RSS ("Rich Site Summary" or "Really Simple Syndication") is a simple yet powerful technology widely used by news organizations (e.g., the » BBC and » The New York Times) to keep their online readers up-to-date. The same technology can also keep you up-to-date with what's new here at Access to Insight without you actually having to visit the What's New page.

Here's how to do it:

1. Get an RSS newsreader

A newsreader is a small, easy-to-use program that runs on your computer, in the background, while you go about your business. Its job is to quietly keep track of RSS websites that you like and to alert you when they post announcements to RSS subscribers like you. In Access to Insight's case, you will be alerted whenever I update the What's New page. Once alerted, you can get the full story either by following a link from the newsreader itself or by visiting the What's New page.

Which newsreader should you get? I can't tell you. There are dozens of them. Some are free, some are shareware. I can't possibly evaluate them all and make intelligent recommendations. Of the various newsreaders I've tried for the Macintosh (OS X), two stand out as particularly easy to use: NetNewsWire Lite (free) and » NewsFire (alas, no longer free). Also, the » Firefox web browser supports "live bookmarks" that allow you to subscribe to RSS sites with a single click. For help finding a newsreader, try this » Google search.

2. Subscribe

Follow your newsreader's instructions on subscribing. This is very simple. Depending on which reader you have, you may either have to (a) visit Access to Insight's home page and click a button on your newsreader; (b) go to the home page and click the RSS icon (); (c) type in Access to Insight's URL (http://www.accesstoinsight.org) by hand; or (d) some other equally simple procedure. Either way, it's easy.

3. Sit back and relax

Your newsreader will let you know when anything new appears on Access to Insight.