RSS is the hottest new technology on the internet, and is very simple to use. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, which is a method of distributing news over the internet to your desktop without you having to go searching for it. Once you set it up, your computer will automatically check your list of news sources every hour (or day, or whatever you want), and pop up a small box that shows the headlines. If they interest you, you click on it for the full story.

We created a RSS feed for this website, which provides alerts for:

• All news items sent in our news blast. (Important news stories about brain tumors)
• Changes to this website, such as new articles, brain tumor clinical trials, new brain tumor related links, new brain tumor related books
• Important messages - such as political issues that affect the brain tumor community!

To use RSS, you first need to download and install a RSS reader. I use one called RssReader. Go to: http://www.rssreader.com/ to download and install it. That webpage has detailed directions on how to use the program.

Once the RSS Reader is loaded, you have to enter the "FEEDS" that you want to check. Start with ours. To add a feed, right click this XML graphic and select "copy shortcut" from the pop up menu (this copies the address of the feed to the Windows clipboard). Then go into the RssReader program and click on the ADD FEED button. It will automatically take the address of the feed from the clipboard. Select OK and you are done! In few minutes, it will download the most current items in our feed and you will easily be able to see how to work it!

THEN: look around for other feeds that interest you. When you visit a website, look for the XML graphic. Whenever you see it, you can add a feed (XML is the format of the RSS feed) by right clicking the graphic and adding it to your reader as before! There is a big list of feeds at: http://www.syndic8.com/