Perfect for anyone who wants to keep always up-to-date, we show you how to break RSS free from the shackles of your PC and make the move to the device best suited for it: your mobile phone.
Having climbed to fame in great part due to its symbiosis with blogs and podcasts, RSS inhibits the paradoxal state of being one of the Internet's most-touted yet least used wunderkinds. Although not without flaws, its current embodiment as a plain-vanilla content delivery mechanism brings a universally understood e-mail like approach to news and alerts, letting users keep always up to speed on their favourite news sources. Here's how to take it mobile.
As seen on the Internet
There's something to be said for choosing the path of least resistance, and in the case of mobile RSS, Google's mobile versions of its Google Personalized Home Page is it. Here, users can subscribe to any RSS feed of their liking through an ordinary web browser, then subsequently access these - along with a raft of other mobile adapted content - through the browsers of the vast majority of phones produced in the last couple of years. Ingeniously, not only is the service free but also optimizes any links followed for mobile consumption - pure genius.
Go go gators
For power users who juggle multiple PCs and devices, Newsgator is likely to represent the best choice. Its free online service - similar in functionality to Google and Yahoo!'s offerings and - represents the cornerstone of a setup which is extendable through feature-packed standalone readers for Windows and Mac OS as well as a Microsoft Outlook plug-in. To get the mobile version, users must fork over $20 USD per year, while the aforementioned clients sell for $30 USD apiece. The unique selling point: each client synchronizes seamlessly with the web service; mark a post read or delete a feed from your mobile, and the change is reflected everywhere else.
Pour me a cup'o Java
Although there are quite a few RSS readers available for the Java platform, they all share one major drawback: their reliance on an external browser to venture beyond headlines. Not only is such behaviour prohibited on some handsets for security reasons, but opening any given link from an RSS feed in a pre-installed phone browser is guaranteed to be an agonizing experience. Instead, we suggest pairing the superb Opera Mini browser - complete with Google-beating mobile optimization of web pages - with Newsgator Mobile to achieve RSS nirvana.
The built-in approach
If all of the above seems just a little too complicated, fret not; several handsets from Nokia and Sony Ericsson already integrate very basic RSS readers, and more are on the way. Among notable current offerings, Nokia has the N80 and E61 in its stable while Sony Ericsson offers the W810i and W900i. Keep in mind, though; whichever solution you choose, RSS is a bandwidth intensive protocol - so keep an eye on your data bill to make sure you avoid any unpleasant surprises.
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