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Google News Leaves Beta
Aqws writes "As of 1/23/2006 Google News is no longer in Beta. It was in Beta for three years and four months. Here's the blog of Google News creator, Krishna Bharat, on the subject."
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...so when's Windows XP coming out of beta? ;)
With spending like this, exactly what are "conservatives" conserving?
Google News coming out of Beta is a clear indication that Google has jumped the shark.
Alas, poor Google. I knew thee well.
Google News Headline: Google News out of Beta.
Story at 11.
-Teiresias
But what does that mean for Google? Wasn't the point of keeping it in beta to insulate it from lawsuits from a lot of the bigger newsgroups (Reuters, AP, et al)?
My MythTV HowTo
I guess that since it's now not beta anymore, we can all finally use it! All of those of us who held back until it was ready for market can rest assured!
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
look at all of the links to the post at the bottom of that blog - they're like snowflakes or something.
it really has improved since i started to use it a year or so ago, nice job google news team.
Can we use this figure of "more than 3 years" as any indication for the rest of their products?
This is a question for software developers - does a company like Google have a system that generally produces "1.0 quality" software after a certain amount of time, or does it depend entirely on the nature of a particular project?
I only ask because I can't wait for Gmail to go "live" for real.
Several months ago there was an article on slashdot claiming that the algorithm for google news had a built in bias to favor politically conservative/right wing news sources?
Is this still true?
It's already in the news!
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare
Google News has a severe and heavy bias towards certain types of media. The Google creators claims it is because their algorithims cause certain sources to show up near the top - but they have been caught "tweaking" results before.
Can Google News answer to the charges that they are purposely altering search results for News?
Of course not, thats a bunch of hooey perpetrated by idiots on slashdot.
Think about it for a second, why in God's name would having the word 'beta' stuck in front of it be any kind of legal insulation? The population can still access it, the "damage" if any would still be done.
The truth is that there is nothing wrong with anything Google is doing, all they are doing is grabbing headlines and snippits. It falls under "fair use", and they direct the traffic to your news site anyway, so where's the problem? If you personally don't want your site involved all you have to do is opt-out. It is clear as day.
Either they changed that 2 minutes later or you were looking at browser cache.....
try hitting "refresh"
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&tab=wn&ie=UTF-8& q=google%2Bnews%2Bout%2Bof%2Bbeta&btnG=Search+News
fak3r.com
Google news is rather dubious. There's no real insight into how it selects headlines. There are reports that it will happily take as 'news' press releases from the BNP in Britain, which is a little like giving news releases from the Ku Klux Klan the same prominance as the NYT. Google caved under pressure to China to screen thoughtcrime out of its results. I'm not sure I like Google anymore.
I recently read Joel Bakan's The Corporation, which argues that due to their defining characteristic of only being beholden to profit and money, corporations are, in human terms, irredeemably psychotic. Google is an interesting case study, as it's set itself a higher moral standard, and has much further to fall. Google News was the beginning of that inevitable fall.
Meine Schwester ist sehr, sehr reizvoll - Nietzsche
Been using Google News since the beginning and thee have been few changes that I noticed... so what are the new features that come out of a full version release?
I just read the blog. I have not used Google News and have no axe to grind. However, I can't help but worry about a service that "finds or picks" my news for me using algorithms. Isn't anyone worried that someone could be tweaking the search criteria to control what is displayed? When the news comes from many sources you learn to read into the articles what each organization's hidden adgenda is. By leaving the choices of what is presented up to a machine that is ultimately controlled by a few people rather than many editors across several outlets, we make ourselves vulnerable to suggestion or manipulation. I can see why they were worried about lawsuits....just a crazy rant.
That's really good news.
Now all my old, embarrassing cross-posts to alt.flame, alt.fan.warlord, and alt.sex.nice.ass.paulina will be preserved for eternity.
And you wonder why I use a pseudonym? I learned a late lesson.
sigs, as if you care.
They've added an extensive new feature. Isn't the point of a beta supposed to be (in theory, when it's not just a marketing ploy) to test such things and iron out bugs?
Stasis is death. Embrace change.
4. How do I find everything the Prosimian Times wrote about Gentle Lemurs in the last month?
Try the advanced search page to refine your search. Specify a news source, date range or location to find exactly those articles you're looking for.
That is really cool - I never knew that they had newspapers in the Eocene Epoch, let alone that lemurs have a gentle side to them.
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
I agree with alot of the posters calling google news "dubious" and such. There does seem to be a lack of information as to how they determine what exactly is news worthy.
That being said, they seem to choose all the headlines that I'm interested in, and I find it quite pleasant to browse the stories there.
Perhaps the decision making process for what qualifies as a headline is: "What will google users find interesting" -- Which seems perfectly fine by me.
Big ones, small ones, some as big as yer 'ead!
Give 'em a twist, a flick o' the wrist...
You are thinking of Google Groups, not Google News.
Good thing you're using a pseudonym, or else your error would be associated with your name for all eternity.
Only 3 years and 4 months in Beta? Haven't they learned not to rush a product to market?
Enlightenment is a pipe dream. So where's the pipe?
Now all my old, embarrassing cross-posts to alt.flame, alt.fan.warlord, and alt.sex.nice.ass.paulina will be preserved for eternity.
Your thinking of Google Groups, this is about Google News, which is their news search engine, not the usenet search. Your embarassing flames are already preserved for all eternity.
One annoyance with Google News is that they include vanity "press release" sites as news sources. And since most of those sites do absolutely no filtering on submitted PR, that means any nut or hoax can get their .. release .. to the top slot in a news search category.
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
hmmn did you use Bayesian Filters to predict?
Some service from Google FINALLY left Beta.
And this is why, when you go to google news, it says, in green font at the bottom of each story, FOX News - CNN - ABC News - New York Times - all 2,351 related
So far, it seems to me that taking the summary from one article and linking to several more is a pretty nifty idea. ;)
But then, I get all my news from slashdot, so I don't have to worry about the evils of google news
Obligatory Soundbite Catchphrase
GoogleNews now tracks every link you click in GoogleNews. That's not how it used to be just a while ago. I had to stop using GoogleNews because of that.
I guess the next step will be to track every click in search results.
Do no evil. Do less evil. Evil is not really that bad, it's for your benefit, you know.
Beta. "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
And I had, like, seven invites left that I hadn't sent out yet. I guess they're worthless now that ANYONE can use it.
Sweet informative mod.
From the blog:
:) But it does help you try to get an overall objective perspective.
'we thought it would encourage readers to get a broader perspective by digging deeper into the news -- reading ten articles instead of one, perhaps -- and then gain a better understanding of the issues, which could ultimately benefit society.'
You know, I completely agree with this. I find myself looking at different perspectives on the same news item - comparing BBC to CBC to Fox News to Al Jazeera to Pravada, and so on.. not everytime, mind you
Not out of Beta according to news.google.com it still shows beta in the graphic, it seems like the announcement and changing http://news.google.com/images/news.gif could have been coordinated.
I think Google has just become so big that they forgot to change the graphic that says 'beta' two years ago. Oops. ;-)
...except they would probably make me keep a "blog."
So, no dice...
... a news site like slashdot. Not for the dupes, mind you. But for the ability to comment on the news, to hear different opinions from different parts of the world, with a mecanism like slashcode moderation (that works better than nothing, as flawed as it is) able to filter the noise. Would anyone be aware of such a website ?
The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
I still get the beta logo when I search. ie. the search results page
And yes I refreshed my cache.
If you do a SEARCH on google news, the logo still says Beta. The front page does not. Maybe the search function is still in Beta?
---
but make sure that the last line
Generated by SlashdotRndSig via GreaseMonkey
Their screening process for new entries is a little... biased. They'll let Landover Baptist (a virulently anti-Christian parody site) and some Neo-Nazi group get their content added, but wouldn't add Michelle Malkin, a blogger who is a professional journalist, get added because she "doesn't have an editorial staff."
I personally have little use for Malkin, but I cannot help but wonder about the people who turn her down, but let the kissing cousins of the National Alliance and Stormfront get indexed instead. Little Green Footballs was rejected for the same reason.
By now, you'd think that they'd have a customized service where you could create your own personalized Google News which allows only certain sources, allows you to add your own sources to categories so you can triple the size of one category, etc.
I used Google News for a while a number of years ago. I gave it up because it wasn't really doing a good job doing what it was supposed to: Presenting relevant news articles. About a week ago, I checked it out again. It still sucks. There were two articles on the front page that contained "news" at least two days old. Yes, the _articles_ were new, but the content in the article was days-old. I wonder if Google News took a little bit _too_ much influence from Slashdot.
snake, after stealing a vcr: "oh no...beta!"
I do not accept czechs.
The screened out results aren't some 'customs of the country' peculiar local ways. They are dissident sites that criticise and publicise China's human rights record. If there is one issue that transcends the borders of nation states it is people's favour of, and commitment to, human rights.
Meine Schwester ist sehr, sehr reizvoll - Nietzsche
Groups is still in beta and has been since I can't remember. I think it's been around 5 or 6 years.
It's the first thing I fire up in the morning to get up-to-date with the world. I scan it, look at the sources for the stories of course, and read what intrests me. Then I head to CNN.com and the NYTimes website. I don't have a TV, so these are my main sources for news.
Then and only then do I head to Slashdot. Unless I've left a comment recently and I rush to see if I was modded a troll. It's really my only purpose for waking up, to see what I was modded as.
"Leo Fender was in a 'state of grace' when he designed the Stratocaster." -- Paul Reed Smith
You seem to agree with Joel Bakan's theory; indeed it is a fairly obvious point, once it is out in the open and fully examined: that corporations ARE psychotic, by any human standards. You might view this with a matter of fact shrug, but I, for one, view Google's position as the planets number one trader of information, and the fact it will begin to pursue possibilities to completely capitalise on its position without regard to any moral responsibilities as something truly frightening.
I'm sure plenty of people reading that will think I'm a little overwrought about something which, if it does happen, is far into the future, but I really see this as inexorable, because of the nature of what Google now is.
Meine Schwester ist sehr, sehr reizvoll - Nietzsche
I'd love the ability to complain about each story being duped 300 times.
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
Google needed something positive for people to talk about in order to help their stock recover recent losses. So far, their stock is up 3.26% for the day. Expect them to bring other services out of beta whenever they need a little bit of positive news.
Looks like the are still in Beta after all.
*points at logo*
Ryan - http://www.thecosmotron.com/
--Others give you better summary when you hit them with mouse over
like google maps and other stuff, not goonews. (yahoo is better)
-- Few stories on top pages. (because summary not hidden?)
-- Few stories on lower pages like international or regional
--lame sources, the freekin "Scotsman" dominates usa central time source in the day, I say "blow it up your kilt scotchy." source
algorithm time based or just sucks.
-- no new features with goo-news
-- inscrutable interface changing tools not useful without losing
privacy
-- Beta now means dead project?
I don't really care about the US version of GNews, I read the japanese version to gain reading practice while learning more about Japan and what's going on there.
:)
The Japanese version not only has "beta" in their logo, but STILL doesn't support RSS (available for months in the us version) nor it offers the new features that are boasted in the 1.0 Version.
So for me,they are still in Beta
The grandparent post is just typical multiculturalist rhetoric. They're unwilling to call most cultures to task for their human rights violations unless the country/nation in question has politics they view as contradictory to their own, typically left-leaning politics.
Nations populated with "people of color" get a special pass -- you don't seem to hear the multiculturalists criticizing female genital mutilation, the aspects of Sharia that treat women like slaves or property, the horrible Indian caste system, and so on.
In the specific case of China, criticizing the Chinese government's policies would be tantamount to admitting that communism is inherently dictatorial, which comes a little too close to home for most leftists.
Grrr, stupid date format, grumble, grumble. Why not use 2006-01-23? Here are all the reasons why you should.
Get your own free personal location tracker
Would it be fair if I chopped off your head for making a bad analogy? Signs point to yes.
If a company wants to have an internet presence it has to be searchable by GoogleGuess what? The standard Google search (web pages) and Google News are two separate systems, with independent opt-out mechanisms. So your site can remain searchable without participating in Google News.
If you are actually whining "I want my articles to get links in Google News, but I don't want them to use any specific words or phrases from my site" then you're being a psychotic dork.
After all this time when you hit Reply you don't have the quoted text of what you're replying to in the compose box. You have to hit Options then hit Reply to get quoted text. Who made that decision?
I looked over the RSS you can use... I was quite happy to see that one "news company" included images into their RSS Feed. On my personal site I use MSNBC right now, and after looking over CNN's, MSNBC, etc etc Google is the only one nice enough to include nice little images into their RSS Feed. Nice :)
-- Josh
"Whoopie! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but that's a long one for me!" - Pete Conrad
Google farted and the dudes at slashdot were swept up by the heavenly odour..
In other news, The Herald, CNN and NY Times have filed a suit against Google under DMCA for "stealing" their content and deep-linking without permission. ...
Seriously... i expect one of these morons to file a suit against Google.
"Doing what i can, with what i have." ~ Burt Gummer
http://www.google.com/googlegulp/faq.html#11
11. When will you take Google Gulp out of beta?
Man, if you pressure us, you just drive us away. We'll commit when we're ready, okay? Besides, what's so great about taking things out of beta? It ruins all the romance, the challenge, the possibilities, the right to explore. Carpe diem, ya know? Maybe we're jaded, but we've seen all these other companies leap headlong into 1.0, thinking their product is exactly what they've been dreaming of all their lives, that everything is perfect and hunky-dory - and the next thing you know some vanilla copycat release from Redmond is kicking their butt, the Board is holding emergency meetings and the CEO is on CNBC blathering sweatily about "a new direction" and "getting back to basics." No thanks, man. We like our freedom.
I guess someone at Google News didn't read the FAQ
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
A couple of days ago, I wrote that google news was in permanent "beta" because they couldn't make money off of it--I was wrong on that account: they made it un-beta even without the possible cash inflow.
From all points of view, It's a good model:
1. Index all news
2. ?
3. Profit...
Esta es una firma en Espanol.
Google news is really great it allows to get a overview of the news that I am interested in. My only wish is that Google would incorporate the same search functions that is built into the Google search engine. Personally I don't understand why they left them out to begin with. Would be great to have site search functionality.
thats just it this is old news.
Viewing the Spanish version of Google News...it's still in Beta
Landover Baptist isn't anti-christian, it's anti-idiot. (And yes, that *is* a difference...)
quidquid latine dictum sit altum videtur.
India-Scotland News Finder.
I actually checked to see if news.google.co.in gets headlines from the US, but it's the same stuff.
So I stopped by the Australian version of Google news and scrolled down to the entertainment section. The top-story headline read "Snake bites great-grandmother".
:-P
How entertaining it is to find a mis-categorisation
The personalized search sounds an awful lot like the googlezon I've been fearing for the past year or so.
I think Newsvine is meant to do this kind of thing or at least I hope it is. They've just started giving out invites but I haven't got mine yet so I can't comment further.
n/t
you had me at #!
Since you have have only been testing the features that are in the beta, there would not normally be anything new in a final release (which would not include anything untested). It's just a labelling change to indicate that 'this has been heavily used and meets our criteria for a finished release'. Look for the next beta for testable new features :-)
you had me at #!
never mind
you had me at #!