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Google Does the News

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the hey-mister-wanna-buy-the-paper dept.

rizen was among the countless readers who submitted that google does the news. They've added a new tab to their interface, and a CNNish sorta web page that indexes thousands of online news sites. Their technology section is showing some Slashdot stories too (sweet!). I like that they combine related stories on the same subject. Nifty setup.

33 of 310 comments (clear)

  1. Why do slashdot stories? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    technology section is showing some Slashdot stories too (sweet!).

    I don't see why they would. They probably already posted the article Slashdot is linking to before slashdot posts the story.

    Slashdot isn't a news site as much as a community site. Most articles are just pointing to real news sites. Its the comments that gives this site the edge.

  2. Ooo, irony by Winterblink · · Score: 5, Funny

    New news makes the news. *snicker*

    --
    "I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
    -Hoban Washburn
  3. Sweetness and light... by Bonker · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I can load relevant headlines without waiting for my browser to time out on CNN's AOL/Netscape banner every time.

    Still, I wonder how the other news sources are going to react. They make their revenue on advertisting and if Google is skimming off the top of their viewership, I have to wonder if they're not going to start kvetching pretty quickly.

    --
    The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and slashdot the links early!
    1. Re:Sweetness and light... by Quaryon · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Well, Google only links to headlines at other sites, rather than publishing the articles themselves - so I suspect there will soon be a race by each of these sites to figure out how to get the top article in each section..!

      Q.

    2. Re:Sweetness and light... by greenhide · · Score: 4, Informative

      These types of links are called deep links .

      There has already been quite a lot of controversy regarding deep links, dating all the way back to 1999.

      In fact, one major free website hosting company, whose name escapes me at the moment, does not allow you to deep link to their members' pages. Instead, you are forced to go to that member's home page first (I imagine that they are checking for referers or some such thing).

      Clearly, deep linking is beneficial, but some companies just don't get it.

      --
      Karma: Chevy Kavalierma.
    3. Re:Sweetness and light... by p3d0 · · Score: 5, Informative
      Deep linking is also bullshit. It's called "linking" and it's no different from linking to a home page. It's just a URL. There appears to be no basis to think that any kind of linking is illegal in any way.

      If companies want to force viewers through a predetermined path, the web is simply the wrong medium.

      --
      Patrick Doyle
      I mod down every jackass who puts his moderation policy in his sig. Oh, wait a sec....
  4. Slashdot need to license this! by DAldredge · · Score: 5, Funny

    That dup detection code would do wonders to help slashdot. Any chance that Google will license it to /. ?

  5. Regions by nick255 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    At the moment it has World and U.S. sections. I think what it could really do with is different regional sections, which would be default to different regions URLs. (eg. news.google.co.uk having a UK section). It really doesn't interest me that much that South Dakota is to vote on extending jury rights!

    1. Re:Regions by gnovos · · Score: 5, Funny

      Waaaaaaaaaitaminute... Are you honestly trying to tell me that the rest of the world doesn't wait with bated breath for any and all developments that come out of American state legislatures? Come on now, next you'll be telling me that you guys don't celebrate the Fourth of July!

      --
      "Your superior intellect is no match for our puny weapons!"
    2. Re:Regions by laserjet · · Score: 4, Funny

      Then why don't you limeys create your own search engine that rules? Then you can do whatever you want with it!

      (that was a joke).

      --
      Moon Macrosystems. Sun's biggest competitor.
    3. Re:Regions by Peyna · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It would be even better if they offered more stories from news sources arond the world. I've noticed in the past that if I read a story on CNN.com, and then go read it on El Mundo or Le Monde that you tend to get a very different point of view. Especially with stories that look at the United States or International issues. A real good example was the recent problems in Argentina and how the US news presented it, and how international news sources presented it.

      --
      What?
  6. Clean look and good international support by Bravo_Two_Zero · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I know lots of news pages exist, but this is nice and clean. Plus, they seem to have a good amount of international news. I can see using this every day. Plus, it's nice not to be beaten over the head with layers, flash and such. Imagine that... just the news!

    --


    Amateurs discuss tactics. Professionals discuss logistics.

    1. Re:Clean look and good international support by d^2b · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Hmm. I know its not cool to pick on people's English when you don't speak their language, but living in Munich I was amused by the following quote from the Islamic Republic News Agency
      "This government will only govern for a very short time," Stoiber told his disappointing supporters at a gathering in Munich, broadcast live on German television.
      I mean, hey, Bavarians are a unique bunch, but disappointing seems a bit harsh, especially during Oktoberfest :->

      Seriously though, I wonder just how the IRNA one paragraph story got to be number two on the list of sources.

      B.T.W., and this is probably redundant, but if you think slashdotting is cool, wait till google news points at your community newspaper.

  7. Re:google's great, but.... by theRhinoceros · · Score: 4, Insightful

    As long as it's better* than msn, excite, yahoo or the like, yes.

    *bett er - adj Does not have insanely annoying banner ads everywhere, nor advertisements disguised as headlines, or random flash popups or interstitial ads.

  8. Methodology? by Spazholio · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I thought Google's indexing/spidering system was innovative because it ranked pages in terms of how popular and prevalent they are on OTHER pages. I would think that it takes a small amount of time for this kind of "popularity" to build up. Are they changing their methods for the news section? Using their traditional methods, it wouldn't be "news" anymore. Is it just taking the headlines from the most popular websites and posting them there? Don't get me wrong, Google's the best at what it does, so this will probably end up being a good thing, I'm just curious about the methodologies employed.

  9. the best part by briancnorton · · Score: 5, Funny

    the best part of it is that Cricket is the headlining sport.

    --

    People who think they know everything really piss off those of us that actually do.

  10. They already do by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    maybe time for slashdot to get a google topic

    They already have one. It's called "Ask Slashdot"

  11. Meta by interiot · · Score: 5, Funny

    GoogleNews does GoogleNews.

  12. Been beta for a while by salimma · · Score: 5, Informative

    .. it's just linked to the main page now. For something extra-schweet though, try their experimental keyboard-navigable search interface - found it from Mycroft, the Mozilla search bar plugin project.

    --
    Michel
    Fedora Project Contribut
  13. Re:What About.. by geckofiend · · Score: 5, Informative

    They have a partner agreement with NY Times at least that bypasses the registration requirement.

  14. Historical article... by pVoid · · Score: 4, Interesting
    This thing is like Escher's hand drawing itself:

    Google searches for the news
    ZDNet- 1hourago
    Google unveiled on Monday an expanded test version of its search engine for current events and news, the latest step in the company's move into new markets.
    Google Launches News ServicePCWorld
    Google launches news search siteTelecomPaper(subscription)
    CNET- and5related

  15. read on the bottom... by elquemao · · Score: 5, Funny

    " This page was generated entirely by computer algorithms without human editors. No humans were harmed or even used in the creation of this page."

  16. I was just saying... by tuxedo-steve · · Score: 5, Funny

    I was just saying to my girlfriend that if there's any one company that I have more respect for than any other company in the world, it would be Google.

    And then this came out. I got to point and say, "See, this is why!" Then I ran around the room in my underwear laughing maniacally. I think I'm sleeping on the couch tonight.

    --
    - SMJ - (It's not just a name: it's a bad aftertaste.)
  17. How are sites selected for each story? by tibbetts · · Score: 5, Interesting

    From Google's "About Google News" link:

    The headlines that appear on Google news are selected entirely by computer algorithms, based on how and where the stories appear elsewhere on the web. There are no human editors at Google selecting or grouping the headlines and no individual decides which stories get top placement. This occasionally results in some articles appearing to be out of context.

    This is an interesting development for Google. Ruling out the possibility of paid placement (for now), it seems as though PageRank doesn't apply to the news aggregator. (And how would it? Stories are updated continuously.) It's not likely to be completely random, either, although such an approach could lead to some very interesting story angles.

    --
    :wq
  18. Just in case ... by Alranor · · Score: 5, Funny

    we slashdot the site, here's a link to the google cache. :)

  19. Re:Hang on a second... by swillden · · Score: 4, Funny

    Heh. Bandwidth firefights - this oughta be cool.

    Bandwidth firefights? With Google? That sounds like playing tug-of-war with a locomotive.

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    Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
  20. Sneak preview of upcoming Googlage by bmooney28 · · Score: 5, Informative

    It has been mentioned that Google has covered news stories for quite some time. The best place to get info on Google's current projects is Google Labs...

    1. Re:Sneak preview of upcoming Googlage by Da+Schmiz · · Score: 4, Interesting
      I second this... even though it's still technially in beta, the Google Glossary has long since replaced both Whatis.com and the Webopedia in my bookmarks.

      Google Labs... another reason why I think Google is probably the best technology company on the face of the planet right now...

      --

      "Anything is better than IE, and you can quote me on that." -- Wil Wheaton.

  21. No Reg. Required on NYTimes stories by DRue · · Score: 5, Informative

    No regristration if you go to a nytimes story from google's news page! Why can't we do that? Here's google's link, for example:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/21/technology/21N IN T.html?ex=1033444800&en=c4f426ba46654ccb&ei=5062&p artner=GOOGLE

    I assume it's the partner=google part that bypasses the registration

  22. Slashgoo by zero-one · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Slashdot is a site for commenting on the news, news.google.com finds the news. What about combining them to make a fully automated news discussion site? All the server would have to do is pick off the top n stories from Google news and feed them into the slash engine (or one of the slash cones). For bonus points, it could divide the news into different areas of interest. Anyone care to lend me some nice fast servers on with a fast Internet connection?

  23. About News Search by overunderunderdone · · Score: 5, Informative
    It doesn't say much but their is an FAQ

    The most it says about the technology is this:
    How does Google decide what stories are published on the Google News homepage?

    The headlines on the Google News homepage are selected entirely by a computer algorithm, based on many factors including how often and on what sites a story appears elsewhere on the web. This is very much in the tradition of Google's web search, which relies heavily on the collective judgment of web publishers to determine which sites offer the most valuable and relevant information. Google News relies in a similar fashion on the editorial judgment of online news organizations to determine which stories are most deserving of inclusion and prominence on the Google News page.
    I'm guessing that the sources themselves are ranked in the usual manner. The same story from different sources are grouped and finally the placement of the story is determined by how many sources (weighted by their rank) ran it and how those sources positioned it themselves.
  24. Brownie points if you can mirror the Google mirror by uigrad_2000 · · Score: 5, Funny
    What if Google links to this story? Then you get the Slashdot slashdotting Google, who will slashdot Slashdot, who will bounce it to Google, who will...

    I just want to see a google archive of this:
    http://www.alltooflat.com/geeky/elgoog/

    --
    Free unix account: freeshell.org
  25. Exellent! But.... by jonr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Would it be possible to localize it more? Right now it is -1, Too US-Centric. This could be my startup page. :)