1 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:12,360 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 2 00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:16,120 Speaker 1: and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 3 00:00:16,160 --> 00:00:19,400 Speaker 1: I'm an executive producer with iHeartRadio and how the tech 4 00:00:19,400 --> 00:00:22,599 Speaker 1: are you? And from the beginning of this episode, I'm 5 00:00:22,600 --> 00:00:25,160 Speaker 1: going to get the cringe out of the way at 6 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:28,319 Speaker 1: the beginning and adopt an old, tiny voice just for 7 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:32,879 Speaker 1: the purposes of the intro. So, there are lots of 8 00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:36,559 Speaker 1: different ways to access content on the web, and I 9 00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:39,640 Speaker 1: know that's a lame and obvious thing to say, but 10 00:00:39,720 --> 00:00:43,680 Speaker 1: I kind of start somewhere, and in ye olden days 11 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:46,320 Speaker 1: of the web, you used a browser on a desktop 12 00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:50,560 Speaker 1: computer to navigate to a specific website. And in those 13 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:55,480 Speaker 1: old days, web pages were often unchanging. They were static. 14 00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:58,480 Speaker 1: It was like open it up a book and reading 15 00:00:58,480 --> 00:01:01,800 Speaker 1: the specific passage. You just put that book right back 16 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:04,480 Speaker 1: on the shelf and forget about it for years and 17 00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:06,960 Speaker 1: come back to it. Open up that book, go to 18 00:01:06,959 --> 00:01:10,280 Speaker 1: that bookmark that passage won't have changed because it's a 19 00:01:10,319 --> 00:01:14,920 Speaker 1: book and books don't do that. Gradually, the web matured, 20 00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:18,320 Speaker 1: New tools made it possible update web pages without having 21 00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:22,039 Speaker 1: to reinvent the wheel each time. This meant there'd be 22 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:26,280 Speaker 1: a reason to return to a web page again and again. Okay, 23 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:30,560 Speaker 1: I'm gonna drive that now. But returning the web pages 24 00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:33,680 Speaker 1: also created frustration. You might go to the trouble of 25 00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:36,920 Speaker 1: typing in a web page as URL or following a 26 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:39,960 Speaker 1: bookmark if you were a civilized person, and you would 27 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:42,520 Speaker 1: discover that maybe the page hadn't been updated since the 28 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:44,480 Speaker 1: last time you were on, and you wasted all that 29 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:46,840 Speaker 1: time and effort going to a web page that hasn't 30 00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:48,600 Speaker 1: changed since the last time you were there. Think of 31 00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:51,520 Speaker 1: all the amazing things you could have done if you 32 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:54,440 Speaker 1: had already known there wasn't anything new there. Maybe you 33 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:58,840 Speaker 1: could have, I don't know, created a new hobby or something. Conversely, 34 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:01,320 Speaker 1: you might go to a web page after not having 35 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:04,120 Speaker 1: visited it for several weeks, and then you see that 36 00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:06,760 Speaker 1: while you were gone, the web administrator held a really 37 00:02:06,800 --> 00:02:10,600 Speaker 1: cool contest, and you totally would have won that contest, 38 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:14,240 Speaker 1: except it's already over now and you didn't know that 39 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:19,320 Speaker 1: there had been an update, and so you missed your chance. Curses. Fortunately, 40 00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:24,240 Speaker 1: a new technology emerged in the late nineties that would 41 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:27,639 Speaker 1: make it easier to stay current with web page updates. 42 00:02:27,840 --> 00:02:30,800 Speaker 1: On the user side of things. It also would make 43 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:36,080 Speaker 1: it possible to create a subscription model for content like podcasts. 44 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:40,079 Speaker 1: So this came out of the company Netscape. Originally, Netscape 45 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:44,200 Speaker 1: was the Mosaic Communications Corporation, and Netscape had introduced an 46 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:49,520 Speaker 1: early and incredibly popular web browser, the Netscape Navigator, and 47 00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:53,120 Speaker 1: in the early to mid nineties, Netscape Navigator was the 48 00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:57,280 Speaker 1: dominant web browser. However, by the late nineties, Netscape was 49 00:02:57,280 --> 00:03:01,040 Speaker 1: taking a beating from Microsoft's Internet Explorer. The story behind 50 00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:04,200 Speaker 1: that gets into the Great Browser Wars of the late nineties, 51 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:07,600 Speaker 1: but that's really a matter for a different episode. Let's 52 00:03:07,639 --> 00:03:10,520 Speaker 1: just say by the late nineties, Netscape Navigator was no 53 00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:14,520 Speaker 1: longer the dominant web browser on the market. But around 54 00:03:14,919 --> 00:03:19,120 Speaker 1: this time Netscape started to develop this new technology, and 55 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:23,200 Speaker 1: it also got a new corporate overlord. AOL announced in 56 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:26,480 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety eight that it would acquire Netscape, which it 57 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:29,760 Speaker 1: did in the spring of nineteen ninety nine. Around that 58 00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:33,440 Speaker 1: time is also when Netscape introduced its technology it had 59 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:37,600 Speaker 1: been developing, which was called RSS. So what does RSS 60 00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:42,400 Speaker 1: stand for, Well, it could stand for really simple syndication, 61 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:47,200 Speaker 1: or it stands for rich Site Summary, or with the 62 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:52,200 Speaker 1: original announcement, it actually stood for RDF Site Summary. RDF 63 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:56,040 Speaker 1: in turn stands for Resource Description Framework. So really it 64 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:59,720 Speaker 1: ends up depending upon whom you ask. So originally I 65 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:02,280 Speaker 1: guess you could say it was RDF site summary, but 66 00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:08,160 Speaker 1: over time this changed. Whatever you say RSS stands for 67 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:13,279 Speaker 1: the technology's ultimate use would become the same. It ultimately 68 00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:17,279 Speaker 1: made it easier for users to stay current with web 69 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:22,039 Speaker 1: page updates. That wasn't necessarily the intention when it was 70 00:04:22,080 --> 00:04:24,680 Speaker 1: first being developed, but that's how it ended up being used. 71 00:04:25,200 --> 00:04:28,720 Speaker 1: So a website that included an RSS feed was one 72 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:32,239 Speaker 1: where users could subscribe to that page and the page 73 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:38,600 Speaker 1: would syndicate updates to wherever the user had installed that subscription. 74 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:42,880 Speaker 1: We'll get to that in a little bit. Now. I'm 75 00:04:42,920 --> 00:04:46,479 Speaker 1: skipping over a lot of early RSS stuff. There were 76 00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:49,359 Speaker 1: lots of other elements at play in those early days, 77 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:54,640 Speaker 1: including a similar web syndication technology called scripting News, and 78 00:04:54,720 --> 00:04:58,360 Speaker 1: some elements of scripting News would actually merge into the 79 00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:04,160 Speaker 1: developing RSS technology as it would evolve from version to version. 80 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:09,279 Speaker 1: Then there became a disagreement within the RSS developer community 81 00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:12,640 Speaker 1: about how to evolve the technology. You had one side 82 00:05:12,839 --> 00:05:17,080 Speaker 1: that wanted to keep changes relatively small, primarily to adhere 83 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:20,479 Speaker 1: to this philosophy of maintaining a simple technology, the fear 84 00:05:20,560 --> 00:05:23,440 Speaker 1: being if it gets too complicated, people won't use it. 85 00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:26,640 Speaker 1: You had others in the community who wanted to build 86 00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:30,239 Speaker 1: in a lot more functionality with RSS, but that would 87 00:05:30,279 --> 00:05:33,520 Speaker 1: necessitate a more complex approach, and that could become a 88 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:37,200 Speaker 1: barrier for adoption. Interesting side note, one of the folks 89 00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:41,080 Speaker 1: pushing for the more functionality side was a fourteen year 90 00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:46,560 Speaker 1: old named Aaron Swartz, who would later co found Reddit. Tragically, 91 00:05:46,600 --> 00:05:49,919 Speaker 1: Swarts would take his own life in twenty thirteen while 92 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:55,160 Speaker 1: the focus of aggressive prosecution from MIT and Massachusetts authorities, 93 00:05:55,600 --> 00:06:00,920 Speaker 1: but that's a story for another day. The disagree between 94 00:06:01,279 --> 00:06:04,839 Speaker 1: these two camps of developers led to a fork in 95 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:08,400 Speaker 1: RSS development. So on one side you had the more 96 00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:13,560 Speaker 1: methodical and arguably conservative evolution of the technology. On the 97 00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:17,000 Speaker 1: other you had the more extensive changes and additions, which 98 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:20,400 Speaker 1: would become RSS one point zero. And in two thousand 99 00:06:20,400 --> 00:06:23,400 Speaker 1: and three, RSS would fork a second time, meaning now 100 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:27,000 Speaker 1: you had three competing versions, the third of which, however, 101 00:06:27,240 --> 00:06:32,000 Speaker 1: would become known as ATOM, so it wasn't another confusing 102 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:38,039 Speaker 1: RSS designation. Eventually, the more conservative version of RSS would 103 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:40,479 Speaker 1: become the most widely adopted, and it would become known 104 00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:43,640 Speaker 1: as RSS two point zero. So yeah, you had three 105 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:46,920 Speaker 1: different versions of RSS out there, although the two point 106 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:51,120 Speaker 1: zero one would become arguably the most ubiquitous. Now Over 107 00:06:51,200 --> 00:06:55,279 Speaker 1: on the user side, the general public accessing the web 108 00:06:55,440 --> 00:06:59,080 Speaker 1: largely remained unaware of RSS at all, no matter which 109 00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:02,240 Speaker 1: fork you talked about. It just wasn't a technology that 110 00:07:02,279 --> 00:07:05,479 Speaker 1: most people had heard about. But what would emerge over 111 00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:09,359 Speaker 1: time is that the user would end up relying upon 112 00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:13,520 Speaker 1: an aggregator called a feed reader. And this could be 113 00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:16,600 Speaker 1: a desktop based application, so an actual program you would 114 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:19,400 Speaker 1: open up, kind of similar to a web browser, or 115 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:22,559 Speaker 1: it might be entirely web based, a website that you would 116 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:25,240 Speaker 1: go to in order to look for updates to all 117 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:28,200 Speaker 1: the web pages that you had subscribed to. The web 118 00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:32,640 Speaker 1: pages would syndicate their content to these feeders, depending on 119 00:07:32,720 --> 00:07:35,040 Speaker 1: whether or not you had added the RSS feed to 120 00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:40,200 Speaker 1: that feeder. This idea didn't take off immediately, but when 121 00:07:40,200 --> 00:07:42,880 Speaker 1: The New York Times added an RSS feed in the 122 00:07:42,920 --> 00:07:45,680 Speaker 1: early to mid two thousands, I've seen some accounts say 123 00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:47,640 Speaker 1: two thousand and two and others push it to two 124 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:51,000 Speaker 1: thousand and four. Anyway around that time that became a 125 00:07:51,080 --> 00:07:54,280 Speaker 1: kind of tipping point for RSS technology. There were a 126 00:07:54,280 --> 00:07:57,080 Speaker 1: lot of different feed readers that came out as a 127 00:07:57,120 --> 00:08:00,800 Speaker 1: result of this, including some from really big web companies 128 00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:04,840 Speaker 1: like Google. Google launched Google Reader in two thousand and five. 129 00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:08,880 Speaker 1: So as a user, you could pop onto a web 130 00:08:08,920 --> 00:08:11,400 Speaker 1: page that you liked. We're going to talk about how 131 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:13,400 Speaker 1: stuff Works in this episode, so I'll say, because that's 132 00:08:13,400 --> 00:08:15,760 Speaker 1: where I started. You know, that's why tech stuff has 133 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:19,600 Speaker 1: stuff in the name. How stuff Works had an RSS 134 00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:22,320 Speaker 1: feed still does technically, but we'll get there. So you 135 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:23,960 Speaker 1: would go to how Stuff Works and on the main 136 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:26,360 Speaker 1: splash page would see a little RSS icon and you 137 00:08:26,400 --> 00:08:30,160 Speaker 1: could end up using that to subscribe to the page. 138 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:35,439 Speaker 1: Often that would involve copying a URL shortcut from that 139 00:08:35,640 --> 00:08:38,920 Speaker 1: and then going to your aggregator of choice, whether it 140 00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:41,720 Speaker 1: was a desktop app or a web based one, and 141 00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:46,880 Speaker 1: then using the copied URL to subscribe to that particular 142 00:08:46,920 --> 00:08:50,040 Speaker 1: web page, and then the next time you refresh your reader, 143 00:08:50,920 --> 00:08:54,120 Speaker 1: the web page material would appear there, and from that 144 00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:56,640 Speaker 1: point forward you could just go to your reader to 145 00:08:56,679 --> 00:09:00,800 Speaker 1: see what stuff, if any, had been updated across all 146 00:09:00,840 --> 00:09:04,120 Speaker 1: the different sites that you had subscribed to. So as 147 00:09:04,160 --> 00:09:08,600 Speaker 1: long as a web administrator had incorporated an RSS feed 148 00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:12,040 Speaker 1: and made it accessible so that you knew that it 149 00:09:12,120 --> 00:09:15,440 Speaker 1: was there, you could subscribe to it, and that meant 150 00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:18,120 Speaker 1: that you had a centralized location you could go to 151 00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:21,400 Speaker 1: to quickly scan for updates to sites that you enjoyed, 152 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:24,560 Speaker 1: without having to go to each individual site to look 153 00:09:24,559 --> 00:09:28,800 Speaker 1: for stuff that was new. The aggregator really cut down 154 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:31,679 Speaker 1: on that frustration, right. It removed the need to visit 155 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:35,480 Speaker 1: every page individually, So for stuff like news, it meant 156 00:09:35,520 --> 00:09:39,560 Speaker 1: that users could go to their single source, their reader, 157 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:42,240 Speaker 1: and get a quick rundown of what's going on across 158 00:09:42,360 --> 00:09:46,000 Speaker 1: multiple publications. You could subscribe to all of them, and 159 00:09:46,120 --> 00:09:48,280 Speaker 1: it would be kind of like browsing a news stand 160 00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:51,200 Speaker 1: and looking at all the headlines before deciding which, if any, 161 00:09:51,559 --> 00:09:54,040 Speaker 1: paper or magazine you were going to really dive into. 162 00:09:54,760 --> 00:09:58,600 Speaker 1: The feed readers typically had some other features that made 163 00:09:58,640 --> 00:10:01,200 Speaker 1: them useful. For example, they could keep track of which 164 00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:04,360 Speaker 1: items you had clicked through to read, and the reader 165 00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:06,920 Speaker 1: would then know you'd already seen that update, so it 166 00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:10,040 Speaker 1: wouldn't show you that upon subsequent visits, So it's kind 167 00:10:10,040 --> 00:10:13,600 Speaker 1: of like a mark as red feature. That way, you 168 00:10:13,640 --> 00:10:15,840 Speaker 1: know you wouldn't pop onto your reader and just see 169 00:10:15,840 --> 00:10:17,720 Speaker 1: a bunch of stuff that you had already looked at. 170 00:10:18,240 --> 00:10:21,080 Speaker 1: You could also, however, with most readers anyway, you could 171 00:10:21,080 --> 00:10:24,000 Speaker 1: flag a piece of content that you really liked and 172 00:10:24,720 --> 00:10:27,959 Speaker 1: essentially book market so that it wouldn't disappear from the reader. 173 00:10:28,120 --> 00:10:30,120 Speaker 1: On subsequent visits, you would still be able to get 174 00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:32,720 Speaker 1: to it, so it was kind of like saving an article. 175 00:10:33,520 --> 00:10:36,520 Speaker 1: So it acted like kind of like a bookmark. But 176 00:10:36,640 --> 00:10:39,240 Speaker 1: if you hop around the web now, you might notice 177 00:10:39,320 --> 00:10:43,640 Speaker 1: that that little RSS icon doesn't show up that frequently. 178 00:10:44,480 --> 00:10:47,160 Speaker 1: When we come back, I'll talk a bit about why 179 00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:50,520 Speaker 1: that is and what has happened as a result, But 180 00:10:50,600 --> 00:11:03,360 Speaker 1: first let's take a quick break to thank our sponsors. Okay, 181 00:11:03,640 --> 00:11:08,080 Speaker 1: so I mentioned already my old stomping grounds of HowStuffWorks 182 00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:11,720 Speaker 1: dot com. On that website, we used to have an 183 00:11:11,840 --> 00:11:14,840 Speaker 1: RSS icon right there on the landing page when you 184 00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:17,520 Speaker 1: got there. If you looked in the top of the page, 185 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:20,079 Speaker 1: you would see a little RSS icon that you could 186 00:11:20,280 --> 00:11:23,760 Speaker 1: use to subscribe to How Stuff Works and see updates 187 00:11:23,800 --> 00:11:26,440 Speaker 1: as they were posted. I actually had to use the 188 00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:29,920 Speaker 1: wayback machine to make sure I wasn't imagining this that 189 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:32,720 Speaker 1: I was remembering it incorrectly. You have to remember I 190 00:11:32,760 --> 00:11:35,880 Speaker 1: haven't worked for how stuff Works for several years. I've 191 00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:39,840 Speaker 1: had the same job, kind of like I've been working 192 00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:42,960 Speaker 1: at the same position since two thousand and seven, but 193 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:46,360 Speaker 1: I've had different companies around me. It's a wild thing. Anyway, 194 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:48,120 Speaker 1: I haven't been with How Stuffworks for a while, and 195 00:11:48,160 --> 00:11:51,120 Speaker 1: if you go to how stuffworks dot com today, you 196 00:11:51,600 --> 00:11:55,640 Speaker 1: will not see that RSS icon on the landing page. Now, 197 00:11:55,760 --> 00:11:57,520 Speaker 1: I want to make it clear, How stuff Works does 198 00:11:57,559 --> 00:12:00,760 Speaker 1: still have RSS feeds. In fact, it has a few 199 00:12:00,760 --> 00:12:04,679 Speaker 1: different RSS feeds, but you have to go to the 200 00:12:04,720 --> 00:12:08,360 Speaker 1: actual page that hosts those feeds to be able to 201 00:12:08,480 --> 00:12:10,560 Speaker 1: subscribe to them. I had to go through Google to 202 00:12:10,800 --> 00:12:14,040 Speaker 1: find it. Actually. Also side note, I need to say 203 00:12:14,040 --> 00:12:16,520 Speaker 1: something about my former employer. I think I mentioned this 204 00:12:16,600 --> 00:12:19,480 Speaker 1: maybe in a news episode or something not too long ago, 205 00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:23,360 Speaker 1: but from what I understand, recently, How Stuffworks essentially laid 206 00:12:23,360 --> 00:12:28,120 Speaker 1: off the entire editorial staff after pivoting to using AI 207 00:12:28,120 --> 00:12:32,480 Speaker 1: generated content instead of employing actual writers to write the articles. 208 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:35,120 Speaker 1: So if you go to some of the articles on 209 00:12:35,160 --> 00:12:38,240 Speaker 1: HowStuffWorks dot com right now, which, by the way, when 210 00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:43,960 Speaker 1: I last checked, didn't have any articles posted since late June. Anyway, 211 00:12:44,080 --> 00:12:47,440 Speaker 1: articles now have a notification that explains an editor fact 212 00:12:47,600 --> 00:12:50,839 Speaker 1: checks the articles, but that those articles have some or 213 00:12:50,880 --> 00:12:57,160 Speaker 1: perhaps all, content generated courtesy of AI. I heard that 214 00:12:57,240 --> 00:13:00,320 Speaker 1: the editorial staff had been pushing back on this, moved 215 00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:04,280 Speaker 1: toward AI, and that subsequently they were let go. I 216 00:13:04,280 --> 00:13:06,840 Speaker 1: should stress this is what I have heard, and I 217 00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:08,959 Speaker 1: could be wrong because I haven't actually heard it from 218 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:11,280 Speaker 1: anyone who was working at house Stuff Works at the time. 219 00:13:11,320 --> 00:13:14,520 Speaker 1: I have lost touch with the folks who were working 220 00:13:14,600 --> 00:13:18,400 Speaker 1: at house Stuff Works, so I haven't heard it from 221 00:13:18,400 --> 00:13:22,000 Speaker 1: a direct source. So it does make me very sad. 222 00:13:22,240 --> 00:13:24,439 Speaker 1: And like I said, tech stuff wouldn't be called tech 223 00:13:24,440 --> 00:13:26,560 Speaker 1: stuff if it weren't for hou Stuff Works, so I 224 00:13:26,559 --> 00:13:29,120 Speaker 1: definitely wouldn't have the job I have now if the 225 00:13:29,200 --> 00:13:31,520 Speaker 1: robots had been writing articles back in two thousand and 226 00:13:31,559 --> 00:13:34,640 Speaker 1: seven when I first joined that company. Anyway, let's get 227 00:13:34,640 --> 00:13:37,960 Speaker 1: back to RSS. As I mentioned, RSS technology made it 228 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:41,640 Speaker 1: possible for creators to make audio podcasts that users could 229 00:13:41,720 --> 00:13:46,320 Speaker 1: subscribe to, so a podcatcher essentially acts like an RSS reader. 230 00:13:46,640 --> 00:13:49,560 Speaker 1: It notifies the user when there's a new episode, which 231 00:13:49,600 --> 00:13:52,160 Speaker 1: is just an update to the RSS feed, and the 232 00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:55,920 Speaker 1: user can then listen to that episode. But apart from 233 00:13:55,960 --> 00:14:00,480 Speaker 1: podcasts and a few other uses, why has RSS largely 234 00:14:00,480 --> 00:14:03,040 Speaker 1: disappeared from the web. Well, in many ways, you can 235 00:14:03,080 --> 00:14:06,920 Speaker 1: map the decline of RSS with the rise of social networks. 236 00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:11,960 Speaker 1: People migrated away from using stuff like aggregators. Google shut 237 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:15,680 Speaker 1: down Google Reader in twenty thirteen, which is a very 238 00:14:15,800 --> 00:14:18,800 Speaker 1: Google thing to do. That is to introduce a tool, 239 00:14:19,240 --> 00:14:22,800 Speaker 1: gradually remove direction and support for that tool, and then 240 00:14:23,040 --> 00:14:26,160 Speaker 1: ultimately shut the tool down. Now, you might scavenge the 241 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:29,160 Speaker 1: tool for parts that you might use in later stuff, 242 00:14:29,800 --> 00:14:32,400 Speaker 1: or maybe the whole thing just fades away over time. 243 00:14:32,800 --> 00:14:36,520 Speaker 1: But generally speaking, people began to rely more on platforms 244 00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:40,040 Speaker 1: like Facebook or Twitter to find stuff they wanted to read, 245 00:14:40,360 --> 00:14:43,480 Speaker 1: or they would go to platforms like Reddit to do that. 246 00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:48,760 Speaker 1: Before that, dig web developers had fewer reasons to incorporate 247 00:14:48,840 --> 00:14:51,720 Speaker 1: an RSS feed at all, and I would argue another 248 00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:53,480 Speaker 1: big reason for this is that a lot of web 249 00:14:53,520 --> 00:14:57,440 Speaker 1: based sites and services began to pivot toward building out 250 00:14:57,520 --> 00:15:01,080 Speaker 1: mobile apps once the consumer smartphone became a dominant way 251 00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:04,480 Speaker 1: that folks were accessing the web and web services. Why 252 00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:06,960 Speaker 1: would you spend all your time building out web pages 253 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:10,160 Speaker 1: if the average person is accessing content on a phone 254 00:15:10,600 --> 00:15:14,160 Speaker 1: where web pages aren't necessarily easy to read or navigate, 255 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:18,240 Speaker 1: why not develop an app that could push notifications directly 256 00:15:18,280 --> 00:15:21,440 Speaker 1: to the owner when there's an update. So a lot 257 00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:25,480 Speaker 1: of stuff got moved over to the app ecosystem rather 258 00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:29,040 Speaker 1: than to RSS. Now that's not to say that no 259 00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:33,200 Speaker 1: one uses RSS today. It's not a dead technology. There 260 00:15:33,240 --> 00:15:36,600 Speaker 1: are people who liken it to dead languages like Latin, 261 00:15:36,920 --> 00:15:39,600 Speaker 1: and by that they mean that, sure, there are still 262 00:15:39,640 --> 00:15:42,000 Speaker 1: people who are using RSS, just like there are still 263 00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:46,680 Speaker 1: people who understand Latin. But you're not seeing active development 264 00:15:46,760 --> 00:15:50,120 Speaker 1: in RSS, especially not like we did back in the 265 00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:53,720 Speaker 1: early two thousands, and certainly there's not a groundswell of 266 00:15:53,720 --> 00:15:57,800 Speaker 1: support to make RSS a ubiquitous technology anymore. It's still 267 00:15:57,800 --> 00:16:00,960 Speaker 1: power stuff like podcatchers, and there's sites where you can 268 00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:04,760 Speaker 1: actually find the RSS feeds, like how stuff Works. And 269 00:16:05,040 --> 00:16:07,520 Speaker 1: there are even a couple of RSS readers that are 270 00:16:07,560 --> 00:16:10,120 Speaker 1: still out there, but most of them are gone at 271 00:16:10,120 --> 00:16:12,880 Speaker 1: this point. When I was researching this episode, I found 272 00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:15,480 Speaker 1: an article that had a list of readers, so out 273 00:16:15,480 --> 00:16:18,280 Speaker 1: of curiosity, I tried to track them down. I followed 274 00:16:18,320 --> 00:16:20,720 Speaker 1: different URLs and stuff. A lot of URLs just led 275 00:16:20,760 --> 00:16:24,800 Speaker 1: to blank pages, you know, saying like this domain is 276 00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:29,120 Speaker 1: ready to be to be purchased. So that clearly shows 277 00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:32,880 Speaker 1: that the business that that created that reader has long 278 00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:35,480 Speaker 1: since gone out of business. Out of all the ones 279 00:16:35,520 --> 00:16:39,320 Speaker 1: I checked, I only found two that are still around, 280 00:16:39,400 --> 00:16:41,200 Speaker 1: and out of those two, only one of them is 281 00:16:41,240 --> 00:16:44,880 Speaker 1: still an RSS aggregator. The other one has become more 282 00:16:44,880 --> 00:16:48,880 Speaker 1: of a portal website that curates content for you, but 283 00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:52,160 Speaker 1: it doesn't give you the control of, you know, choosing 284 00:16:52,200 --> 00:16:56,640 Speaker 1: which RSS feeds to subscribe to. So in other words, 285 00:16:56,680 --> 00:16:59,520 Speaker 1: they're doing all the choosing and you just, you know, 286 00:16:59,600 --> 00:17:03,600 Speaker 1: you get whatever they've served up. We've also seen web 287 00:17:03,600 --> 00:17:06,520 Speaker 1: browsers drop support for RSS. There was a time when 288 00:17:06,600 --> 00:17:09,560 Speaker 1: you could use RSS feeds to create stuff like bookmarks 289 00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:12,240 Speaker 1: that would flag when a site updated, but that kind 290 00:17:12,240 --> 00:17:16,480 Speaker 1: of functionality isn't really a thing in most web browsers anymore. Also, 291 00:17:16,520 --> 00:17:19,080 Speaker 1: the web has become a lot more centralized over time, 292 00:17:19,520 --> 00:17:23,320 Speaker 1: with fewer companies controlling more of the web landscape. So 293 00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:25,679 Speaker 1: back in the early days of the web, there was 294 00:17:25,680 --> 00:17:27,840 Speaker 1: this kind of dream that the web was going to 295 00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:34,040 Speaker 1: be this democratized, decentralized thing where you had all these 296 00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:38,680 Speaker 1: different little pockets that were interesting and independent and could 297 00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:41,919 Speaker 1: evolve on their own And it's almost like visiting different 298 00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:45,080 Speaker 1: neighborhoods in a city, with each neighborhood having kind of 299 00:17:45,080 --> 00:17:49,840 Speaker 1: its own personality. But as it unfolded, what really happened 300 00:17:50,240 --> 00:17:53,880 Speaker 1: was that we had companies get bigger and bigger and 301 00:17:53,920 --> 00:17:57,359 Speaker 1: consolidate more and more of the web. And these days 302 00:17:57,400 --> 00:17:59,720 Speaker 1: you can look and say like, well, there's some of 303 00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:05,119 Speaker 1: the massive companies that essentially dominate the web. You know, 304 00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:09,480 Speaker 1: your Googles, your Amazons, your your you know, facebooks, that 305 00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:12,639 Speaker 1: kind of stuff or meta I should say, not Facebook, 306 00:18:13,040 --> 00:18:15,800 Speaker 1: but you get the idea. And it's a very different 307 00:18:16,320 --> 00:18:19,560 Speaker 1: view of what the web is based compared to what 308 00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:23,919 Speaker 1: we first thought about back in the nineties. Really, and 309 00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:28,040 Speaker 1: so RSS has arguably lost a lot of its relevance 310 00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:30,840 Speaker 1: as a result of that, which is a shame because 311 00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:36,639 Speaker 1: I actually really liked having aggregators. I love that. I 312 00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:41,199 Speaker 1: love being able to go to specific sites where I 313 00:18:41,280 --> 00:18:44,840 Speaker 1: could do, you know, subscribe there, and be able to 314 00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:47,760 Speaker 1: keep up with what was going on. It's really useful 315 00:18:47,760 --> 00:18:49,359 Speaker 1: when you're doing stuff like just trying to keep an 316 00:18:49,359 --> 00:18:51,960 Speaker 1: eye on things like tech news. Now that's not to 317 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:55,760 Speaker 1: say that there aren't still some examples out there. There are. 318 00:18:55,880 --> 00:18:58,639 Speaker 1: I mean I still use feed lee for example, to 319 00:18:58,720 --> 00:19:03,520 Speaker 1: be able to look quick at recent articles across different 320 00:19:03,840 --> 00:19:09,440 Speaker 1: uh you know, uh spectrums of content. Or I go 321 00:19:09,560 --> 00:19:11,879 Speaker 1: to Reddit, where it's all you know, user generated and 322 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:16,000 Speaker 1: user submitted stuff that you know, the articles that they 323 00:19:16,040 --> 00:19:20,919 Speaker 1: have discovered wherever they happen to roam. But it's not. 324 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:23,640 Speaker 1: It's not as prevalent as it could have been, which 325 00:19:23,680 --> 00:19:26,320 Speaker 1: is sort of a shame. Anyway, I thought it would 326 00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:28,919 Speaker 1: be interesting to look back on OURSS and kind of 327 00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:34,160 Speaker 1: look at what caused it to not become a more 328 00:19:34,920 --> 00:19:38,800 Speaker 1: you know, common technology today. I hope you found this interesting. 329 00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:42,920 Speaker 1: I hope you are all well, and I will talk 330 00:19:42,920 --> 00:19:53,160 Speaker 1: to you again really soon. Tech Stuff is an iHeart 331 00:19:53,240 --> 00:19:58,240 Speaker 1: Radio production. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 332 00:19:58,400 --> 00:20:01,560 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you you listen to your favorite shows.