Google News To Be Revamped, Incorporate YouTube Videos and Magazines (arstechnica.com) 34
Google News is reportedly being updated with a "new design" that will "incorporate elements of the [Google Play] Newsstand app and YouTube." It will be powered by Google's AMP technology and is expected to launch at Google I/O 2018. AdAge was first to report the changes. From a report: A Google News redesign is surprising considering that the current design is less than a year old. It's unclear if the current design is just being tweaked to incorporate YouTube and Play Newsstand or if the whole thing is being scrapped and rebuilt. The report also mentions that Google News will get a new app. Google Play Newsstand is currently an odd hybrid of magazine store and RSS reader. The report says that Google Play Newsstand is going to close as part of the Google News redesign. This is the second time we've heard of a "Google Play" brand getting the axe: Google Play Music is also expected to close when it merges with YouTube. We should learn more about the changes at Google I/O, which starts next week on Tuesday, May 8.
why does everything have to be video? (Score:3, Insightful)
Can't we just read it? More efficient, more pleasant, less annoying. I guess they must get more ad revenue when they can force us to sit through video ads.
Re:why does everything have to be video? (Score:4, Informative)
Google News lets you blacklist any news source you want from the "sources" tab, so if you dislike youtube that much, you can just add it to the block list.
Re: why does everything have to be video? (Score:1)
You have to be signed in - no anonymous news browsing
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It'll still be consumer un-friendly (Score:2)
No doubt the key problems will remain: the failure to flag pay-walled content and the total inability to blacklist particular news sources.
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Google news will not only continue to be crap, it will get a yet worse interface and Google will continue to ignore negative feedback from beta testers and users. I quit reading Google news a couple years ago and switched to bing/news. Don't miss it. Bing isn't great, but Google is terrible. At least Bing has a politics section and a less offensive user interface.
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No doubt the key problems will remain: the failure to flag pay-walled content and the total inability to blacklist particular news sources.
Except you can blacklist news sources. Click the vertical "..." and you have the option of hide completely or recommend less often.
Google News still exists? (Score:1)
I stopped using Google News with last year's horrific revamp. I'm shocked it still exists. The last thing I want is more video centric content. When I'm reading news, it's often when I'm places where having a video with sound would be a disruption to those around me. I also prefer skimming through to get the important parts of a story. Video sucks.
Just Let Me Search a Topic and Sort By Date (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not interested in videos on the news feed.
* Sometimes it appears that part of the old Google news format is present, but usually when I search it goes to mobile hell.
What I want from Google News? LESS. (Score:2)
How do I want thee less? Let me count the ways:
(1) Mostly stop showing news sources that I've already assessed as sources of worthless sludge and fake news.
(2) Fewer intrusions on my attention for no real reason.
(3) Fewer updates. Should be a user default, and in my case I think I'd prefer to set it for twice a day.
Several other thoughts, but the snark on Slashdot has reached such a tiresome level... I wonder if that's related to the evidently low interest in the story?
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The snark is likely the result of "in order to improve the user experience" and "a fresh, clean new look" becoming such dreaded phrases.
Are you talking to me? That was my original reaction to your comment.
Upon reflection, I think you basically ignored what I wrote and substituted your pet axe so you could grind upon it. I could actually agree with you that some snark is justified in the specific cases you referred to, but I was referring to a much broader malaise. I even thought my reference was sufficiently clear. As your comment stands, it appears to be additional evidence and I am not surprised.
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Confession time? (Score:2)
You've yet to say anything relevant. Are you some sort of troll?
Not at all Surprising (Score:2)
"A Google News redesign is surprising..."
No it's not at all surprising since Google has faced harsh criticism of that redesign, which put everything into a single column. The previous version was much more useful than the current.
While you are at it (Score:2)
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lots of lost potential (Score:1)
- there was no option to turn off google pre-selection, so instead of having access to the latest news I kept seeing week old (or even more) posts constantly, I asked google service for such option - no response
- I kept being forced upon with news completely out of mind, I don't even know where they find them, again, no option to select sources, or some basic
It kinda feels like Google's at the Microsoft (Score:2)
stage of development.
Don't really innovate anything; just piss about at the edges and generally degrade the user experience.