If you just said: What the hell is that? Then, this article's for you.In plain English an RSS reader is your inbox to the web. When you want to see if you have new email - do you call each of your friends up and say "Do you have anything to tell me?". Of course you don't, you just check your email to see if there are any new messages, right?
The same goes for the web. When you want to see what's new on CNN or what articles are posted on ESPN, you don't need to go there and check. Your RSS reader will gather up all the new articles and place them in your RSS reader (your inbox to the web). This video from google will help:
See that orange logo up there /\? That's a universal logo for an RSS feed. When you see that logo, you can click it and add it to your RSS reader. I currently subscribe to 132 feeds and read an average of 600 posts per day. (Now you know a little secret about how manage "I read the entire internet so you don't have to.®")
I use Google Reader, but you can check out this list from LifeHacker and choose the best one for you.