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Space science is the study of everything above and beyond the surface of the Earth, from Earth’s atmosphere to the very edges of the universe. Space Technology refers to the technology in satellites and ground systems used by space scientists to study the universe (looking up) and the earth (looking down), or to deliver services to users on the ground. The vast majority of satellites are launched into space to provide services to people on Earth.

Satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavor. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon. Space is the property of the universe, in which matter is physically extended and objects have positions relative to one another.

In classical mechanics, space was treated as being separate from time and is thought of as one of the few fundamental physical quantities. In Isaac Newton’s view space was absolute, and held that it exists permanently and independently of whether there is any matter in the space or moving through it.

Space exploration is the use of astronomy and space technology to explore outer space. Physical exploration of space is conducted both by human spaceflights and by robotic spacecraft. Space exploration has often been used as a proxy competition for geopolitical rivalries such as the Cold War.

The first human spaceflight was Vostok 1 (East 1), carrying 27 year old cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on April 12, 1961. The spacecraft completed one orbit around the globe, lasting about 1 hour and 48 minutes. Gagarin’s flight resonated around the world; it was a demonstration of the advanced Soviet space program and it opened an entirely new era in space exploration — human spaceflight.

Space Shuttle Discovery (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-103) is one of the three currently operational orbiters in the Space Shuttle fleet of NASA, the space agency of the United States. (The other two are Atlantis and Endeavour.) When first flown in 1984, Discovery became the third operational orbiter, and is now the oldest orbiter in service. Discovery has performed both research and International Space Station (ISS) assembly missions.

Space technology is technology that is related to entering space, maintaining and using systems during spaceflight and returning people and things from space.

Space technology has a huge impact on the everyday lives of people; and something as simple as checking the weather or watching satellite television or receiving a parcel guided by satellite, it touches most people’s lives on any given day.

Blogs are making it possible for all of the world’s information to be accessible. But keeping up-to-date with the multitude of information you are interested in can be overwhelming. Wouldn’t it be nice to have the freshest news and content delivered directly to you without having to surf from one blog to another? RSS informs you when blogs have added new content. You can get the latest headlines and blog entries be they text, audio files, photographs or video in one screen as soon as they are published.

Figuring Out RSS

You must have noticed the little orange buttons with the icons XML, RSS, Subscribe, and Syndicate This Site when you visit blogs. Clicking on the button, all you will see is a heap of computer codes. This is an RSS feed.

RSS stands for RDF Site Summary, Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication. The latter is the most popular descriptive definition. RSS is a feed format that allows blog publishers to share and distribute content to other blogs or individual web surfers. Bloggers use RSS to provide updates in the form of blog posts. If a blog publishes RSS content commonly known as RSS feed, this feed will include summaries of all the entries posted on that blog. RSS is written in the Internet coding language XML, thus some buttons are labeled as such.

The first part of an RSS feed is a descriptive detail about the “channel” or the source that is publishing the content. The “channel” may include the title of the source, a short description, its blog address, date the information was last updated, name and e-mail address of the blog author. The second part is the list of items. Each “item” represents one published piece of content. Each “item” includes the headline of the entry (title), a two to three sentence summary of the entry (description) and the URL address to read the full entry.

RSS feeds are meant to be read by a software or web-based application known as a feed reader. Feed readers understand the data contained in RSS feeds and translates these data and make available to Internet users or customized blogs,

Subscribing to RSS Feeds

To receive updates or view RSS feeds, you will need a feed reader. A feed reader is an application that allows you to subscribe (add a feed) to a blog and receive quick summaries when that blog is updated. This application is also referred to as RSS reader, news aggregator, news reader or feed aggregator. When you subscribe to RSS feeds, the feed reader collect from different blogs and organize them in a convenient place for you to read rather than you visiting individual blogs looking for new content. Whenever new content is posted from one of the feeds you are subscribed to, the feed reader displays the new headlines. You can go over the headlines and if one is particularly interesting, you can click the headline and you will be brought to the original source where you can read the entire content.

There are primarily two versions of feed readers – web-based and stand-alone applications. Web-based or online feed readers provide a quick start for RSS subscriptions. They let you read your RSS feeds from any computer. Some of these readers are free while others with advanced features are offered at a cost. Some examples of web-based feed readers are Google Reader, My Yahoo and Bloglines. Stand-alone or downloadable feed readers are applications that you install on your main computer just like the Microsoft Outlook e-mail program. These feed readers are usually run in the background. A sound or pop-up window notifies you of any updates. SharpReader is a free feed reader for Windows. For Mac users, a preferred feed reader is NetNewsWire.

Once you have a feed reader, you can choose what you want to receive in your feed reader. You can also add feeds through the RSS buttons of your favorite blogs. Clicking on the RSS orange icon, you can subscribe to the feed by dragging the URL of the RSS feed into your feed reader or by cutting and pasting the same URL into a new feed in your feed reader. Most blogs offer RSS feeds using the orange RSS, XML button. Conversely, you can also create your own RSS feed.

Creating an RSS Feed

You can also create you own feeds. It is a pretty easy task. The hard part is creating the content itself. The feed part is usually just using the standard RSS format that notifies the feed reader which sections of your blog entry relates to the RSS title, description, date, link and other pertinent data. This is done using XML format, the standard method of surrounding the significant parts of the content with tags that the feed reader understands. Once content has been set up with an RSS feed, then it is ready for the reading public.

Publishing an RSS Feed

You can add RSS syndication as a publishing option in your blog. In some cases, this is done automatically, without you having to set up anything. If you are using a blogging tool software like Blogger, TypePad or WordPress, publishing a feed is one of their built-in features plus some other feed-related options. Other types of feed readers may require programming skills to add RSS syndication. Once you have created an RSS feed with your blogging software, pipe it through your feed reader and voila, a whole stream of benefits awaits you.

Benefiting from RSS

The most compelling use of RSS is that it lets you take hold of information you are interested in and have it updated for you in one place where you can read it within the shortest possible time. RSS has been embraced by individual users, blog publishers and businesses as well.

For individual users, RSS feeds keep them updated on news, information and blog posts. There is no need to visit numerous blogs. There is no deluge of e-mail newsletters that clutter the mailbox. Unlike e-mail, there is no spam. Opting out can be done anytime and there is no need to give any contact information to subscribe to a feed. An individual user can also customize content that comes to him and ignore blog entries that are of no interest to him. There is absolutely no need to check back for new postings as the feed reader delivers content to him.

For blog publishers, RSS permits quick distribution of new blog entries to individual users in a convenient way. RSS feeds when incorporated into a blog offers a more personalized and interactive user experience, strengthening blog presence and maximizing revenue opportunities.

For businesses, RSS feeds enable them to do without regularly checking blogs for important updates or plowing through a pile of e-mail distribution lists. RSS provides businesses with much-needed fresh information. RSS feeds are extremely helpful for brand marketing, customer service, internal and external communications and competitive awareness.

In a nutshell, if you want to be informed of the latest news and happenings around the world and is having a hard time managing information overload, RSS is the answer.

Hopefully, these basics can help you get started with RSS. It may be difficult to understand at first, but once you get the gist of it, surfing the web will be effortless with RSS.

The technology world is a fun and ever changing world. Today, there are literally thousands of products in the marketplace. We are simply swarmed by the sheer number of products that we can choose from. And these are not big ticket items. They could be just small little gadgets like a mobile phone, a portable printer, or a digital camera.

Of course, if you have the budget, a seemingly small item may end up costing you a small fortune. When making a buying decision, you need to be discerning enough to strike a balance between the price and your own needs and wants. One way to achieve this balance, is to rely on technology news to help you come to a better decision.

How technology news can help you.

Make a quick visit to any technology news website. There are a plethora of tech sites out there on the Internet. Some are well established websites (think CNET), and others are run by small publishers. Both have their merits.

A big publisher usually releases tons of tech related news on all sorts of products. The problem is, due to the huge scope of coverage, the focus is usually diluted. You will find different types of content – reviews, product releases, specifications, etc. Some of these content are written by paid tech writers, so there is a commercial element involved. Perhaps some writers are more inclined to write positive things about the products? Maybe.

Smaller publishers tend to be more focused, and they usually release news on hand picked products only. Being small, they can’t possibly cover everything under the sun. So it’s a wise strategy to adopt. Often, you find articles that are much more in depth. The owners are also more likely to be very passionate about the tech products they are writing about.

When buying a tech gadget, you usually pay more for newer technology. The important here is to remember that everything new comes with a much heftier price tag. The technology may not be necessarily better (e.g. buggy since it’s new), but you still end up paying substantially more for the product anyway.

If you want to save some money, just be patient. Keep browsing the tech news to keep yourself abreast of the changes. For instance, how is the technology improving? What are others saying about the brand new gadget? If you read nothing but great reviews on the product, that is a good sign.

You may need to suppress your own desire a little, so that you don’t end up rushing to be the first in line to buy that new camcorder, new television, or new mobile phone. Just wait a little. The price will come down soon enough as soon as the masses start to adopt the new technology. That way, you get a more stable device, at a much lower price.