The days of getting the news by reading ten newspapers before breakfast are gone. Soon, you won't even have to scan all of your favorite online sources to be up on the latest news. There's a service that can do it for you – fast, and for free!

It's called Real Simple Syndication, better known as an RSS feed.

You've probably seen the little orange icons marked “RSS” already. Click on one and you'll enter a whole new speed zone on the information highway. 

What kind of information can you receive?
Imagine you are visiting a site that offers the RSS feature, a site like the HP Online Courses, HP Events or HP Promotions. If you like the content, click on RSS icon and subscribe to the site. When a new article is uploaded, you'll automatically receive a notification that includes the title and a short description of the content. If you're interested, click on the title and you'll be linked to the full article instantly. 

It doesn't stop there—RSS isn't just for articles. Pretty much any information source that can be broken down into discrete items can be syndicated via RSS: recent additions to blogs, details of special discounts, or alerts as to when new web content is available. 

You determine what you see by subscribing only to your favorite sources. When you do, you'll receive hot-off-the-press, customized information that you can conveniently and quickly scan. You can even see RSS feeds on wireless devices like your mobile phone or handheld.

How does RSS work?
To access RSS feeds, you need a feed reader (sometimes called a news reader or aggregator). This can be software that you install on your computer, or a service you access through the web. Feed reader software is generally free to download. 

There are a number of companies that offer the software, and since feed readers are constantly evolving, you may want to do a web or Wikipedia search to find the latest options for your needs and for your operating system. 

Web-based services require you to register as a user with the website providing the service. Some examples of web-based services are My Yahoo!, Bloglines and Google Reader. Mozilla Firefox®, Windows® Internet Explorer® 7 and Microsoft® Office Outlook® 2007 have feed readers directly integrated – one click and you've subscribed.  

To find more RSS feeds, visit one of the many Internet sites such as CompleteRSS, and Search 4 RSS that maintain large listings of available feeds.

How do you send your own content out in feeds?
Have your own site? Wish you could connect with your customers more often? Got a new blog with helpful how-tos? Install RSS functionality on your site, create a banner to get your visitors to subscribe, and start sending out your new content via RSS. 

If you want to reach a wider audience, you can set up an account with an online media distribution service like Feedburner. Your content will be aggregated and distributed to subscribers around the world. With RSS feeds, finding information is now a skill everyone can learn.