Developing Feeds with RSS and Atom

Other Cunning Techniques

The PC isn’t the only way to access a feed. Due to the lightweight XML nature of RSS and Atom, many other devices and conduits can use the formats to deliver information.

Mobile Devices

PDAs, mobile phones, and the incessant merging of the two can’t escape the power of RSS and Atom:

• PocketPC (http://www.happyjackroad.com/AtomicDB/pocketpc/pocketRSS/pocketRSS.asp)

• Hand/RSS (http://standalone.com/palmos/hand_rss/) is a nice, nonfree but with a 30-day trial, RSS feed for Palm devices.

• mobilerss (http://www.mobilerss.net) isn’t an application per se but a service for turning RSS feeds into HTML simple enough to read on any mobile device’s browser. It’s built on the MagpieRSS parser shown in Chapter 8.

• The FeedBurner Mobile Feed Reader (http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/mfr) comes from the same people who provide the FeedBurner service detailed in Chapter 9. It should run on any of the latest mobile devices compatible with the J2ME MIDP 2.0/CLDC1.0 platform.

Email Clients

If you’d rather get your RSS through your already convenient email software, you’re not alone. A number of tools will make this easy:

• IzyNews (http://izynews.com/de/default.aspx?) sets up RSS feeds as unread messages in an IMAP directory. It requires some server-side setup, but it’s perfect for a corporate environment with locked-down desktop machines.

• NewsGator Outlook Edition (http://www.newsgator.com/outlook.aspx) is an RSS reader extension for Microsoft Outlook. Many people swear by it, and it ...