Search results via RSS now available

Techmeme Search now provides results through RSS. What does this enable? A lot of things. You can now subscribe to search results in iGoogle, Netvibes, or your favorite RSS reader. Developers can hook up other kinds of applications to Techmeme Search as well. Wherever background information on a name or topic in technology can provide useful context, Techmeme Search can help. You can see this on CrunchBase's company profile pages (here's one for Twitter) where Techmeme headlines in the right margin provide expanded news coverage.

Obtaining the RSS feed URL: On any results page, simply click the RSS button in the browser's location bar, usually an orange or blue square icon like the one above, but tinier. In Safari, the icon simply contains the letters "RSS". A feed URL link also appears at the bottom of any results page. Look (again) for an orange RSS icon. Subscribing involves copying this URL to your aggregator of choice.

"About" vs. "any mention": Remember that Techmeme Search runs in either of two overall modes. Suppose you're searching for "eBay". In the default mode, it tries to find results about eBay by searching only the title and first few sentences for "eBay" (example results). To get results that mention eBay anywhere in the post, uncheck "Search title & summary only" (example result). The associated RSS feeds for these two alternatives preserve this searching behavior.

About Techmeme Search: Techmeme Search was introduced May 20, and demands for RSS feeds arrived (of course) on May 20. Bloggers soon came through with other helpful information. Among them was Amit Agarwal, whose post provides a link that instantly adds Techmeme Search to the Firefox or IE toolbar. Another was Louis Gray, who uses Techmeme to examine who broke (or otherwise gave early notice of) stories of enduring interest.