I know two people have already defined RSS feeds, but I'm going to have a bash at it myself because both definitions have completely missed out why they're useful for me.
An RSS feed is the text from a blog or news site. Whenever a new post is added the RSS feed is updated. RSS reader programs, such as Google Reader, allow you to 'subscribe' to many RSS feeds. The program thus gathers all the new articles from the websites you've subscribed to whenever they're published. They're then displayed in a common format inside Google reader. It ends up like having your own fully customised newspaper.
For example instead of having to visit the following sites:
BabyBarista - Times Online - WBLG
bar council blog
Binary Law
BriefBlog
Class 46
Copyright in a Digital Age (Comm/IS 429, fall 2007)
Engadget
GeekLawyer's Blog
IMPACT®
IPKat - IP news and fun for everyone
Law News from Times Online
Little Gamers
opencontentlawyer.com
OUT-LAW News
p a b s t - p h o t o . c o m
Penny-Arcade
Pupilblog
SCRIPT-ed
Sky News | Home | First For Breaking News
Technology law
The Barrister Blog
The Magistrate's Blog
View From The Bench
xkcd.com
ZDNet UK Blogs - Rupert's Diary
I just have to visit 1 - google reader. So instead of having to remember to check 25 sites regularly to see if they've been updated - sometimes checking only to find they haven't been - I just click on google reader and 'boom' all the latest posts from those sites.
