Dave, I keep hearing about RSS, XML and RSS feeds. I just barely have a clue what they are, but when people then start talking about RSS aggregators, what are they talking about and why would I want one? Do you use an aggregator, and if so, which one?

Ain’t jargon fun? RSS is Really Simple Syndication and it’s a simple data-only version of a Web page or, in the case of a weblog, Web site. Why is that interesting? Because it’s then easy to write programs that track this XML formatted data stream and let you know when there’s new material added to the site.

For example, if you were tracking the Ask Dave Taylor RSS data stream then when this article “went live” on my site, you’d receive notification and be able to read it within minutes of it arriving. Maybe not so critical for my tech and business Q&A, I admit, but I also track a number of different business newswires and was reading about the Proctor & Gamble acquisition of Gillette at least a day prior to my colleagues. How do I know that? Because…

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