How to keep track of news in your field
I already talked about how you can keep track of blog updates by using bloglines.com in a previous post, How to read blogs. Apart from reading blogs, there is another powerful way to keep track of news on a topic which is often faster.
This is done through search feeds and news alerts. I first discovered search feeds through eBay. Imagine you are looking for something specific which is not currently listed on the site. I really enjoy typing on ergonomic keyboards, and went through a period where I would regularly spill some green tea on my keyboard, rendering it useless (I really like green tea too). So I resorted to eBay for finding a replacement, and started using what they call favorite searches, which sent me an email every time someone posted an ergonomic keyboard for sale. I went through 4 or 5 keyboards during my spillage period, and this feature saved me from having to go to the eBay site to check if anything new had come up. Happily the epidemic has abated.
Other sites have similar services. Bloglines (they call it a search feed) and Technorati (keyword watchlist) allows you subscribe to searches for words which appear on new entries on blogs. Google News calls it news alert and sends you an email as it happens, and Yahoo News allows you to create your own RSS feed with your keywords of choice. With PubSub, you have a subscription stack, and you can download their toolbar to be alerted straight away in your browser of a match to your search keywords.
Services such as PubSub's are called persistent-search; they like to describe themselves as prospective, or geared to the future, rather than retrospective which is how search services such as Google are described. And they can make their users money. Here's a Wall Street Journal article with an example of an investor acting on persistent search tip.
If you are working to be the recognized expert in your field, this way of tracking news allows you to always know what is going on.