What is RSS?

RSS ("Really Simple Syndication") provides an easy, flexible method for automatically delivering information about changing events.

Major news organizations like the BBC and CNN use RSS to deliver headlines and news; The UTCS AI Lab uses RSS to keep subscribers up-to-date about upcoming colloquia sponsored by the Forum for Artificial Intelligence.

How do I use it?

There are several ways to subscribe to RSS feeds, but most people use a program called an aggregator. On Windows, FeedReader is an excellent open-source application, as is Mozilla Thunderbird.

Alternately, you can use Mozilla Firefox; just click on the [RSS] icon to the right of your address bar to create what Firefox calls a 'Live Bookmark'.