations.
Feature Comparison Chart
The chart summarizes the research conducted in comparing these readers. I was not able to speak with every company directly so I may have missed some details. Consider this chart a living document to be updated if additional information becomes available. Also, I have left a number of competitors off this chart - there are so many web-based readers and I had to limit research to what I consider the main players in the field.
Summary
If you are looking purely for performance, Google Reader and FeedLounge are the fastest in our tests. Bloglines and Rojo are the best choice if you are looking for a feature rich application (and Rojo blows Bloglines away on “web 2.0″ type features).
None, however, yet approach the speed and agility of the best desktop based readers like NetNewsWire and FeedDemon.
Editor’s Note: Frank Gruber, who writes the excellent blog, accepted our offer to write this research piece on TechCrunch. Thank you, Frank.

What Are RSS Feeds?

What Are RSS Feeds?
RSS FeedsRSS also known as rich site summary or real simply syndication, arrived on the scene a number of years ago, but was only recently embraced by webmasters as a means to effectively syndicate content. RSS Feeds provide webmasters and content providers an avenue to provide concise summaries to prospective readers. Thousands of commercial web sites and blogs now publish content summaries in an RSS feed. Each item in the feed typically contains a headline; article summary and link back to the online article.
Benefit to the Webmaster As the web has become more crowded webmasters have been striving to provide fresh and up to date content for their website visitors. Many webmasters have discovered they can easily utilize the information in RSS feeds to provide fresh web content.
RSS feeds are composed in XML, which is a very simple markup language. Similar to HTML, XML uses tags to identify fields. Webmasters can easily parse the RSS feed and dynamically create web pages that contain headlines and summaries. The feeds will continuously update, supplying a steady stream of automatically generated fresh content.
RSS allows webmasters to:1.) Provide fresh and relevant content on their website, which encourages users to return.
2.) Constantly changing content means that search engine spiders will visit more frequently.
3.) Automate content delivery.
The benefits of RSS feeds are not limited to webmasters, surfers too benefit from the technology as well.
Benefit to Web SurfersThe beauty of RSS is that readers can quickly scan headlines (titles) and read articles of interest. Because the information is condensed and provided in a single location users can generally review more information in a shorter time frame. Additional information is only a click away. Best of all readers choose the feeds they wish to see, there is no spam with RSS. If you are not completely thrilled with the content appearing in a feed simply remove it from the newsreader. The technology is a pull technology rather than push technology, meaning the content is not forced on the consumers, who pull the content they want to see.RSS allows for users to:1.) Easily locate information.
2.) Read condensced information or 'soundbytes' with clearly marked and dated topic material.
3.) Classify and categorize information in an easy to navigate manner.
4.) Maximize their time without having to deal with spam.
RSS feeds can be viewed in a news aggregator or reader, which constantly updates and shows unread feeds. I found the functionality of the newsreaders to be similar to a simple email client. Consumers generally enter the URL of any RSS feeds that interest them. Topics with a common theme can be segregated into related groups.
I highly recommend FeedDemon http://www.feeddemon.com by BradSoft as a newsreader. FeedDemon is extremely easy to use and allows for quick scanning and indexing of topics. FeedDemon allows users to quickly scan, sort and scroll through headline and article summaries, while viewing the actual content in a split screen web browser.
Finding Topic Specific Relevant FeedsIn order to find feeds that provide niche information users can search Feedster. Feedster http://www.feedster.com is a rapidly growing news search engine that indexes information contained within RSS feeds. Searches for topic specific feeds can be conducted and feeds can be retrieved for syndication.
Benefit to Content DeveloperWhile the benefits to users and webmasters are clear the distribution opportunities made available to content developers should not be overlooked. Information contained in the RSS feed can be easily syndicated, increasing content distribution and reach.
RSS allows for content developers to:1.) Increase exposure in niche markets.
2.) Communicate with user bases and reach potential customers via an alternate communication method.
3.) Disseminate relevant information.
4.) Define themselves as an industry expert.
5.) Automate content delivery.
RSS has effectively standardized the format for content delivery and has effectively defined the accepted standard for content distribution and syndication. RSS will likely rival email as a means of content distribution in another few years. The shear simplicity makes the technology very appealing.
The distribution potential, while albeit difficult to measure, is still attractive to all parties making the likelihood that RSS popularity will only continue to grow.

Genealogy Podcasting - Family History

Genealogy Podcasting
You've probably heard about weblogs, also referred to as "blogs," that are used to communicate in a fun and newsy way on the Internet. In fact, Ancestry.com will soon be introducing its new 24-7 Family History Circle, which paired with the new Ancestry Weekly Journal, will be a new way to communicate with you. It promises to bring a new and more exciting method of communication to readers.
Something else new is happening on the Internet in the genealogy and library communities. It's a way to learn and a way to share information with others. It's called a "podcast" and, in Along Those Lines . . . this week, I'll explain what a podcast is and how you can put it to use, both for yourself and your genealogical society, and where to find podcasts that may be of interest to you.
What Is a Podcast? Wikipedia, the free, online encyclopedia, defines podcasting as "distribution of audio or video files, such as radio programs or music videos, over the Internet . . . for listening on mobile devices and personal computers." With the increases in communications speeds offered by broadband network providers, data is more quickly moved than ever before.
A podcast is typically nothing more than a recorded file that uses the types of compressed audio and video file formats that can be played back by free or low-cost audio and/or audio-video software. A podcast is created at the discretion of the producer--daily, weekly, monthly, or sporadically.
Audio podcasts are typically created in the common MP3 file format that you can play on your computer if you have the Microsoft Media Player, RealPlayer, or any other audio file program. They are then uploaded to a host site on the Web where you can listen to a program, download it to your computer, or you can go to a podcast subscription site that will regularly "feed" it to your computer device through a protocol called RSS (short for Really Simple Syndication).
If that sounds complicated, it really isn't. The podcast's creator(s) submit information to a podcast directory and subscription service. That automatically sets up a feed that communicates the availability of a new episode and, if you have subscribed to receive each new episode, it will be automatically downloaded to your computer for you to do what you like with it. READ FULL

RSS Tips for every one

RSS is not for everybody in the same way as all other mediums of technology are. However by far, RSS is considered the most reliable content delivery channel there is. It is also believed to be able to increase search engine rankings, enhance e-mail marketing and builds on that relationship, generates media coverage through content syndication, develop on-line conversations and a whole lot more of possibilities. As such, its users should be able to maximize its use for their greater benefit and convenience. Here’s how:
.TPtable a {text-decoration:underline; color:#000099; font-weight:bold;} img.header{width:160px;height:45px;} img.cover{width:38px;height:53px;} img.bullet{width:20px;height:20px;} img.footer{width:160px;height:25px;} .TPtable{font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica; background:#FFFFFF; width:160; height:300; padding:0px;} .TPheader{padding:0px; height:24px; background-image:url('http://img.tradepub.com/images/tech160x45head.gif');background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center center;border-left:1px solid #65686A; border-right:1px solid #65686A;} .TPcell{font-size:10px; color:#000000; padding:5px; vertical-align:top; border-right:1px solid #65686A;} .TPcellH{font-size:10px; color:#000000; padding:5px; vertical-align:top; border-left:1px solid #65686A; border-right:1px solid #65686A;} .TPbullet{padding-left:6px; width:24px; background-image:url('http://img.tradepub.com/images/navytpicon.gif');background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center center; border-left:1px solid #65686A;} .TPfooter{background-image:url('http://img.tradepub.com/images/tech160x25foot.gif');background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center center; border-left:1px solid #65686A; border-right:1px solid #65686A;}

Businesses Beware - New Battlefront in Email and WebEmail and the Web offers colossal...

FierceIPTV

Research Report: Magic Quadrant for E-Mail Security Boundary, 2006

The Perfect Storm: Man in the Middle Security Attacks

ROI Calculator for BlackBerry Beyond Email

Hundreds more titles...
1. Use the RSS initially as an end-user. The first step in any worthwhile activity is understanding the intricacies of how it works. It would be impossible to fully comprehend anything without having the benefit of actual experience in using it. One can get an RSS aggregator as there is a variety of providers to choose from. Among the most popular and highly recommended are My Yahoo!, Bloglines, Firefox and NetNews Wire. Subscribing to other RSS feeds can immediately hasten the learning process. 2. Set up a plan for your RSS feeds. Planning one’s RSS feeds is very important since it can be used for various purposes of the user. An RSS feed may be needed for e-zines, news section and articles. Other opportunities available in RSS includes follow-up RSS feeds, feeds for affiliates, feeds for employees or business partners, feeds for the media and many others. A technology that is capable of such diverse application requires organization and order. 3. Make a list of RSS Marketing Requirements. There are several basic questions that need to be taken into consideration when you push to publish your feeds. Some of which includes whether RSS publishing is to be integrated with existing content management system, whether your feed requires personalization particularly the RSS content or whether you would want to provide subscribers with the ability to select the content they would prefer to receive. Other considerations are the RSS metrics desired, the host of the feeds and the budget. 4. Choose among available publishing tools in creating a feed. Marketing and publishing tools come in a few general categories namely desktop feed generation tools, hosted on-line RSS publishing solutions, advanced RSS marketing solutions plus a few other options. Desktops software is relatively inexpensive and is quick and easy to use in generating RSS feeds but generally does not allow for more advanced features. A basic hosted on-line RSS publishing solution can be chosen to avoid being bothered by a desktop tool and the constant upload of your RSS feeds to your server. The more advanced RSS marketing solutions which include additional capabilities such as metrics, scheduled autoresponder messages, database building capabilities and the like. Other options would include the use of an existing content management system to publish RSS feeds or a blog publishing solution. 5. Be sure to promote your RSS feeds through your own channels. This is best done through the creation of an RSS presentation page which should contain an explanation of what an RSS is, the benefits to be expected from it use, recommendation of a free RSS aggregator, the manner of subscribing to these feeds and the reason why people should subscribe to your RSS feeds. The same page can also include the links to all your other RSS feeds as well as direct links for subscriptions to relevant services. This page is to be promoted as much as possible in all available channels such as the e-zine subscription box, e-mail messages and e-zine issues. For more than one published RSS feed, each can be promoted next to their topics on the site. It should be remembered that nothing is more effective than a compelling copy in convincing people to subscribe. 6. Promote your feeds as well through external channels. This can be done by submitting your feeds to appropriate search engines and directories where the best lists are found. The RSS aggregator sites should be pinged every time an update is done to the on-line content. Your feed content can also be syndicated to other web media. 7. Allow syndication of your RSS feed. RSS as one of the potent marketing channels needs to be used to leverage the most out of its format. Allowing others to take your RSS feed and use it to refurbish your news in their homepage will work to your advantage. In fact, it should be encouraged by providing short stories or simple explanations of how easy it is to search, filter and aggregate content from various RSS feeds as well as create dedicated news channels. 8. People who adopt RSS are in it primarily for the information. No one in particular would want to adopt RSS. The people who do are in it for the timely information they get in a controlled and organized way that helps them become better either at their work or their personal life. The tremendous volume of information and news available through RSS is very hard to ignore. 9. RSS, Blog, E-zines and E-mail can work together. Most marketers still depend mostly on e-mail as their key marketing and communication tool. However, getting e-mail through is becoming increasingly difficult due to spam filters and spam itself. RSS has become the essential element to e-mail delivery at a time where many Internet users choose to ignore e-mail subscriptions and subscribe only to RSS content. Blogs and e-zines are concerned with the content and what is published on-line. RSS and e-mail are concerned with getting the information to the reader. One is not intended to replace the other but rather to work hand in hand together, 10. Use RSS potential for providing value in market research. RSS holds much potential when it comes to its capability in reaching new customers. However, the best approach is to walk carefully rather than running head-on as there is much danger in over-hyping this medium. Patience would be a required virtue especially for companies that have sophisticated reporting systems. Advertisers should refrain from the annoying practice of placing an ad after every item. They would do well to observe the best practice guidelines for RSS advertising. The RSS promises to provide to end-users a unified one-stop-shop for consumption of on-line content. It hopes to do away with the need to visit several sites each day just to see what’s new. On-line subscriptions will no longer interfere with personal and business e-mail communications. It likewise promises to give its users complete control over their content consumption. They even have the option to unsubscribe from content they do not wish to receive. Breaking news is received as it becomes available. There is absolutely no need to wait for worrisome recaps sent to their e-mail addresses. RSS makes possible the certainty of receiving the content users would want without the inconvenience brought about by spam filters. It also has the ability to receive content directly to desktops including audio and video content. To sum it up, RSS provide the tool that makes the user’s lives so much easier with its important advancements that can change how Internet content is consumed.

About The Author:http://www.theinternetone.net

How to Write a Better Weblog

There’s been a recent retread of the weblogging phenomenon following a few articles at PC Mag, Time, and The Morning News. After posting my own short list of things that ought to be banned from weblogs, I realized that a list of things to be encouraged would be more useful. Some people are new to weblogging. Others want to raise the bar. In the end, everybody wants better sites, and some of these suggestions might help.
The bulk of this advice focuses on writing, which is generally at the heart of weblogs. All of them are obvious yet often ignored, to the detriment of both the readers and the writers. They’re aimed at people trying to improve the general appeal of their weblogs, but folks writing privately for friends and family might also find them useful. We’ll begin with an example. READ FULL

What is RSS?

What is RSS?
RSS is an acronym for Really Simple Syndication and Rich Site Summary. RSS is an XML-based format for content distribution. Webmasters create an RSS file containing headlines and descriptions of specific information. While the majority of RSS feeds currently contain news headlines or breaking information the long term uses of RSS are broad.
RSS is a defined standard based on XML with the specific purpose of delivering updates to web-based content. Using this standard, webmasters provide headlines and fresh content in a succinct manner. Meanwhile, consumers use RSS readers and news aggregators to collect and monitor their favorite feeds in one centralized program or location. Content viewed in the RSS reader or news aggregator is place known as an RSS feed.
RSS is becoming increasing popular. The reason is fairly simple. RSS is a free and easy way to promote a site and its content without the need to advertise or create complicated content sharing partnerships. more