RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication." -- Web publishers (for example. CNN, NPR, your local newspaper or TV station, financial news sites, your favorite blog) use RSS to create and distribute “news feeds” for frequently changing content. Feeds may include links, headlines, summaries, and even audio or video enclosures ( thus creating audio or video “podcasts”). If you want to keep current on a Web publication, you can subscribe to its feed using a news reader or “aggregator.” The software will notify you when new content is available from that publication.
A news reader or feed aggregator is a software program that allows you to manage news feeds from many sources, automatically retrieving new content as it becomes available. Most Lawrence-owned computers are now pre-configured with either NetNewsWire Lite for Macintosh or FeedReader for Windows – two popular news readers. Several Web-based news readers are also available, including Google Reader, Bloglines, and NewsGator. Learn more
RSS started out by delivering syndicated news and content from blogs. CNN, Yahoo!, MSN, Google and many others have multiple news feeds organized by topic, so you can choose exactly what content you want delivered to you.