RedWood Review

Putting it technically, RSS is an XML-based format for distributing and aggregating online content. Users are alerted automatically whenever they surf the Internet for any reason. You don’t have to visit the specific website to get these alerts.

There are several standalone RSS reader software programs that can be downloaded. Feedburner provides custom RSS feeds that allow web site publishers to collect statistics on RSS readership and enhance their feeds with photos, affiliate links and eventually ads.

Google Reader makes it easy to subscribe to new feeds. All you have to do is type a URL, and from there, Google will automatically subscribe you to the appropriate feed. Additional features include adding your own favorite RSS feeds fast and easy, keyword filters for moving articles to specified folders.

The easiest way to start using RSS immediately is to use Google’s iGoogle feature, which lets you make a custom home page from your own selection of news feeds. With iGoogle, the “RSS reader” is part of
Google’s website. You don’t need to install any software to get started.

Bloglines is also a great, web-based way to read RSS feeds. Using Bloglines is smooth and easy.