In a world heaving under the weight of billions of web pages, keeping up to date with the information you want can be a drag. Wouldn't it be better to have the latest news and features delivered directly to you, rather than clicking from site to site?
RSS allows you to see when sites from all over the internet have added new content. You can get the latest headlines and articles (or even audio files, photographs or video) in one place, as soon as they are published, without having to remember to visit each site every day. It takes the hassle out of staying up-to-date, by showing you the very latest information of interest to you.
There is some discussion as to what RSS stands for, but most people agree on 'Really Simple Syndication'. RSS feeds are just a special kind of web page, designed to be read by computers rather than people. It might help to think of them as the free, internet version of the old-fashioned ticker-tape news wire machines. Not all websites currently provide RSS, but it is growing rapidly in popularity and many others provide it.
Biocompare offers RSS feeds for our major news sections and most of our original article content. For a complete list of RSS feed channels and options offered by Biocompare.com, please visit our RSS feed page.
In general, the first thing you need is something called a news reader. This is a piece of software that checks RSS feeds and lets you read any new articles that have been added to them. There are many different versions, some of which are accessed using a browser, and some of which are downloadable applications. Browser-based news readers let you catch up with your RSS feed subscriptions from any computer, whereas downloadable applications let you store them on your main computer, in the same way that you either download your e-mail using Outlook, or keep it on a web-based service like Hotmail. Many of Biocompare's RSS subscribers access our RSS feeds via their Google or Yahoo! home pages, the Google Desktop application, or the Sage RSS reader extension for the FireFox web browser.
Once you have chosen a news reader, all you have to do is to decide what content you want to receive in your news reader, by finding and subscribing to the relevant RSS feeds. For example, if you would like the latest news in immunology, simply go to the Biocompare Life Science News site and visit the Immunology News section. There you will notice an orange RSS button at the top right of the page.
If you click on the button you can subscribe to the feed in various ways, including by dragging the URL of the RSS feed into your news reader or by cutting and pasting the same URL into a new feed in your news reader. Most sites that offer RSS feeds use a similar orange RSS button, but some may just have a normal web link to the feed. For a complete list of the RSS feed channels and options offered by Biocompare.com, please visit our RSS feed page.
Some browsers, including Firefox, Opera, Safari, and Internet Explorer 7, automatically check for RSS feeds for you when you visit a website, and display an icon when they find one. This can make subscribing to RSS feeds much easier. For more details on these, please check their websites.
A range of different news readers is available and new versions are appearing all the time. Different news readers work on different operating systems, so you will need to choose one that will work with your computer. A small selection of RSS readers is listed on the right.
We encourage the use of Biocompare.com RSS feeds for personal use in a news reader or as part of a non-commercial Web site or blog. We require proper format and attribution whenever Biocompare content is posted on your Web site, and we reserve the right to require that you cease distributing Biocompare.com content. For complete instructions, please read the Terms and Conditions below.
The Firefox browser supports Live Bookmarks, a system that detects RSS feeds and allows users to subscribe. Look for this icon in the bottom right corner of your browser or in the address bar, and click on it to subscribe. Feeds will appear in your Bookmarks list.
Biocompare is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
RSS ("Really Simple Syndication") service is a means by which Biocompare.com offers feeds of our news and article content in XML format ("RSS Content") to visitors to the Biocompare.com or news.Biocompare.com websites (the "Biocompare.com Site") who use RSS aggregators. These Terms of Use govern your use of the RSS service. If you do not agree to them, do not use the RSS service. If you use the RSS service, you are deemed to have agreed to these terms as they may be amended form time to time. Use of the Biocompare.com Site or the Biocompare.com RSS News Feeds constitutes acceptance of the Biocompare.com Terms of Use.
The use of the RSS service is subject to the terms and conditions that you should review by clicking on Biocompare.com, Inc. Terms of Use. These terms and conditions govern the use of Biocompare.com's websites, information services and content. These RSS Terms of Use and the Biocompare.com Site Terms of Use may be changed by Biocompare.com at any time without notice. You should review them routinely to make sure that you are aware and following the latest provisions. These RSS Terms of Use are not applicable to commercial users of the Biocompare.com RSS Content who must enter into a comprehensive license agreement with Biocompare.com as described in the following paragraph.
RSS is a free service offered by Biocompare.com for your personal, non-commercial use. Any other use, including without limitation, incorporation of advertising into or the placement of advertising associated with or targeted towards the RSS Content, is strictly prohibited. You must use the RSS Content as provided by Biocompare.com, and you may not edit or modify the text, content or links supplied by Biocompare.com. For web posting or licensing requests for Biocompare.com material to be used for non-personal or commercial purposes, please make a request using our contact form.
The RSS service may be used only with those platforms from which a functional link is made available that, when accessed, takes the viewer directly to the display of the comprehensive news or article content on the Biocompare.com Site. You may not display the RSS Content in a manner that does not permit successful linking to, redirection to or delivery of the applicable Biocompare.com Site web page. You may not insert any intermediate page, splash page or other content between the RSS link and the applicable Biocompare.com Site web page.
Biocompare.com retains all ownership and other rights in the RSS Content, and any and all Biocompare.com logos and trademarks used in connection with the RSS Service. You must provide attribution to the Biocompare.com Site in connection with your use of the RSS Content. If you provide this attribution using a graphic, you must use the appropriate Biocompare.com Site's logo that we have incorporated into the RSS Content.
Biocompare.com reserves the right to discontinue providing any or all of the RSS Content at any time and to require you to cease displaying, distributing or otherwise using any or all of the RSS Content for any reason including, without limitation, your violation of any provision of these Terms of Use. Biocompare.com assumes no liability for any of your activities in connection with the RSS Content or for your use of the RSS Content in connection with your website.