Google Adds News Personalization

downbad writes "ZDNet is reporting that the Google News home page is now customizable, allowing you to add or delete main news categories (such as business, sports and so on), as well as increasing or decreasing the number of headlines within a section. They've also introduced a feature that lets you create your own section using keywords for a topic that interests you."

Google devotion

[northcat]

Would slashdot have reported this if it was Yahoo (or something else) which did this instead of Google?

Saw it this morning

[Hamfist]

I think it's great. I'm a Canadian, currently in Chile, and in preparations for a move to Mexico. I am interested in US News, Canadian News, Mexican News, and International News. I could care less about Sports, Entertainment, and Health News, so I get rid of them. This is even better than workspaces for me.

Good work google.

Yahoo's been doing this for years...

[orlinius]

What's exactly the news here?
Yahoo's been doing this for years.

Ah, I forgot, it's Google. Anything as much as a difference in the atmospheric pressure around the Google campus makes the front page on slashdot.

Re:Google devotion

[Simon (S2)]

Would slashdot have reported this if it was Yahoo (or something else) which did this instead of Google?

No. Because if Yahoo! did it, it would be cluttered with ads and unusable, but if google does it, it is a new useful service that is interesting and makes intelligent use of new implementation of current technologies (like the drag&drop customization of the news items that interest you).

Re:Saw it this morning

[Matthias Wiesmann]

Same thing here, I used to switch between the Swiss, French and US google news sites. Now I can use a single page with the news I am interested in.

One nice feature would be able to select news geographically (in particular for local news). Countries are not really a good granularity when you are close to the border. I suppose the ideal solution would be to have new geo-tagged, but we are not here yet.

Now...

[Ailure]

I hope i'm not the only one who want a such featuree on Slashdot too. Wouldn't that feature be quite useful here?

Why?

[ColdGrits]

Why is it "news" when Google do another "me too" service?

I mean, let's face it. Yahoo, Reteurs and many others have been doing this sort of thing for years now.
Why is it suddenly news that Google have caught up?

Re:Google devotion

[weierstrass]

No. Because if Yahoo! did it, it would be cluttered with ads and unusable, but if google does it, it is a new useful service that is interesting and makes intelligent use of new implementation of current technologies

This is exactly the attitude that has turned the front page of /. into adspace for any new crap google think they're going to dominate the world with this week. Google provide a pretty decent search engine. In fact it's probably the best. This does not mean that their 'beta' email system is any better than anyone else's, that they are a benevolent company who love technology for it's own sake, that they are the future of the Internet, or indeed that they are trying to do anything other than maximise shareholder value by providing marketable web services.

Re:Google devotion

[skraps]

Speaking of Yahoo, is anyone else afraid that Google will turn into Yahoo if they keep adding services?

Every time they come out with something new, everyone says "oh cool, i'll use that!" But look at Yahoo's homepage after ten years of that business. I'm sure there are some good services in there, but it's hard to find them among all the ... other good services.

Re:Google devotion

[Simon (S2)]

I'm sarcastic. Yahoo! news [yahoo.com] is here since ages and works like a charm. Sorry for me writing such an incomprensible post.

Re:Business Direction

[odano]

Why does google need to be an ISP?

I don't think google is worried about capturing a guaranteed customer base, because they already have one. If somebody is doing a web search, the plurality of users already come to google. As long as they keep adding more features, I dont think they are going to have to worry about losing these users to Yahoo/MSN.

Also, if somebody wants to switch search engines from yahoo->google, they just change the URL. But if google gets into the ISP market, what incentive is there for people already happy with their Yahoo DSL service or Verizon/MSN Service to switch? They may save a few bucks (assuming google can even field a more competitive price), but they have to go through the entire hassle of changing ISPs just so they can have google automatically be their homepage?

Sub-Par

[hamlet2600]

I honestly believe google is doing amazing things with internet based UIs, but this one leaves a lot to be desired. Its not very intuitive and I find it kind of hard to use. Its not nearly as elegant as gMail or as easy to use as Maps. I wonder why this one seems to be a shotty hack.

personalized news

[Anonymous Coward]

"They've also introduced a feature that lets you create your own section using keywords for a topic that interests you."

Can you say "Targeted advertising"?

Re:Yahoo's been doing this for years...

[dfn5]

What's exactly the news here?

Maybe that Google has just started doing this making it a current event and therfore news worthy.

Yahoo's been doing this for years.

Yahoo having started this service years ago makes it not a current event and therefore not news worthy.

HTML !=TEXT/PLAIN

[Anonymous Coward]

i hate it when search engines say "text version" when in reality its just "less html", look at the google "text" page bullshit
it has images,colours,tables,fonts,css,script, in fact all the things that somebody expecting a "text" doesn't want, its pretty obvious they fail to see the whole point of having a "text" mode

call it "lite html version" but "text version" it certainly aint

im amazed ppl dont see the dangers

[tkjtkj]

yes, it amazing .. Here is an entity, Google, which seeks to gather all the info in the world, to associate it with particular users (gmail, etc) , to store it forever, and to fail to gaurantee privacy!! Read the 'Privacy ' statement, people!! Yes , they'll keep it sort of private WHILE THEY OWN THE DATABASE!! The COULD have said that no future sale of the company to another owner would not include that enormously valuable database, but they did NOT say that. Wake up!! This is a monster in the making, gearing up potentially to have devastating power over just about everyone.

Re:Google devotion

[Bobman1235]

This does not mean that their 'beta' email system is any better than anyone else's, that they are a benevolent company who love technology for it's own sake, that they are the future of the Internet, or indeed that they are trying to do anything other than maximise shareholder value by providing marketable web services.

While I mostly agree with what your'e saying with regards to google's benevolence, you CAN'T argue that when they do things, they do them pretty well. They DO have the most useful and least obtrusive search engine. Their email system has the best interface I'VE ever used for a web client, and it's lightening fast compared to all the other biggies (yahoo, hotmail). Their new map system is really fast and easy to use - missing a few features, not ready for primetime, but still faster and easier than mapquest or yahoo! maps.

The Slashdot community is acting like a bunch of little fan-boys--big surprise--but that doesn't mean that they're not at least in part correct. As long as google keeps doing things right, WHATEVER their motive (which is obviously to make money), peopel are gonna continue to love and praise them.

Re:im amazed ppl dont see the dangers

[TheFlyingGoat]

Just like almost any other web service out there, if you're uncomfortable using it, don't sign up. That's pretty simple.

Google News is good enough on its own without requiring the user to login and customize the search, so it's not like they're forcing you to provide your data. It's 100% opt-in.

Additionally, since a free email account can be 100% anonymous (unless they subpoena your name from your ISP, which they can't do on their own), there's no way to link all that data to an actual person. Think Google is invading your privacy? Change your account once in a while or don't sign up to begin with.

You tinfoil hat types need some common sense.

Google ads?

[TuringTest]

Did someone read the title as "Google Ads new personalization"? I was already thinking that I could personalize the ads that I could get from Google...

Is Google still Google?

[plasticmillion]

When I saw this story my initial reaction was to jump for joy. I'm an avid Google News user particularly because it's so "Googleized"; i.e. they use statistical methods to cluster stories together and figure out which ones to display where and in what order. Others may do this as well, but Google News does an exceptionally good job.

So when I saw that they had added personalization, I assumed it was going to be something along the same lines, something that does my thinking FOR me, thank you very much. For example, wouldn't it be cool for the news page to adapt organically in response to stories you click on? So it would realize that I'm a golf fan (yeah, yeah, I'm even dorkier than the average /. user) and stop displaying all those NFL and hockey stories in the Sports section that I couldn't care less about.

Instead, we get the same basic layout customization and keyword matching that Yahoo has had for years (as many others have pointed out). I scratched my head for a few minutes about keywords I could use, but frankly my tastes are a bit too subtle to sum up in this way.

This could be a real story, but only if Google works a little of their statistical magic instead of taking a me-too approach.

....and thats bad?

[Anonymous Coward]

You know - now and then I dont mind Targeted Advertising when it works, and if I have selected a bunch of news items relating to say - technology, I wouldnt mind non-obtrusive technology related ads.

If I have keywords relating to ASP.NET, C#, XML, I wouldnt mind seeing an ad for books relating to those, I may just find it useful.

When banners/etc are relevant to the site I'm on and find them useful - I dont mind. Theres been more than once I've clicked on a banner on SlashDot.org or codeproject.com or a few other sites, becuase they are advertising products that *gasp* actually do interest me, and they are non-obtrusive enough that I dont mind that they are there even if its a product I have zero interest in

Re:Google devotion

[Thundertje]

But look at Yahoo's homepage after ten years of that business. Take a look at Google's homepage after 7 years. Still the bare minimum.

Re:personalized news

[wootest]

Can you say "I would see it as less annoying being advertised at with relevant and interesting ads while seeing personally relevant and interesting news"?