RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, and it's a tool that lets you automatically receive content that you choose without having to visit a bunch of different Web sites through the day.
What Is an RSS Feed?
Many sites, including blogs on TBC on the Web, have what are called "RSS feeds." When you add an RSS feed to another tool called an RSS Reader, the content comes to you all in one place. Think of the RSS Reader as something like an e-mail program, but which sends you headlines from blog and news posts instead of e-mails.
How Do I Subscribe to an RSS Feed?
We make it easy to subscribe to blogs on TBC on the Web. If you use Google, Yahoo or AOL, simple click the "Add to Google," "Add to Yahoo" or "Add to AOL" button in the blog's sidebar. You may be prompted to sign in with your user name from that service. When you're done, you will see that links to the most recently posted items from that blog automatically appear on your Google, Yahoo or AOL page. Click the links and you'll go right to a post on that TBC on the Web blog.
Other Readers to Try
If you find yourself subscribing to a lot of blogs, you may want to step up to something like Bloglines, which is a very good, dedicated RSS reader. Simply click the "Add to Bloglines" button in the blog's sidebar, get a Bloglines account and you'll be all set up.
Want to Use Another Reader?
Fine by us! We also include a link to the raw RSS feed, marked by the "RSS 2.0" button. If you don't know what that is you should probably just use one of the other services. We're betting that if you have to ask, you already know how to use a raw RSS feed.
What About Podcasts?
Any blog on TBC on the Web that includes MP3s can also be used as a Podcast. Simply take the raw RSS feed and add it to iTunes or any other Podcasting application such as iPodder. (Hint: in iTunes, click the Advanced menu and choose Subscribe to Podcast, and add the RSS feed there.)
