RSS For Mobile Phones Introduced (#1)

Is that a Podcast in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? Further insuring the cell phone's position is the center of the universe, FreeRange Communications today introduced FreeNews, an RSS news and weblog reader for mobile devices, phones and PDAs. With FreeNews, people can get feeds of Web information—such as news, sports, weather, stock quotes, or company news—directly on their phones.

Using FreeNews, users subscribe to exactly the information they care about via a computer Web browser. The FreeNews server guides users through the set-up process, offering suggestions for newsfeeds, and allowing a search for all available news sources. When users connect to the Web from the FreeNews application on their mobiles, only the new articles summaries in their subscribed information feeds are pulled to their phones, making it extremely fast and efficient.

"With FreeNews, people can carry the power of the Internet in their pockets," said Jon Maroney, CEO of FreeRange Communications. "FreeNews gives people the ability to bring customized, up-to-the-minute Internet information wherever they go. It's quickly becoming an essential for train commuters or people who travel frequently."

FreeNews is a Java application and runs on most cell phones including phones from Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, LG, Samsung, and Sanyo. FreeNews is also available for running on RIM Blackberry devices, as well as Palm OS devices that have Java installed. It uses the data connection (GPRS, 3G, UMTS, etc.) on a cellphone or PDA to receive data.

FreeNews uses both Atom and RSS (really simple syndication), worldwide standards for information and weblog publishing. RSS provides a title and summary of a web page, along with a link to the original source web page. Users of RSS quickly scan titles and summaries for information that interests them, then click the link to see the full story. Stories of interest can easily be emailed to friends or colleagues.

FreeNews is available immediately and is $19.95 for an annual subscription. For further information on software features and availability, visit www.freerangeinc.com. A trial version is also available for download.

FreeRange Communications is a leading developer of RSS and blog focused applications for mobile phones. Our goal is to harness the increasing power of modern mobile phones to create useful applications that help people get more out of their phones. With top quality products and an experienced management team, FreeRange is playing a leadership role in the emerging mobile applications market.

By : Steve Hall

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What is RSS ?

RSS is an XML-formatted file for syndication have been used (and most of them) news websites and weblogs. This abbreviation usually leads to several protocols:

Rich Site Summary (RSS 0.91)
RDF Site Summary (RSS 0.9 and 1.0)
Really Simple Syndication (RSS 2.0)

The technology was built with the RSS allows us to subscribe to websites that provide feedback (feed) RSS, usually the website whose contents are always replaced on a regular basis. To take advantage of this technology we need the collecting service. Collectors can be imagined as a personal mailbox. We can then apply to the site you want us to know the changes. However, unlike a newspaper or a magazine subscription, to subscribe to the RSS is not necessary is FREE. But, we usually only get one line or an introduction from the following website address content related to read the full contents of the article.
[edit] Usage

RSS is widely used by the weblog community to spread a summary of the latest writings in the journal, sometimes also include the full articles and even pictures and sound. Around 2000, the use of RSS spread in various news publications, including Reuters, CNN and the BBC. RSS is used in almost all news sites or weblogs, with a variety of purposes including: marketing, press releases, product regular reports, or other activities that require notification and of course periodic publications.

A computer program known as reader feedback (feed reader) to act as collectors. This program checks sites that provide RSS and display a variety of new articles found. Grace period and the cycle collection RSS can usually be arranged by the user. Collecting programs may be a computer program or a web service that is available online.

RSS collecting program in computer applications is usually in the form of (software) itself which must be installed on the computer before it can be used. The program is available for various types of operating systems with varying prices. There are also programs that free RSS gatherers. View list of RSS collectors.

Collectors on the web program does not require installation and settings, we can see and check out our RSS anywhere, provided there is a browser and Internet connection. Some collectors RSS service also provides merger and also search.
A web that provide RSS feeds usually have a link with a button marked XML or RSS . But it is recommended to use RSS instead of XML in order not to create confusion (for each RSS is XML, but XML is not every RSS).

As written above, there are several versions of RSS, and even groups to make a new format that Atom has also been adopted by many sites. But users do not need to be confused RSS, the syndication program makers collectors can usually recognize both these formats, even still providing the reader for a long format.

Articles by: Wikipedia

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