Approach gives providers a new way to push content

When push technology - in which providers sent content over the Internet to recipients - was introduced, proponents hailed it as a way for users to effortlessly receive material they requested. However, the technology also required recipients to install a huge client and ate up valuable bandwidth at a time when it was a precious commodity. After the hype died down, push technology quietly went away. A few developers held onto the ideal though, and now, RSS-known generally as Really Simple Syndication but also sometimes as Rich Site Summary is becoming a popular way for large and small content providers, from individual bloggers to huge news organizations, to distribute content online. RSS is based on XML, an open standard that enables the definition, transmission, and interpretation of data between applications and across platforms.