Google FastFlip and why I’m sold
When It comes to reading news online there are a lot of problems. I personally have a hard time finding quality articles, and finding quality websites. There is so much out there I’m bound to miss some great stuff. Sites like Digg and reddit help, but recently they’ve become less about news, and more about entertainment.
On September 14th Google pumped out another amazing web service. It’s still in labs, which is where most of their experiments hang out (www.googlelabs.com), but this one is uniquely different than most of Googles test experiments.
It’s Surprisingly useful and handy!
And I’m not just saying that. It’s a much better way of reading articles online. With extreme speed and simplicity that Google is known for you can easily flip through stories from around the web. Something that before could only really be done by navigating to each site independently, or going to a digg.com style of site. What we really need is the headline and a little bit of the content to judge if it’s worth our time reading. The problem with news online, is that it’s an all or nothing affair. You commit to loading the page, or you skip it. This is before you’ve even given it a chance! Larry Page asked Google engineers why reading websites isn’t as easy as reading a magazine. When Larry Page ponders, Google engineers kick into action.
What Have They Come Up With?
A real magazine experience on the web! It’s something you can’t explain with words, so I wont try. Video on the other hand, should do the trick:
Google FastFlip Launch Video
What makes the service, and why I find it useful.
One big thing blows me away. The Mobile Version. Absolutely stunning, and revolutionary. It’s something that can’t be done on any phone. Even with built in apps you can still read articles faster and just as smooth on FastFlip mobile. That’s what is so great about the service. Is that I can be bored, waiting for class to start, and open up my phone and surf the web. But for the first time I can surf and not be in pain because of the speed. Even with 3G, reading a full article on any webpage, takes far too long. Mobile optimized pages help… but only slightly. FastFlip takes care of everything, and really brings the newspaper back into peoples hands.
What is different between my generation and my fathers (although he’s catching up) is that my generation is used to and rather enjoys reading news online. It’s more up to date and it can be quickly scanned, searched, and archived. However, I can’t read news when I’m not at home. Where-as my father can take his newspaper anywhere he wants. Well, it’s a tie game now pops.
What is available?
Straight from the horses mouth (as of Sept 16th) the following papers are available:
Still have more Questions?
Check it out at fastflip.googlelabs.com and read/or the following faq from google:
How does it work?
We capture images of the articles on our partners’ websites and then display them in an easy-to-read way. The stories are grouped by categories, such as Entertainment, Business, Opinion, Politics and Most Viewed. Readers can flip through stories quickly by simply pressing the left- and right-arrow keys until they find one that catches their interest. Clicking on the story takes them directly to the publisher’s website.How are the Topics selected? Can I choose my own?
The Topics are generated automatically by rising stories in the news. Users can also search for any subjects they want and basically create their own topics, almost like a custom magazine, on the fly.How are stories recommended in the Recommended section?
The stories in this section are recommended by users of Google Fast Flip in direct and indirect ways. We take cues from how often they read stories, e-mail stories and register a public vote for stories by clicking on the “Like” button on each article.Can I recommend stories that I like to other people?
Google Fast Flip allows readers to vote on an article to tell the world they liked it. Clicking on the “Like” button on a story page lodges a public vote for that story, which is one of the factors in whether Fast Flip includes stories the “Recommended” section. At the bottom of the home page, Fast Flip users who are signed in to their Google Account can see which stories friends in their Gmail contact list have “liked.”How do you personalize results on Google Fast Flip?
We are able to take the cues you give us – such as the stories you read, recommend and e-mail – to present sections, news sources and specific authors tailored specifically to your interests. To enable personalization of the articles you see, you must sign in to your Google Account. You can easily create a Google Account on this page if you don’t already have one.Is this available for all languages and editions of Google News?
At launch, Google Fast Flip is available on the Google Labs website with English-language content. International users should be able to see this feature in Google Labs.Does Google Fast Flip work on mobile devices?
At launch, Google Fast Flip will work on iPhone and Android mobile devices. Going forward, we’ll explore rolling out support for other mobile platforms.Where can I see a full list of the publishers included?
You can see a full list of the sources at http://fastflip.googlelabs.com/sources.