I just read OJR's article "News That Comes to You", about the advent of RSS.
If you haven't yet heard of RSS, it's a method whereby a web site can transform its content into a text-only feed, which can be easily read by a RSS reader.
So what?, I hear you say. What's the big deal about text only? I'd rather use my browser. Well, the convenience comes from having all your news in one place. A typical RSS reader looks something like this. In a glance, you can see which of your sites have new items, and which you've already read. You can then select and read certain articles and leave others for later. It's much simpler and easier than checking back to each of a dozen websites multiples times each day.
I use RSS feeds now constantly. After trying many RSS readers, I've decided that the free software Feedreader is the best, and at work, I've got RSS feeds set up for CNN, Slashdot, NPR, W00t!, Boycott-RIAA.com, and about a dozen web design blogs.
Mozilla Firefox also has an excellent built-in RSS Reader mechanism they call "live bookmarks". While I prefer Feedreader for most of my RSS feeds, I do use Firefox's live bookmark feature for my Netflix queue, so I can quickly and easily see and reorder which movies I have coming to me next.