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Backing Up Your Stuff Part 2: A Solution
So what do you do when you have so much stuff on your computer that it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to back up the whole thing on a regular basis? You know that you must perform backups (the world is full of dangers to your computer and...
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Awhile back scammers sent an e-mail supposedly from the FBI. The address seemed to be fbi.gov, and the message told you that you had accessed illegal websites...
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15 Ways To Read An RSS Feed
Copyright © 2004 Steve Shaw
No doubt you have seen those small orange 'XML' or 'RSS' buttons beginning to spread across some of your favourite web sites.
Perhaps you have clicked on one out of curiosity, only to be faced with a barrage of angle brackets and undecipherable code, seemingly designed to scare the heck out of anyone less than familiar with the intricacies of this new fangled technology creeping across the web.
But once you click on that button - what do you do then? This article will show you exactly what to do. RSS? It's actually Really Simple, Stupid.
The first thing to do of course is click that button. It may be an orange button with 'XML' or 'RSS' written across it; or you could see the word 'Atom'; or, less commonly, it could be blue with maybe the initials 'RDF'; or it could be a simple link with something like 'Grab My Feed'. Gets confusing, doesn't it? But what the acronyms like XML and RSS actually stand for is less than important - what to do after clicking the button is the important bit.
After clicking the button, you will see all that code - if you have ever viewed the source code to a web page, it looks a little similar.
RSS is just another language of the web, but you can actually completely ignore the code itself, just like you can ignore the source code behind web pages that you visit - you are only interested in the end product that the code is designed to produce for you, the end user.
In the case of RSS, that end product is up to date news on the topics you are interested in.
For example, if you want to keep up to date with the latest information on financial markets, or growing marigolds, or your Aunt Mildred's blog as she travels across the Antarctic, and you see a feed on that particular topic, you can 'subscribe' to it and receive messages via the feed, each time the publisher of the feed updates it.
So how do you 'subscribe' to an RSS feed? The important bit is what is in the browser address (or location) bar after clicking the feed button, i.e. the bit at the top of your browser window that usually starts with 'http://...' and tells you the web address of the page you are visiting.
After clicking the RSS (or XML, etc.) button, you need to copy that address - it's that address that you need to 'plug' into what is generally known as a 'news
reader'.
News readers allow you to keep updated with the feeds that you are subscribed to. There are several to choose from - some involve downloading some software, some involve visiting a web site, some are free, and some require a small investment.
Once you have chosen a particular news reader, you simply take that address that you have copied, and, following the instructions provided with the news reader to subscribe to, or add a new feed, simply paste it in - the reader will take care of the rest, and keep you updated with your new feed. Once you have done it once, you will see just how simple it really is.
Here are 15 different news readers you can choose from, in approximate order of recommendation under each category:
Browser-Based: BlogLines (http://www.bloglines.com) AmphetaDesk (http://www.disobey.com/amphetadesk/) NewsIsFree (http://www.newsisfree.com/)
Software For Windows: NewsGator (http://www.newsgator.com/) - integrates into Microsoft Outlook FeedDemon (http://www.bradsoft.com/feeddemon/) Awasu (http://www.awasu.com/) SharpReader (http://www.sharpreader.net/) FeedReader (http://www.feedreader.com/) NewsWatcher (http://www.newswatcher.com/) NewsRanker (http://egofile.com/newsranker/) - claims to learn from your news reading to prioritize the feed items you receive Novobot (http://www.proggle.com/novobot/) - extracts headlines from feeds, and also web sites that you are interested in Radio Userland (http://radio.userland.com/) - blogging tool with an integrated news aggregator
Software For Mac: NetNewsWire (http://ranchero.com/netnewswire/)
Software For Linux: Straw (http://www.nongnu.org/straw/) for GNOME RSS2email (http://www.aaronsw.com/2002/rss2email/) - Python script that sends you new messages from your feeds via email
It's useful to spend a few minutes researching some appropriate choices - once you've decided on one that you believe to be suitable, you can start picking up new feeds straight away. It's Really So Simple, you won't look back.
About the Author
Steve Shaw creates software and systems for effective e-marketing at http://takanomi.com. Sign up to his RSS feed, and receive important information on using RSS effectively for e-marketing - just click the following link to sign up: http://takanomi.prorss.com/r/sp/21
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Tucows Downloads - Download Freeware and Shareware Software |
Download freeware, shareware, and demos. Maintains over 45000 software titles that are tested, rated, reviewed and ready to download. |
www.tucows.com |
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Free Software Downloads and Software Reviews - Download.com |
Download shareware, freeware and Demo software for PC, Mac, Linux, and Handhelds categorized into categories, plus software reviews. |
www.download.com |
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Computer software - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
This includes application software such as a word processor, which enables a ... Application software is often purchased separately from computer hardware. ... |
en.wikipedia.org |
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Shareware.com - Search for shareware programs and free software ... |
Search for shareware programs from more than a dozen downloadable software directories. |
www.shareware.com |
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Jumbo: Free & Shareware MP3 files, Games, Screen Savers & Computer ... |
Source of free and shareware computer programs and utilities for PC and Mac. Evaluate software and read product reviews. Download games and screen savers. |
www.jumbo.com |
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Computer Software in the Yahoo! Directory |
Browse categories featuring sites devoted to computer software, including shareware and freeware download sites, operating systems, desktop customization, ... |
dir.yahoo.com |
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IEEE Software |
IEEE Computer Society's magazine covering all aspects of software, including software engineering. |
www.computer.org |
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Free Downloads on ZDNet | Shareware, Trialware, Evaluation Software |
ZDNet's Software Directory is the Web's largest library of software downloads. Covering software for Windows, Mac, and Mobile systems, ZDNet's Software ... |
downloads.zdnet.com |
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FSF - The Free Software Foundation |
Free software is a matter of liberty not price. Think of "free" as in "free speech". |
www.fsf.org |
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Apple - Software |
Software products for your digital life. ... The perfect addition for professional review. QuickTime Broadcaster. Encoding software for live events. ... |
www.apple.com |
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Open Directory - Computers: Software |
In Partnership with AOL Search. about dmoz | report abuse/spam | help. the entire directory, only in Computers/Software. Top: Computers: Software (38471) ... |
dmoz.org |
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freshmeat.net: Welcome to freshmeat.net |
About: The Web browser is probably the most frequently used software today, ... Web professionals can use the software for functional testing and regression ... |
freshmeat.net |
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Software - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF) |
Listing of the GNU software packages. |
www.gnu.org |
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Sun Software |
Get enterprise-class software--Solaris 10 OS, the Java Enterprise System, ... Sun Java StorageTek Software reduces cost and complexity with a single, ... |
www.sun.com |
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Internet Real Estate.com -- owns and operates a portfolio of the ... |
SOFTWARE.COM · SWEEPSTAKES.COM · PHONE.COM PODCAST.COM ... Software.com | Sweepstakes.com | Phone.com | Podcast.com | Shop.com | Safety.com ... |
www.internetrealestate.com |
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Joel on Software |
A weblog by Joel Spolsky, a programmer working in New York City, about software and software companies. |
www.joelonsoftware.com |
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Amazon.com Software: Computer & video games, business, accounting ... |
Online shopping for computer & video games, business & office productivity software, software from Microsoft, Apple, Adobe & more; accounting, antivirus, ... |
www.amazon.com |
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IBM Software - Home Page |
IBM home page for all of its software products, including Lotus and Tivoli, with keyword search, category browse and AZ product names. |
www.ibm.com |
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Opera web browser: Homepage |
Copyright © 2006 Opera Software ASA. All rights reserved. Skip navigation. Opera Software ... Copyright Opera Software ASA . All rights reserved. ... |
www.opera.com |
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Google Directory - Computers > Software |
Search only in Software Search the Web ... Software Categorized by Letter: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z ... |
www.google.com |
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