Syndication Feeds
(a.k.a. everything you wanted to know about syndication feeds but were afraid to ask)
What are syndication feeds?
You may have noticed these images around the site: 
. They indicate that the related information is accessible through what is commonly called a syndication feed. You can subscribe to syndication feeds and receive automatic updates when the associated information changes. Many sites provide feeds to keep interested users up-to-date on the latest happenings.
How do I subscribe to a feed?
There are a number of ways to subscribe to a feed. Each have their advantages and disadvantages.
“Feed My Inbox”
Feed My Inbox is a service which sends you e-mails whenever a feed is updated. Simply copy the feed URL (right click the feed image and choose “copy link” or whatever the equivalent is in your browser) and paste it into the Feed My Inbox site along with your e-mail address.
Web Browser
Many web browsers support syndications by default. Safari and Internet Explorer (versions 7+) both have support out of the box. Firefox has some rudimentary support and can be improved by installing feed extensions. Chrome is expected to have feed support soon.
Download a Feed Program
There are also dedicated feed programs which you can download and install. These programs keep track of your subscriptions and present the feeds to you in a number of different ways. They typically run in the background and inform you of feed updates with a notification in your system tray (Windows) or dock (Mac). Here are some Windows feed readers, and here are some for the Mac.
Google Reader
If you have a gmail account, you can use Google Reader. This is similar to a dedicated feed program, with the advantage that you can access your feeds from any computer with an internet connection. Unfortunately you’ll need to manually check it to see if there are any updates; it doesn’t automatically display any notifications in your system tray or dock.