Gmail recently introduced another feature which integrates rss on top of your inbox, called Web Clips.
Web Clips shows you news headlines, Gmail tips, blogs, any RSS and Atom feed, and relevant sponsored links at the top of your inbox and messages. With the syncronization with rss updates, check your favorite sites without having to leave Gmail.
On the top of your inbox you will see a single line of text, its source, when it was updated and a link to access that page. You can easily navigate through your selected feeds by the arrows adjacent to it. The customize button lets you select which feeds you want to read. By default, Web Clips offers a list of feeds from popular sites like the New York Times, CNN, Engadget etc. You can add your own feeds too.
To add my feed to your Gmail Web Clips:
After logging in to Gmail, click at Settings (at top right hand corner), then click Web Clips, in the search box you see enter my feed url – and press Search. Then Web Clips will autodetect this blog – an Add button will appear next to Quick Online Tips. Click Add and you are done. Then you can scroll just above your inbox and see updated posts from this blog.