What is RSS?
RSS – Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication – is a programing format which allows for a reader to receive information from anywhere on the world wide web without having to navigate to a number of sites to get it.
Two great examples of RSS in action – Apple’s Dashboard application in which Widget’s gather requested information and compile it in an intuitive interface. And iTunes which has an RSS reader built in for their podcast feature. Using iTunes, you can tell the program to access a specified directory on the web and download files whenever they become available. You can also schedule this operation to be performed on a routine basis.
In order to use RSS, you need an rss reader which will perform the act of accessing the feed and compiling the information. For Mac users, Safari is a solid rss reader which allows you to add dynamic bookmarks to either your bookmark bar at the top of the browser or in your Bookmarks menu. These dynamic bookmarks act as an inbox for a specific feed. Next to the name of the bookmark, there is a number in parentheses which indicates how many new/unread articles there are for that feed. Once you click on the link to few the articles in the feed, the number resets and disappears until new articles become available.
For Mac and PC users alike, a browser called Firefox is available for download at their website. [click on their logo] It works much like Safari 
as it was described above. But there are many rss readers available for download and many are freeware. All you need to do is Google for rss readers.
WHO CARES? – You should. This is great for being on top of all of your friends’ blogs without having to check them for 5 days straight before they either post something or you just get bored of going to their site and give up going altogether. This is also a great way to be informed about what’s going on with your favorite artists here at Pub Can Records. Just click on the RSS button and click “subscribe” in the righthand margin (if you have safari). You will get all the announcements as soon as they are posted and you’ll always be the one telling everyone else what’s going on.
This tool could quite possibly be a virtual coolness generator…
