RSS Feeds

[Perseus]

What do they actually do/ are for?

[nick]

I think they are mainly intended to allow a website to include updates from another. So for example here in the UK you could have something on your website saying "latest news from the BBC" or somesuch.

[Commander Thor]

RSS feeds (Or Really Simple Syndication Feeds) are basically a customizable news feed that a website can include on it's pages, to allow their users to 'subscribe' to the feed.
On Forums (Like this one), it can be used to show new posts or new threads.
On news sites, it can be used to show new articles, or new headlines.

The thing about RSS though, is you don't have to be in a browser to read them.
If you subscribe to a RSS feed (Assuming you have a program to view/read the feeds (Like Outlook, or Windows Live Mail) you can just view them on your desktop. Or on 7/Vista, I believe there are gadgets that allow you to read them.

[Zero Beat]

VTs RSS Feed. (feed://www.virtualteen.org/forums/external.php?type=RSS2)