RSS is “listen”
Ben Hammersley’s XHTML Validator to RSS (via SimpleBits) is exactly the kind of tools I expect to see a lot more of in the RSS world. I got excited about the observer pattern when I first started using it in pre-1.0 Java. RSS brings this type of publish-subscribe/observable-observer/listener functionality to human information/data interactions. The important thing to note is that RSS is not "push" … it’s more like a selective "listen". Consumers are only going to "listen" if they want to, and may be willing to pay for feeds that provide premium or customized service. Dave and Doc Searls get it. I think it’ll be interesting to see what other uses of RSS we’ll see popping up.
