It’s just data
Phil Ringnalda weighs in on Joel's RSS problem. It is worth noting that there is an existing solution that significantly reduces bandwidth without affecting latency or content. It is called HTTP HEAD requests. Amphetadesk already supports it. Check your server logs.
Whoa. Am I becoming a ReST guy? First advocating HTTP 301, now HTTP HEAD... what's next? Aaahhgghh!