google continues to make changes to Google News that are of no real benefit. They do it in order to satisfy news sources and generate revenue. But the point of a service like Google News is *not* to benefit news sources but to benefit the readers who wish to choose which sources they want to browse.
The changes today added sections which I did not ask for and do not care about: the World Cup, Popular Stories, and Google “Fast Flip”. I don't care about soccer. I don't care what other people are reading – the whole point of the Internet is to make my own choices, not follow everyone else. I don't care about cutesy flip pages. I need text. A few images is nice, but flip pages are essentially useless eye candy.
These new sections take up space on the right side of the page. It's wasted screen space. I used to have two columns of news sections that allowed me to fairly (depending on the number of sections I had added) quickly browse for stories of interest. Now I have one long column, with each section having fewer entries than I had configured previously. There is no value-add for the user in this new configuration. There is terrific value add for Google's revenue stream.
There is one feature that is marginally an improvement. They've finally added a way to nix bad news sources, like FoxNews. However, we can't completely remove those sources. We can only “demote” them. Removing them might remove revenue from Google's pockets. So we can only move them down our list and hope we see them less. Not cool, Google.
Fortunately, I still have myyahoo. This allows me complete control of the multiple pages, sections and layout of all types of news. I get *NEWS*, not cutsy tools from brainiac Googlites.
I'll keep watching to see if Google News morphs back into something useful. Until then, I'm getting my news bites from MyYahoo.
Good noows
As an alternative to Google News (and in addition to MyYahoo), I've switched to Good Noows. This is a much better rss reader that only shows what I ask for. It also lets me choose the sources of information I want. No more am I forced into seeing propoganda from FoxNews. Google News does not have cutsy flip pages. It is mostly text oriented with some images but there are also a variety of layouts available, some of which make better use of images while others leave images out completely. There are multiple sections (headlines, sports, enterntainment, technology, etc.) and each can use a different layout. I'm not getting “popular” stories. I'm getting stories from good sources. There are a large collection of sources and you can add your own to the list and move them to different categories.
Screen space is well used in a number of layouts, but some waste space on the right side.
The drawback to Good Noows is it requires a tie-in with some social network. Since I don't use my facebook account for much of anything I tied it there. I don't really like tying one site to another. I think the data sharing between them can get uncomfortable for me. It also loads relatively slow with noticable flicker. But I can live with this. The layouts and sources of news are want I want so I think I may stick with Good Noows for awhile.