Microsoft recently announced that they will be releasing a new browser version sometime this summer. The new browser version was to be released with Longhorn, the code name for their next operating system to replace Windows XP, but they decided that they needed to release it sooner than that.
Many think the reason is because Firefox, the new popular browser, has introduced some key features that many surfers have come to expect. This probably has put pressure on Microsoft to respond with a browser with the same specs.
One of these key features is tabbed browsing, which allows you to browse to multiple sites using just one window with tabs rather than opening a new window for each page.
But tabbed browsing isnt all...
I am really excited about the possibility of a new feature that could change the way web-surfers get their content!
Although there has been no formal announcement about this, there has been a lot of speculation about the new browser including a built-in RSS reader.
An RSS what???
Let me explain...
RSS has taken off like a rocket. Blog sites love it, and every major website out there now supports it including CNN, ESPN, Yahoo, Google, and MSN.
RSS is nothing more than a format for delivering article headlines that can be read and neatly displayed by RSS readers, much like an email program displays email messages.
But so far the popularity of RSS has been confined mainly to blogsites and tech-saavy individuals who know how to "tune in" to an RSS Feed. Though it is spreading like wildfire, many average web users have no idea what RSS is! (Ive confirmed that by recently asking several of my friends, and none of them had ever heard of it!)
This is all about to change!
Microsoft has very good reason to include an RSS reader with their new IE version. If they dont, surfers may have reason to switch to another that does. Firefox already includes an RSS reader.
If they DO include an RSS reader, think of the implications:
*You could browse to a webpage and IE could "discover" any RSS links on the page and notify you of them
*You may be able to Right-Click on an RSS Feed and have an option to "Add to RSS Reader", which would instantly subscribe you to the Feed.
*Web developers may be able to write web pages that allow visitors to automatically subscribe to a feed by clicking a button or submitting a form.
Remember, Firefox already has all these features, but the vast majority still uses IE!
Once visitors learn how RSS works and figure out how easy and convenient it is, RSS will become the expected format.
Soon you will be FORCED to offer RSS content because consumers will not want to hand out their email address anymore!
The time will come...will you be ready to deliver?
Feel free to reprint this article so long as you include the resource box listed with the article.
Kent Thompson is the creator of FeedMagic, a full-featured sequential autoresponder program that allows your subscribers to choose between Email or a personalized RSS Feed for delivery. To find out how you can use the power of RSS for your website, visit: http://FeedMagic.com
smily smily grinmalcolm pughAll Hail.
Is your hospital full of aliens, despite new cleaning firms, Antenna waving buggies, And creepy crawly germs, Then dont waste another second, now were into election spin, Just complain, over and again, and up pops smily smily grin. You just have to critiscise, or mention cancellation lists, And smily smily grin appears, always eager to assist, He doesnt actually do much, just smiles and talks and grins, But it takes your mind off the bugs, the odd times He pops in.
Your child has only 15 A+ levels, and is learning how to write, Apparently thats a bit of a problem, to just get the balance right, But if reading too is tricky, and Oxbridge hopes looking slim, Just bang your drum, and hell soon come, savior smily smily grin. Hell appear with a little girl, who has four of her very own, Who all have masters arts degrees, though still barely half grown, After lecturing her elders, arguments seemingly trite and thin, Theres still the honest eyes, vote winning smile, of smily smily grin.
Is your car getting very wobbly, as if weak at the knees, Is it even trying to leave the road, and collide with walls and trees, It might not actually be the car, just tarmac getting rather thin, So just avoid all those potholes, and call in smily smily grin. And as its an election looming, He wont risk a dodgy trip by car, A helicopter will come in zooming, carrying the Great One from afar, He says some isolated craters, may even now be in our roads, Then smily smily grin will joke, it will only bother frogs and toads.
If youre looking for an interview, with He Who Never Says The Same, Smily smily grin will meet you, on any platform that you name, You just nominate a suitable assignation, & hell appear right on time, You wont as youve used the train, and Tory leaves are on the line, Amazingly, on arrival hes still there, teeth beaming bonhomie, And though your biting questions show, that effect is lost on me, He is master of the camera, and of the trained sound bite, And signals and glows and radiates, as if He is the source of light.
And beams over to law and order, onto unrehearsed live TV, Where sycophants are lined up, ID parades mainlined on glee, And surprise surprise TV eyes, smily smily grin soon appears, Faultless brave and magnificent, almost flawless for His years, And yes, the isolated riot, and mass muggings still abound, But according to latest figures, it all happens underground, Anyway most good honest citizens, to believe His statistic talk, Nearly all have vehicles now, and seldom ever have to walk.
What happened to my little dustbin, its now got wheels and blue, And several other containers, which say exactly what to do, They all have little lurking labels, so even the stupid can obey, And calendars to stick up, so youll know its designate bin day, Woe betide any truculent owner, putting cardboard with the grist, Thats automatic statutory fining, & slapping on the wrists, However, deface paint or hide, your beloved huge wheelie bin, Thats go to jail, dont pass go, in the land of smily smily grin.
Or is it a good war youre after, or an end to global strife, He can do both of these at once, and make both seem rather nice, Dont believe all that innuendo, put about by the simply evil BBC, Just believe in His little fables, just believe we are all still free, He can now cure epidemics, save whole continents with a grin, And smile at all his many critics, put under house arrest by him, Every single Royal camera shoot, rock concert or England game, Smily smily grin will muscle in, and make sure hes in the frame.
Are you cowering and shaking, just as timorous as a mouse, Worrying terrorists are taking up positions round your house, Do all of your neighbours look even more suspicious than before, Paranoia, or sinister strangers, when you walk your dog at four, Just calm your nerves, for they are just smily security police, Promoting a healthy air of fear, on scary pre election streets, If you finally feel that terror, is truly pounding down your door, Smily smily grin will appear, and tell you good guys to vote for.
chorus.
Smily smily grin will save us all He is powerful strong and tough, He will carry us all onwards, He alone will be enough,
His smile calms the multitudes, Double smile so sincere you swoon, And when He grins He always wins, And He always calls the tune.
epilogue.
But the smile is of a con man, Extra smiles are really smirks, That we see him yet believe in him, Can we really be such deluded jerks, So He grins a winning Cheshire grin, Stretching clear from ear to ear, And as long as He gets away with it, He will surely always be here.
He often counters with an old chestnut, Used countless times and ways before, Just throw Me out with the washing, If you really dont want Me any more, That might work well in the commons, Where whips tell weaklings where to sign, But I bet soon more than blankets, Will be hung from Britains lines.
Malcolm Pugh March 5th 2005.
Smiley Smiley Grin has been tried by people