Blogs and other news feeds are distributed through a technology called RSS, shorthand for Really Simple Syndication. You can view RSS feeds in the Safari browser (they’re sometimes called XML feeds) and Mail, choosing either as the default RSS reader. When you subscribe to an RSS feed, you’ll get a barebones summary (and title) for articles listed, such as the feed shown here from Apple. You can click the Read More link to check out the full article. If Safari finds a feed, RSS appears in the address bar.
If you want to be notified when new feeds arrive, go to Safari preferences (found in the Safari menu), click RSS, and select how often to check for RSS updates (every 30 minutes, every hour, every day, or never). To peek at all RSS feeds (from multiple sites) at one time — a great way to customize your own newspaper, in effect — place all your feeds in a single bookmark folder. Then click the folder’s name and choose View All RSS Articles. The default bookmarks bar that comes with Safari includes folders full of RSS feeds.
You can even turn your RSS feeds into a cool screensaver with flying news headlines that charge at you like the credits in a Tinseltown blockbuster. From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences, click Desktop & Screen Saver, and then click the Screen Saver tab. Next, in the Screen Savers list, click RSS Visualizer. Then click the Options button and select a specific RSS feed. If you want to read the underlying news story, you’ll be instructed to press the 1 key to read one feed, 2 key to read another, and so on.
