...oogle News FeedsPreviously, the term "feeds" was synonymous to Google News,another big service provided by Google. Since Google didn't giveany support to RSS or Atom feeds, programmers started to scrapheadlines off Google News. And these headlines were thendisplayed on another Web site.However, now you see Google supports both RSS and Atom feeds.Reportedly Google News team had been receiving a lot of featurerequests for RSS feed support. And that's why the companydecided to g...

...ive a dose of news through both the syndicationflavors, Atom and RSS. This shows that even Google couldn'tignore the growing popularity of RSS. It still took Google a long time before they actually started onwith the Google News feeds. But even now Google's support hasonly been added to Google News content and has not been extendedto it's standard web search. Even though Yahoo! has started toprovide News feeds just for that one specific keyword. Forexample, if you would like to follow news that mentions "GeorgeBush", you can do that perfectly. This hasn't been implementedby Google as of yet, but might be soon.Re-use of Google RSS feed content is officially limited tonon-commercial uses and requires complete credentials of all theindividual sources included, Google itself and the publicationof the search terms and criteria used to create the feed. Willthese restrictions really help Google to harness the true powerof RSS? Well, now that's another question! Google's RSS Ad Patent"Google Files for RSS Ad Patent" - That seems to be the hottesttopic been going around the Internet for some time now. Anotherclassic example of the web getting "Googlized", as the world'sbiggest search engine revs up to dominate the RSS ad market.If you still didn't get what exactly I'm talking about here,Google has filed for a patent with the US Patent and TradeOffice (USPTO) for embedding advertisements into syndicated RSSand Atom feeds.According to the abstract, the patent is all about a method for"incorporating targeted ads into information in a syndicatedpresentation format in an automated manner." This goes beyondRSS or Atom feeds, as it pertains to syndicated formats on thewhole.However, Google wasn't the first to jump in the RSS adbandwagon. Companies like Pheedo and Kanoodle had alreadystarted trying their hand at it long back. If we see thepositive side of this, Google taking it's own protectionmeasures in the RSS ad bracket, is itself a big proof about thepotential of this growing technology. The filing is notastonishing though, for a firm of it's size can delve muchdeeper. Quoting from Pheedo's official blog "Google is not going to ownRSS advertising. At best, Google may gain some protection forits specific techniques and methods of inserting and trackingads in syndicated content." All I can say is, Google is surelymaking huge strides in the RSS sector but everything does have alimit. Google RSS ReaderAfter heavily betting upon RSS by filing a patent for the ads,Google wasn't surely gonna stay behind when it came to RSSreaders. It was very predictable for the company to launch it'sown aggregator, another step towards bettering the syndicationlifestyle.What's common between Google's reader and its other services isthe simplicity of use. The way Google designs it's services,(doesn't matter if it's Gmail or Adsense) is what wins overeverything else. That's exactly what one gets to see in Google'sreader. The ease of use and how simple it is.The web-based reader, which is in its beta stage, requires alogin similar to Gmail. Once logged in, feeds can be added andorganized very effortlessly. The feeds can be organized byvarious names or the user can also import subscriptions fromother RSS aggregators or online services and easily subscribe tofeeds just by entering the RSS feed's URL. They have alsostarted to distribute the trendy "Add to Google" button, anaddition to a collection of many others provided by differentreaders.Google's entry into the RSS reader market will definitely shakewell-established companies like Newsgator and Pluck. SinceGoogle has complete power over the sponsor ad listings in thesearch results, advertising this new service wouldn't be a bigdeal. Just type in "RSS Reader" in Google and you'll know foryourself.On a last note, Google is surely taking in on RSS and is tryingto take the technology to new level. This clearly shows that RSSis here to stay. Something for all of us to sit up and takenotice!