RSS Via IM!

A new service is available that helps you to keep track of online information as it changes. It sends you an instant message whenever any RSS or Atom feed you want to monitor changes. The URL is http://immedi.at. Get it? Immedi.at? Immediate? Cool domain name, huh? (".at" is Austria's country code extension). Great idea, I must say. The immedi.at website itself is a little boring. I expected something a little more web 2.0-ish, but that's okay. I don't need all that fancy AJAX stuff...

Anyway, back to the service itself. It's really easy to use - all you have to do is add a "monitor this" button to your Firefox Bookmark Toolbar folder and click it when you are on a page that offers a feed you want to keep track of. (I'm sure there are instructions for IE, but...uh...who cares?). You click the button, pick an IM service and fill in your username. That's it. Of course you can pause and disable the IMs as well. Oh, it works over Trillian, too. Just sign in to MSN or Windows Messenger first so you can add immedi.at to your contact list.

I'm currently testing this with a technorati vanity watchlist xml feed. Feel free to post about "Sarah In Tampa". *winks* I must say, so far, so good. I've been IM'd every time that xml feed has changed. Obviously, you wouldn't want to use this as your primary way of getting your RSS feeds, but for one or two topics you are watching intently, this is a great way to stay up-to-date with the latest information.

According to one of the of the developers of immedi.at they "released it in an early beta not really expecting many people to use [immedi.at] at the start, but it has totally blown up." He also promises that over the next couple of weeks we will see some major changes to the design side of the interface and the brand itself. Stayed tuned!

Read more tech news at SarahInTampa.com!