Once a nerd preserve, the Internet communication format known as Really Simple Syndication has acquired a key tech-buzz validation: a dedicated venture capital fund, RSS Investors. John Palfrey, executive director of Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, is one of the company's principals.

Blogs and news sites are where most Web users may have noticed those little RSS tags. Is that enough to start building businesses on?
Blogs and news feeds vaulted RSS into the limelight, but they won't be what sustains it. We're already seeing a second generation of applications -- Web services like del.icio.us, which shares bookmarks, and Flickr, the photo-posting site.