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Google's search results will highlight original reporting
Google has updated its search algorithm to give more prominence to original reporting. The company's vice president of news, Richard Gingras, wrote in a blog post that it should be easier for people to find the origins of a news story.
Google aims for greater transparency on how it ranks news
As it has done with several of its products, Google is aiming for greater transparency about a core aspect of its services: news. It opened a website to detail its objectives, principles and approaches to managing news experiences across its various platforms.
Microsoft follows Google with its own overhauled news app
Microsoft has overhauled its MSN News app for mobile. As you might expect, it's curated for your interests, offers breaking news alerts, support for widgets on both Android and iOS, continuous scrolling and a dark theme for reading at night. A blog post from Microsoft is quick to point out that its News service uses both human and AI editors to curate news stories, going so far as to explain how the process works (AI scans over 100,000 news stories from Microsoft's publishing partners, auto-suggests photos and then human editors "with local expertise" choose what's picked).
Google's AI-powered News app arrives on iOS
A redesigned Google News for iOS was a notable inclusion at the Google I/O keynote last week. Today it rolls out officially, replacing the existing Google Play Newsstand, which launched on iOS in 2014 as a news and magazine subscription hub. The app has been completely reimagined, designed to handle the ever-evolving way we consume news, and leveraging existing AI and machine-learning technology to create a personalized and curated experience. Most importantly, it draws from a variety of sources to deliver packages of opinion, analysis and fact-checked articles focused on specific newsworthy events, giving users a solid platform from which to make up their own minds about current affairs.
Google's News app is a tool for gaining perspective, not an arbiter of facts
It may have been overshadowed by Android P or a slightly terrifying AI phone call, but Google's new News app was one of the most important things the search giant announced at I/O this year. It relies completely on artificial intelligence to bring you breaking news, but the most fascinating -- and potentially most valuable -- addition is what Google calls Full Coverage. Fire up the News app on your Android phone and you'll see a tiny icon in the corner of certain stories -- tap that and you're taken to a dedicated page that surfaces related stories Google's AI deems trustworthy.
Google's AI-driven News app will make sense of the day's news
Google confirmed earlier rumors surrounding its News app at the I/O developers conference on Tuesday, showing off a completely reimagined product designed to handle the rigors of our modern news cycle.
Google will reportedly revamp News with video and speed tweaks
Google News is getting a major refresh, pulling in features from YouTube and the Play Newsstand magazine app to modernize the product, according to Ad Age. Google has been in talks with publishers over the update, which is expected to debut at the I/O developer conference next week.
Google won't show news from sites that hide their country of origin
Google's ongoing quest to curb fake news now includes sites that are less than honest about their home turf. The company has updated its Google News guidelines to forbid sites that "misrepresent or conceal their country of origin" or otherwise are aimed at people in another country "under false premises." A Russian site trying to masquerade as an American news outlet shouldn't show up in your news results, in other words.
After Las Vegas shooting, Facebook and Google get the news wrong again
The worst mass shooting in modern US history took place last night in Las Vegas, where a gunman killed at least 58 people and injured more than 515 others, according to the latest reports. Not long after the unfortunate event, Facebook and Google began populating news stories on their respective platforms, as they often do. And, in what's become a problematic trend, some of the articles being highlighted and distributed to millions of people were from unreliable sources. This time, among them were a trolling thread on internet forum board 4chan and a completely false story from a far-right conspiracy website.
Google News redesigned with a cleaner look
If it's been a while since you've visited Google News, now may be the best time to take a peek. Google has given its News website's looks a thorough cleanup, retaining key elements and giving you more control while getting rid of anything that adds clutter. In short, it doesn't look like a search results page anymore. Gone are the blue links and the article snippets. It has adopted a card format that groups related stories together and has relevant tags you can click to delve deeper into particular topics. Even better, clicking a link opens a new tab, so you don't have to click back to explore the other stories.
Google highlights fact-checking stories one month before election
This year's US presidential election is one of the most acrimonious in memory, with not a day going by without one campaign accusing the other of outrageous falsehood (some more than others). With one month to go until the country casts its votes, Google has started to specifically tag fact-checking articles on Google News to help readers decipher the truth from the outrageously false accusations and untruths.
Google News highlights big stories from local news outlets
When a local news story breaks into a wider audience and major media outlets clamor for coverage, the local reporters and news sources with the most background and expertise can often get lost in the shuffle. To fix this error, Google News has just implemented a new "Local Source" tag designed to highlight the local news outlets reporting on national stories.
Spanish publishers want Google News to come back
Spain's old-school media clearly has a more complicated relationship with the internet than it first thought. Mere hours after Google shut down its News service in the country to avoid a law that will make it pay for article results, the Spanish Newspaper Publishers' Association (AEDE) is asking for the government to make Google come back. They claim that Google is too "dominant" in the market to simply leave, and that its absence will "undoubtedly have a negative impact" on both businesses and the public. AEDE insists that it's willing to negotiate to keep News around, but it believes that Google refuses to take a "neutral stance."
Google to kill News service in Spain due to new law
Google News for Spain will be nothing but a memory after December 16th. The tech titan has announced that it's shutting down the service in the country, half a month before what's dubbed as the "Google tax" law takes effect on January 1st, 2015. This law, which the parliament passed in October, will require Google to pay websites for publishing any part of their content (even if it's just a headline) on its News page. It doesn't matter if a publisher doesn't agree with the law either: nobody can opt out. Instead of paying up, though, the company has chosen to kill the service completely -- it claims it doesn't make money from News as it doesn't display ads on the site, so shelling out money for licensing fees isn't viable. Also, Google will stop showing Spanish websites in any edition of News, even if it's for another Spanish-speaking country.
Google expands definition of 'news,' adds Reddit to search results
Seen a few new sources showing up in the "news" section of a Google search lately? It isn't just you. Mountain View is pulling more websites into its news listings now including the likes of Reddit, as spotted by Search Engine Land. Google says that regardless of where it comes from, any content could show up under the "In the news" portion of a search -- even videos, press releases and social media posts. Brin and Co. note that this is an effort to expand the voices possible to give users the answer they're looking for online. Some examples Search Engine Land notes are the Yoast website-optimization blog popping up for "website maintenance" and the internet's front page appearing in searches for "TSA" and "Dunkin' Donuts." From what we can tell, however, that stops once you do an actual search under the Google News tab -- perfect if your definition of news is a bit stricter than Mountain View's. [Image credit: Shutterstock]
German publishers opt to remain in Google News, still expect to get paid
Google said last month it would require German publishers to opt-in if they wanted to continue to be featured on Google News. The AP is now reporting that several have decided to remain on the service, including Spiegel Online, Zeit Online and Springer AG. Publishers have long been pushing for the government to change the law so news aggregators would have to pay for the content they scrape. A new copyright law does come into effect today limiting how much info aggregators are allowed to borrow for their feeds, and to avoid any legal scuffles, Google decided an opt-in policy was safest. This may not be the end of the company's troubles with publishers in the country, however, as Springer AG has said "it still expects to receive money from Google eventually."
Google News in Germany asks publishers to opt-in for indexing, sidesteps copyright fees
Despite its "Defend Your Net" campaign last year, Google was unable to fully put the brakes on changes to German copyright law that may mean it has to pay up for news excerpts it indexes. As a result, the company announced that unlike the other 60 countries where Google News operates by relying on sources to opt out of inclusion by request, robots.txt file or meta tags, it's requiring German publishers to opt-in. According to Google, it's pushing six billion visits per month to publishers worldwide as a free service, not something it should have to pay for. As TechCrunch points out, the issue comes as a result of the new German law that allows search engines to continue to publish snippets of news without paying, but isn't clear about just how much information that can include.
Tablet-optimized version of Google News rolling out over the next few days
It's not a dedicated app, but Google says that tablet users will soon have access to a new version of Google News that's better tailored to their devices. That includes the ability to swipe back and forth between sections, a new "explore in depth" button that can be tapped to bring up additional articles and information, and some extra spacing between articles that promises a better reading experience. According to Google, you can expect it to appear your tablet (at least on the Nexus 7, Nexus 10 and iPad) sometime over the "next few days." Alas, this revision appears to be a US-only one for the time being.
Google's 'Defend your Net' campaign asks Germans to resist copyright changes
Remember when the German government was thinking about making search engines either remove news excerpts from results, or pay royalties for including them? Well, these changes could soon be enforced, and Google has launched the "Defend Your Net" initiative to urge the German people to stop that happening. On the campaign's pages, the search giant voices its opinions on what such a decision would do: harm the German media and, by extension, the country's economy. It also points out that its news service is ad-free, publishers can opt out of listings, and that some German outlets receive roughly half their traffic from Google searches. Anyone who wants to receive information on the bill's progress can register for email updates, and a tool is available to find the contact details of your local official if you're feeling proactive. Need firing up? Then check out Google's motivational video below.
Google News updated with enhanced Google+ integration, real-time coverage
The good news is we're still here -- luckily. On a lighter note, though, Google's sprinkling some new features on top of its headline-loving News page. Via one of its numerous blogs, Big G announced it is boosting the default size of news images on the front page, while also improving the Google+ integration within its discovery site. Now with the Plus enhancements you'll be able to check out what folks in your Circles -- and other "notable" people -- have to say about current topics, which includes comments inside the novel real-time coverage functionality on both the News homepage and social network. Unfortunately, these will only be available to those in the US when they start rolling out over the next week, and it's worth mentioning you'll be able to opt out should you choose to do so. In the meantime, you can head over to the Google News Blog to pore over all the final details.
