One Source For All Your Channel-Specific News

Chances are, you're a busy person. Sure, you read Business Solutions each month for its case studies and feature articles, but what do you read on a daily basis? A better question might be, what do you have time to read on a daily basis? To stay as informed as possible, I've grown to rely on RSS (really simple syndication) feeds.

Simply put, RSS feeds can provide you with a current snapshot of what's going on at many of your favorite websites. Whether it's the latest AP news headlines, sports scores, or line card additions to your distributor, with RSS feeds all the headlines are concisely listed for your quick perusal. If you find a headline of interest, the full article is only one click away.

Before you can harness the power of RSS feeds on your PC, you may need to download some free software. However, if you use Internet Explorer 7 or Mozilla Firefox, the ability to read RSS feeds is built in to those browsers already. If you want a more feature-rich (e.g. search functionality, the ability to add notes and share with others) reader, Google (www.google.com/reader) has an RSS reader as part of its suite of free products. If you have a Gmail account, you're already set to use Google's reader. Some RSS readers, such as Google's, highlight newly posted content, making it easy to quickly see what's new.

Having RSS feeds on my PC is great, but it's even better when I can access feeds on my BlackBerry. While I'm standing in line at the bank or have some spare time stuck in traffic, I can access the same feeds as my PC. For BlackBerry and Windows Mobile smart phone users, one of the best RSS readers is Viigo (www.viigo.com). It's free, and not only checks RSS feeds, but you can check your local weather, flight times, and even follow the stock market.

Once you start using RSS feeds, it's hard to imagine life before them. However, if you're like me, you'll notice that there is one thing lacking — while many of the companies you read about in Business Solutions have their own sites with RSS feeds, there doesn't seem to be one comprehensive resource for the latest channel-specific news. Until now. BSMinfo.com has recently enabled RSS feeds on its new technology-specific resource centers. Our resource centers, and now the corresponding RSS feeds, serve as the single best point of reference for all things pertaining to your technology. Specifically, there are new product news, executive appointments, upcoming education and trade shows, guest commentaries from industry experts, white papers, case studies, and comments from each editor's notebook. If you want to stay on top of what's happening in the channel, you only need to connect to our new RSS feeds (BSMinfo.com/RSS). Getting set up to use the feeds will most likely take less than two minutes. Give it a shot, and see how you benefit.