Google News Is Often Annoying.
Yes, I know someone is probably thinking, "Well, whaddya expect?!? It is a bunch of random headlines!" Sure, fine. But, they've got some sort of algorithm for sorting and searching for stuff. They've got spiders, right?
Today I poked around in their menus for a while and finally found a Feedback page where I could send them a note (as opposed to clicking on pre-made buttons or a place to just send them props). Here is what I wrote:
Two things: One, Your Sci/Tech section is almost exclusively made up of technology -- specifically computer or wireless technology -- and has very, very little broader science information. I know that there is a great deal more available -- even about technology -- than what Google puts in. I get feeds from Clean Technica and the ACSE for issues that are near and dear to my profession. If there are so many interesting things just in my feeds, I know that Google could be doing a whole lot better in this area. For example, I don't follow astronomy much and can barely tell Jupiter from Mars in the night sky, but researchers at the U. of Rochester have found that a star they thought was a binary is actually way more complex..."First Known Binary Star Is Discovered to Be a Triplet, Quadruplet, Quintuplet, Sextuplet System" (In Science Daily). That sounds pretty cool. So does http://cleantechnica.com/2009/12/12/us-to-become-world-leader-in-solar-pv-market/ . Today in Google News, I see 5 items on phones or phone networks, 3 on video games, 2 about social networking sites, one on a car. There was one piece on the geminids and one mention of Copenhagen. The rest was about computers, networks, and a hard drive. Whoopie.
Science and technology is far more than that. How about this? http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2007/0409-metal_rubber.htm "Chemists Create Self-assembling Conductive Rubber" If that doesn't have the Gee-Whiz Factor, I don't know what does.
Two: Why does clicking on Google News bring up local weather reports (almost always from areas very far away from my IP address)? Traffic reports also sometimes get included. How is an accident in Dallas or Seattle -- while possibly tragic to those directly involved -- important to me in New York? Or vice versa? Do people in San Francisco need to know about flooding on the FDR Drive? (I'm assuming that this news has popped up for them occasionally since I've been blessed with information about the Twin Peaks tunnel once in a while.) Please don't tell me I can avoid this by making a customized-for-NY news page. I don't think anyone's typical local weather and traffic reports are particualarily news-worthy on a national scale.
That's my grumble for the day.