Feeds or RSS are a great way of keeping up with all the latest updates from your favourite websites, or sections of websites, without actually having to visit them. Using feeds, you can get the latest news and content in one place on your browser or computer the moment it's published.

Signing up to receive a feed (or 'subscribing to a feed') is done by clicking the RSS/feed link or button on the website (see example button on right).

All you need is a feed reader – software that checks the feeds and lets you read any new items that have been added. There are many free readers available, either browser-based (accessed via a web browser), which let you catch up with your feed subscriptions from any computer, or as downloadable applications. Here are some good free browser-based readers:

• Google Reader 
• Omea Reader
• Awasu
• The Firefox web browser has a built-in reader, as does Internet Explorer 7.

Museum and Royal Observatory feeds

The following feeds are currently available from the National Maritime Museum and Royal Observatory:

• News & press releases
• Job opportunities
• Royal Observatory blog feed
• Library blog feed
• Collections blog feed
• Longitude blog feed
• On the line podcasts feed