RSS - what's it all about?

RSS is a simple mechanism that allows a program or website to pull together regular feeds of information from other sites - it's a bit like a news digest, taking clippings from a wide range of newspapers, but it's all automatic.

The simplest way to access a newsfeed is through a personalized home page or a special aggregator program. The "my" feature of Google, Yahoo and MSN all allow you to type in the address of a feed, and it will then appear as part of your home page.

For us that address is http://www.popularscience.co.uk/feed.xml (note Google doesn't expect the start of the address - just use www.popularscience.co.uk/feed.xml)

If you already have a Yahoo home page, you can add our newsfeed just by clicking here.
If you already have an MSN home page you can add our newsfeed just by clicking here.

Alternatively you can pick up a free piece of software to do this - take a look at Newsgator or the Firefox web browser. (with Firefox, go to our home page, then just click on the little orange icon at the right hand end of the box you type the website address into - this makes the newsfeed a special, automatic Bookmark).

If you run your own website you can also incorporate our newsfeed into your site. Just include this code in your HTML:

Be careful on copying that the text comes across exactly as above - if there are any problems, copy into notepad first, then into your HTML editor. To see what the result looks like, take a look at our What's New page.

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