Full FeedBlazing fast news from Google’s Fast Flip
Find web news too slow? Google is looking to change that with its new lab service Fast Flip, a lighting fast view of a news page. Google believes that what is holding online news back is the time to load. Are they right?
Users who are surrounded by newsprint and magazines should feel right at home at Fast Flip. The service puts pages of news into a bar and allows you to flip through them quickly, just like you would if the pages were laid out in front of you. The bonus: no lag for those of us with super-short attention spans. The news is even speedy on an iPhone, where a simple swipe changes pages.
Google partnered up with news outfits such as the New York Times, Washington Post, and Fast Company. Interestingly, the revenue from the display ads that run along side the content will be split between Google and the content creator. Google is looking to give a helping hand to struggling news outlets.
The publishing industry faces many challenges today, and there is no magic bullet. However, we believe that encouraging readers to read more news is a necessary part of the solution. We think Fast Flip could be one way to help, and we’re looking to find other ways to help as well in the near future.
My take on this is loading time is not what is killing news sites. Users have very different motives when looking at news via paper when compared to the internet. Fast Flip, while remarkable for its speed and cleverness, makes finding news cumbersome. To boot, it is awkward having to click on the news in Fast Flip online to have an identical but live page pop up to read the second page.
In Fast Flip each site’s style is shown through, muddling the news. Headlines are not as easy to pick out and your attention is shared with designs you may or may not find attractive. Either way, it isn’t an experience that is going to change news. Not just yet, anyway. Check it out for yourself and let us know what you think.
Product page: [Fast Flip] via [Official Google Blog]
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where is the fast flip?
on September 15, 2009 at 09:25 AM - LINKcheck the link that says “Fast Flip” at the end of the post or http://fastflip.googlelabs.com/
on September 15, 2009 at 09:27 AM - LINK