RSS/news aggregation
What is RSS?
RSS, (Really Simple Syndication) is a way of aggregating various web 'feeds' (blogs, podcasts, news articles) into one place, normally a reader, organising the wealth of information that is out there on the internet. Identified by a little orange icon on a page that supplies feeds, you right click on the icon copy the link location and then paste this into your feed reader. Thinking of it like getting your Sunday papers delivered but from a much wider source range.
(For a history of RSS go here.)
Feed readers
There are a number of different readers out there, two of the most notable being Feed Demon and the Google reader. The difference between the two is essentially minimal except one (Google Reader) is a cloud based service and only available on line whereas Feed Demon is a desktop based service requiring synchronisation with the web to get the latest feeds but otherwise available offline. I personally use both of the above depending where I am and what I'm doing. Google reader works well on my G1, whereas if I'm in front of my computer at home I use Feed Burner.
Twitter as a news aggregator
Whilst not a feed reader perse, Twitter can be used to aggregate certain types of news. For instance at the launch of the recent iPhone 3.0 SDK @mollywood, a cnet editor was live on the ground at the presentation. As announcements were made (the launch of cut/paste (at last)spotlight search within the iPhone/Pod itself etc) she tweeted each one, giving you a live rundown of events as they happened, much like the BBC's live text service. This I found, and when its been done with other events, have found, very useful as a tech geek. Live info from the event as it happens.
Hashtags, live search and trending topics
Hashtags are basically like a giant filing system. Basically you precede whatever you want to tag something with a hash symbol. So if you search for #susanboyle this will bring up all tweets from anyone who has mentioned the now infamous Susan Boyle. You can then save this search for future reference. Also, you can use it to file tweets on a certain subject, for instance #mymobilephotos or #facupfinal. So if your having a conversation with someone and want to reference those tweets at a later date hashtag each tweet with a relevant term and you will be able to search everything you have said at a later date. Trending topics are basically as sounds; the most popular search topics over the past 24hrs performed by twitter users. These appear on the right hand side of your page, click on one and it will take you to all the tweets mentioning that topic.
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