RSS

I know I’m a bit late to the party, but I want to extol the virtues of RSS feeds. Do you feel like you spend too much time checking news or entertainment websites for new information—items added since the last time you checked? RSS is the answer to your prayers. All the new content of your favorite websites, columnists, bloggers and contributors in one place. Anyplace you see the RSS logo—a series of small concentric quarter-circles (usu. marked “RSS”), you can add that content to your RSS Reader. (I use Google Reader, to which I’m automatically signed in while on email or my blog.) Once your favorite content is loaded into your Reader, you only need check your Reader to be up to date on each site. It’s even possible to have your friends’ blogs (ahem) feed into your Reader. I’m following Change of Subject, Eric Zorn’s Chicago Tribune blog; Steve Chapman’s Chicago Tribune blog; the Movable Buffet, Richard Abowitz’ Las Vegas blog for L.A. Times; The Swamp, Frank James’ and Mark Silva’s Chicago Tribune blog on politics in Washington; and two friends’ blogs—Tim/Amy Dawson, who are living in Quito; and Sharna Marcus.
To get started with Google Reader, from google.com, click on “More” and then “Reader.”