Keeping In Touch With My Online Family
ISSN 1710-6214

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The significant challenges that we face today cannot be resolved by the same level of thinking that created them.


KIT # 145: What Do You Know?
Issue:   #145    Date: August 17th, 2004

Publisher's Corner

Hi there! How's everyone doing today? Good, I hope. Our summer started off pretty cool and rainy and now we're halfway through August which means the kids will be back in school in short order. Have you noticed that the leaves have already started changing color? Yikes, we all know what that means.

For those of you running Windows XP and prefer the Internet Explorer browser, you might want to take a few minutes out to read Microsoft's XP SP2 Arrives. This article helps to explain why you are likely to experience problems with this update. Be sure to backup all your files before you install this new service patch.

In IEBlog look for the item titled IE In Windows XP SP2 dated August 10th, 2004. This will give you a pretty good breakdown of the changes they have made with security being paramount.

Our Feature Article today comes to us from Sharon Housley and is entitled What Are RSS Feeds? If you've been of the mind that weblogs, blogging and rss feeds are strictly for the techie folks, you are dead wrong. In fact, Quikonnex is one of the smartest moves you will make and it's backed up by top notch support. This technology is here to stay and I, for one, am very glad.

By utilizing rss you can syndicate your content and your reach goes far beyond what your website is able to do for you. Your best bet is to link and interlink between your blog pages and your website. All you need to view rss feeds is a reader and QuikView is terrific plus it's a bookmark server as well. It still surprises me that the creators aren't charging for such a valuable tool.

What Do You Know? is our Special Feature written by Steve Goodier. As usual Steve is brief and to the point. Are you putting what you 'do' know to good use?

Have a great day and keep smiling.

Lois M. Jeary

Publisher, KIT and the Home4Success Channel
Contact Me Directly

KIT Online Archives
http://www.home4success.com/kit2004.html

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Feature Article

What Are RSS Feeds?

RSS Feeds

RSS also known as rich site summary or real simple syndication, arrived on the scene a number of years ago, but was only recently embraced by webmasters as a means to effectively syndicate content. RSS Feeds provide webmasters and content providers an avenue to provide concise summaries to prospective readers. Thousands of commercial web sites and blogs now publish content summaries in an RSS feed. Each item in the feed typically contains a headline; article summary and link back to the online article.

Benefit to the Webmaster

As the web has become more crowded webmasters have been striving to provide fresh and up to date content for their website visitors. Many webmasters have discovered they can easily utilize the information in RSS feeds to provide fresh web content.

RSS feeds are composed in XML, which is a very simple markup language. Similar to HTML, XML uses tags to identify fields. Webmasters can easily parse the RSS feed and dynamically create web pages that contain headlines and summaries. The feeds will continuously update, supplying a steady stream of automatically generated fresh content.

RSS allows webmasters to:
1.) Provide fresh and relevant content on their website, which encourages users to return.

2.) Constantly changing content means that search engine spiders will visit more frequently.

3.) Automate content delivery.

The benefits of RSS feeds are not limited to webmasters, surfers too benefit from the technology as well.

Benefit to Web Surfers

The beauty of RSS is that readers can quickly scan headlines (titles) and read articles of interest. Because the information is condensed and provided in a single location users can generally review more information in a shorter time frame. Additional information is only a click away. Best of all readers choose the feeds they wish to see, there is no spam with RSS. If you are not completely thrilled with the content appearing in a feed simply remove it from the newsreader. The technology is a pull technology rather than push technology, meaning the content is not forced on the consumers, who pull the content they want to see.

RSS allows for users to:
1.) Easily locate information.

2.) Read condensced information or 'soundbytes' with clearly marked and dated topic material.

3.) Classify and categorize information in an easy to navigate manner.

4.) Maximize their time without having to deal with spam.

RSS feeds can be viewed in a news aggregator or reader, which constantly updates and shows unread feeds. I found the functionality of the newsreaders to be similar to a simple email client. Consumers generally enter the URL of any RSS feeds that interest them. Topics with a common theme can be segregated into related groups.

I highly recommend FeedDemon http://www.feeddemon.com by BradSoft as a newsreader. FeedDemon is extremely easy to use and allows for quick scanning and indexing of topics. FeedDemon allows users to quickly scan, sort and scroll through headline and article summaries, while viewing the actual content in a split screen web browser.

Finding Topic Specific Relevant Feeds

In order to find feeds that provide niche information users can search Feedster. Feedster http://www.feedster.com is a rapidly growing news search engine that indexes information contained within RSS feeds. Searches for topic specific feeds can be conducted and feeds can be retrieved for syndication.

Benefit to Content Developer

While the benefits to users and webmasters are clear the distribution opportunities made available to content developers should not be overlooked. Information contained in the RSS feed can be easily syndicated, increasing content distribution and reach.

RSS allows for content developers to:
1.) Increase exposure in niche markets.

2.) Communicate with user bases and reach potential customers via an alternate communication method.

3.) Disseminate relevant information.

4.) Define themselves as an industry expert.

5.) Automate content delivery.

RSS has effectively standardized the format for content delivery and has effectively defined the accepted standard for content distribution and syndication. RSS will likely rival email as a means of content distribution in another few years. The shear simplicity makes the technology very appealing.

The distribution potential, while albeit difficult to measure, is still attractive to all parties making the likelihood that RSS popularity will only continue to grow.

RSS Feeds to Try

Feeds exist for almost any topic consider trying these feeds out by entering the url in your feed reader:

Small Business Feed - small business tips and news http://www.small-business-software.net/blog-feed.xml

Software Marketing Blog Summary - software marketing and online news http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/blog-feed.xml

SMS, Wireless Messaging Related News. - news related to telecom, wireless industry and NotePage's software http://www.notepage.net/blog-feed.xml

Free Content Articles - collection of free content articles, updates when new article is released. http://www.small-business-software.net/article-feed.xml

Software Marketing News - news related to software conferences, awards, software development and marketing http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/feed.xml

About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for NotePage, Inc. http://www.notepage.net a company specializing in alphanumeric paging, SMS and wireless messaging software solutions. Other sites by Sharon can be found at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com, and http://www.small-business-software.net




Everyday Wisdom
by Dr. Wayne Dwyer

No amount of guilt can ever change history. No amount of guilt can ever change anything.

Blame is a neat little device that you can use whenever you don't want to take responsibility for something in your life. Use it and you will avoid all risks and impede your own growth.




Inspiration

It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.
- Seneca

Good humor is a tonic for mind and body. It is the best antidote for anxiety and depression. It is a business asset. It attracts and keeps friends. It lightens human burdens. It is the direct route to serenity and contentment.
- Grenville Kleiser

Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.
- Lou Holtz




Special Feature

What Do You Know?

Did you hear about the man who attempted skydiving for the first time? His parachute didn't open. Then his auxiliary chute failed. Now he found himself in free fall with no more options.

Then a strange thing happened. He spotted something coming up towards him from the ground at a high rate of speed. It was a man! When he was sure they would pass one another without a collision, he shouted down to the figure, "Do you know anything about parachutes?"

"No!" the man called back. "Do you know anything about gas stoves?"

A little bit of technological knowledge could have been helpful in both cases. But it has never just been about how much we know.

I read that the world's body of knowledge doubled from 1900 to 1950. In other words, knowledge that took thousands of years to accumulate doubled in only fifty years. It then doubled again between 1950 and 1965. In just fifteen years. It is estimated that the world's body of knowledge doubled once more between 1965 and 1970 and now doubles every five years. Amazing! We can never keep up with all there is to learn.

But perhaps more important than how much any of us knows is how consistently we act on the knowledge we have. We certainly need enough knowledge to live fruitful and constructive lives, but even knowledge will not serve well if we neglect to use it.

You may know that material things don't bring lasting happiness. Will you actively pursue things of the heart and spirit?

You may know peace comes when you forgive. Will you decide to put down that grudge and leave it behind?

You may know that any decision made from fear alone is likely to be wrong. Will you choose the path of courage, even if that path seems hard to navigate?

Most of us know important principles about effective living. But in the end, what we know to be true is of no consequence - the decisions we make are everything. And if we apply well even the little we know, we can be healthy, happy and hopeful.

_________
Steve Goodier's books & newsletter: http://LifeSupportSystem.com.


Hot Tip

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Download your copy of Jarte.

 

KIT is published on the Home 4 Success channel.

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Legal Stuff ...

We accept no responsibility whatsoever for the content, profitability or legality of any published articles or advertisements contained within KIT.

And, although all of the articles have been selected for their content, the publishing of such articles within this newsletter does NOT constitute a recommendation of the products or services mentioned or advertised within those articles.

Be responsible! Always do your own Due Diligence before responding to any offer.


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