Google News
http://news.google.com/
I've been using Google News for months ... It is now better than ever. If you are looking for Op-Ed pieces, stick with The New York Times. If you are looking for a well-compiled aggregation of news stories from 4000 news sources around the world, try Google News. Why is it cool? Well, there are many reasons ... Here are a few:
- Google indicates the time of the last update to the story/news section. Ok, there is nothing very new here. However, those updates are usually between 2 minutes and 1 hour old. Now that is pretty cool.
- Since Google aggregates headlines, you get multiple sources for the same story ... Skeptical about the bias of a particular journalist or news source? Just click on one of the other sources to see their point of view.
- Straight-forward design. Like all Google services, the pages are easy to read and fast to load.
What's missing? Lots! But, that's part of the fun, right? We get to watch it grow - just like the Google Image Search. (Remember when that was just getting started and you wondered if it would work?) So, what else should Google News have? Here are two ideas ...
1. Blog News (or Daypop with a Google twist.) Besides the regular indexing of frequently updated blogs, Google has yet to really tap the power of this publishing technology. The influence of weblogs on the news and the way we see it (at least online, for now) should not be underestimated, and I believe it will only get stronger over time.
2. Op-Ed aggregation ... How nice would it be to see Tom Friedman's daily columns paired next to William F. Buckley's, especially if they are dealing with the same subject. Or, how about a daily topical review and comparison of The National Review, The New York Times, The Weekly Standard, and The Washington Post's op-ed pieces?
So, there you have it ... I've officially switched from Moreover.com's service to Google. Sorry Nick, but you're thing had potential. Too bad you let it go down the drain. As for Daypop, we'll have to see. For the moment, they're out of disk space ... a problem I don't think Google will have any time soon.
Google's New Service News to Yahoo
VentureReporter.net
Tuesday, September 24, 2002'
Google's news service, unveiled on Monday, has all the top stories you can find on just about any online news service. In fact, it's missing just one thing: the human editor. The New York Times reported today that Google's new service uses search algorithms to automatically sort through online news services and come up with relevant headlines for its front page. And while human editors may not yet be worried about the competition, it seems that the other internet portals are.
According to industry executives cited in the Times article, the relationship between Google and Yahoo is becoming strained. Yahoo was an early investor in Google and continues to use Google's search technology for its portal, but is unhappy with Google's recent forays into online shopping and news services, traditional moneymakers for Yahoo.
Google co-founder Larry Page claims that Yahoo cooperated with Google's plans for a news service, and the site currently features articles from Yahoo Headlines among its offerings. However, as the Times article points out, Yahoo has removed the Google logo from its search engine.
For more, see The New York Times' article
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/24/technology/24GOOG.html
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Wednesday, September 25, 2002
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