Reading news like a newspaper with Google’s FastFlip

For a News junkie like me ever since I was a kid I was hooked onto newspapers. When I was introduced to the internet and its wonderful concept of free online news, I was in heaven. 🙂

But I never liked the bland way websites show news headlines. There is something about a newspaper with its layout and format which makes reading news a lot more easier. Google has now brought that concept with fast flip which is still in beta phase.

What does Google Flip Fast do?

• Google’s Fast Flip takes screenshots of news as it happens and puts it up like a slide show for readers to flip through whatever interests them. Hence the name Fast Flip. Its supposed to simulate how a person might go through a newspaper.
• Some news websites are worried because when you click on the small article heading thumbnail it takes you to a larger full scale screenshot of the article and not the original article’s page. This can mean a loss of traffic for the original website.
• Google’s argument is quite interesting. If a content company does not want its content to show up on Google then they can disallow Google from doing this but no major news organisation has chosen to de-list its website from Google Search. 😉

All said and done, I like Fast Flip and looking forward to it showing India centric news rather than only US centric as it is doing presently.