RSS Information
- What is a news feed?
- How do I subscribe to PAETEC's news feeds?
- What is a news reader?
- Should I use a news reader?
- What is RSS?
- What is syndication?
- What is a Podcast?
A news feed (also known as an RSS feed) is a listing of a website's content. It is updated whenever new content is published to the site. News readers "subscribe" to news feeds, which means they download lists of stories at an interval that you specify (every 30 minutes, for example), and present them to you in your news reader. A news feed might contain a list of story headlines, a list of excerpts from the stories, or a list containing each story from the website (PAETEC's news feeds contain press release excerpts). All news feeds will have a link back to the website, so if you see a headline / excerpt / story you like, you can click on the link for that piece of content and will be taken to the website to read it.
How do I subscribe to PAETEC's news feeds?Step one is to download your favorite news reader. If you have never used one before, try installing one of the news readers mentioned below and see which one you like.
* Top Headlines: http://www.paetec.com/media/paetecnews.rss
What is a news reader?A news reader (also known as a news aggregator) is simply a piece of software that you can use to read your subscribed news feeds. It is to news feeds what Outlook, Hotmail, and Entourage are to e-mail.
Should I use a news reader?The short answer: it depends.
The longer answer: if you visit a lot of websites on a daily basis, or read a lot of weblogs (or "blogs"), a news reader can save you a lot of time. Sites like ABCNews.com, Salon, and the New York Times all have syndicated feeds.
Using a news reader to consume your web media means that you only need to visit a website when you read a story in your news reader that is of interest to you. You won't have to visit many sites multiple times every day to see if there are updates; your news reader will do that for you and will let you know when there is a new story to be read!
So if you visit a lot of websites regularly, or want to know when that website publishes a new story, using a news reader might make sense.
Some commonly used news readers are Feed Demon, Sharp Reader, and NewsGator (an Outlook plugin) for Windows, NetNewsWire and Shrook for Macs, and Bloglines.com for those who like web-based readers.
You can find even more news readers at itopik.com.
What is RSS?Depending on whom you ask, the acronym RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication," "Rich Site Summary," or any of a handful of others.
The meaning of the acronym is not terribly important, however. An RSS feed (also known as a news feed) is a site's syndicated news feed that you subscribe to using your news reader.
What is syndication?Syndication refers to the process that occurs when a publisher provides content in a form that can be consumed by software (like a news reader).
The concept is similar to e-mail: your co-worker Bob (the publisher) writes you an e-mail about the status of a report (the content), and your e-mail program (the software) receives the e-mail."
With a syndicated PAETEC feed, it works like this: PAETEC (the publisher) publishes a press release about a new product launch (the content). Your favorite news reader (the software) sees that PAETEC has published a new release.
What is a Podcast?Simply stated, a podcast is a recorded, 'radio-style' audio file (MP3) made available for download from the Internet and also through an RSS feed.
With PAETEC Podcasts, we hope to illuminate important issues that all businesses face.
How do I listen to a PAETEC Podcast?
Podcasts are usually in an MP3 format, so you can listen to them via a media player on your computer or a portable device (e.g. iPod or other MP3 player).
To listen to a podcast on your computer:
From our Podcast page, click the link of the podcast that you would like to listen to.
To download a podcast for listening on a portable device:
You can download individual podcasts from the file links that appear with each episode. Once downloaded, the MP3 files can be played through almost any music player or portable music player.
To subscribe to a PAETEC Podcast via our RSS news feed:
Visit the How do I subscribe to PAETEC's news feeds? section of our site.
Make sure to check back often, as more podcasts will be added.