Slashdot Mirror
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."
← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)
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
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.
Was the initial article right? You're asking if it "still" has a bias, but you're basing this on a Slashdot article, which often is about as accurate as a man standing on the street corner talking to Jesus with no pants on.
I don't respond to AC's.
It's already in the news!
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?
Yes, the article is still on Slashdot.
Chris (ever helpful)
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.
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 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...
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?
Beta. "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
Google News has an even deeper and more subtle flaw - it fails to meet it's espoused goal of providing a broader perspective. All too often it's 'clusters' consist of news sources repeating, or rewriting, the same [AP|Rueters|Bloomberg|BBC|Whoever] press release. This gives the impression of legitimacy to the story - but reality they all trace back to same narrow selection of sources.
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.