Woodchuck-enabled applications register feeds and objects with Woodchuck (a daemon). When conditions are good, e.g., you are not interacting with the device, there is WiFi and you have battery power (the ideal case), Woodchuck checks what needs to be transferred, starts the corresponding applications and tells them what streams to update and what objects to download.

FeedingIt, an RSS reader, registers each of your RSS subscriptions with Woodchuck and tells Woodchuck that the streams should be updated approximately every 6 hours. Woodchuck starts FeedingIt and tells it to update its feeds when they are not sufficiently up to date and there is good connectivity.

(Currently, Woodchuck never uses your cellular connectivity. Future versions will, after obtaining the user's consent.)

Does that help clarify things?