RSS and/or Atom is a way of formatting content so that it can be easily syndicated. Headlines, article descriptions, and links are provided in an XML file that is automatically updated whenever the headlines change. This allows you to receive notification of new content in your own environment -- on your desktop, in your blog, or elsewhere.

Note on Atom: Most browsers do not natively handle the "application/atom+xml" format. If this is the case with your browser, right-click on the Atom button and select 'Copy Shortcut' or 'Copy Link Location' and paste the link into your RSS/Atom Reader to add the feed.

Skipjack's XML service is available, free, for personal, non-commercial use.

In order to view our XML feeds on your computer, you will first need to acquire a News Reader or News Aggregator. These programs pull all your selected RSS and/or Atom feeds into one place -- for instance, onto your computer desktop, or into your "My MSN" page.

To subscribe to an and/or Atom feed, all you have to do is: (1) click the blue RSS and/or Atom button for the feed you want, (2) copy the URL from the address bar, and (3) paste it into your RSS and/or Atom application.

There are many news readers available on the web. Some can be downloaded for free (or for a free trial), while others charge for more features or customizable options. When choosing your software, keep in mind that certain readers will work better on different operating systems. A web-based reader is a great option for beginners. There is nothing to download, and you can access your headlines from any computer.

This is a beta service from Microsoft you can subscribe to. Once subscribed, notifications will be sent to your MSN Messenger whenever there is a change to the alert you subscribed to. To subscribe, click on the "Windows Live Alerts" button next to the Skipjack service you wish to receive alerts for and follow the instructions on the Microsoft site. You must be running MSN Messenger to receive the alerts.