What is RSS? Aggregators - Bloglines, GoogleReader, PageFlakes and more

RSS - Really Simple Syndication - content can be read using software called a "feed reader" or an "aggregator." The user subscribes to a feed by entering the feed's link into the reader or by clicking an RSS icon in a browser that initiates the subscription process. The reader checks the user's subscribed feeds regularly for new content, downloading any updates that it finds.

Oprah talking about RSS ... click on the link in the title or go to the blog

The articles starts ... "Now to explain RSS the Oprah way
Today, I’m going to explain how RSS can help you live your best life online. We all have busy lives with very little time. Web surfing is fun but can take hours going to visit every single website and blog you enjoy. Wouldn’t it be fabulous if you could just get all the headlines of the most current stories from all your favorite websites and blogs in one place? Well now you can, and it is called RSS feed.

The Oprah definition - The technical acronym for RSS is “Really Simple Syndication”, an XML format that was created to syndicate news, and be a means to share content on the web. Now, to geeks and techies that means something special, but to everyday folks like you and me, what comes to mind is, “Uh, I don’t get it?”

So, to make RSS much easier to understand, in Oprah speak, RSS stands for: I’m “Ready for Some Stories”. It is a way online for you to get a quick list of the latest story headlines from all your favorite websites and blogs all in one place."

Bloglines is web-based personal news aggregator that can be used in place of a desktop client.

Google Reader, keeping up with your favorite websites is easy. It constantly checks your favorite news sites and blogs for new information.

igoolge - go to goolge login and customize your hompepage. You can bring individual RSS feeds or add the Google Reader.
With Google Reader, keeping up with your favorite websites is as easy. It constantly checks your favorite news sites and blogs for new information and updates!

Antother interesting personalized start page is Pageflakes. An interesting feature, you can share out a tab for other people to see. It also has a blog function. Looks like the next step up from igoogle.
Pageflakes- Pageflakes is your personalized start page with news readers, RSS feeds and various other features. Will Richardson talks about using PageFlakes as a student portal.