Danny Sullivan here, sitting in today for associate editor Chris Sherman. Chris was all set to tell you in depth about the new Google News service that is to launch today. Unfortunately, his laptop has died.
Chris expects to be back up and running either tomorrow or later this week, so expect a full rundown soon on everything the new Google News search service offers and how it is being done.
As for that service, a small number of people using specific browsers have seen a test version of it since Friday. However, it is scheduled to go live for the general public today. In it, you'll find that Google is now automatically generating online newspaper-style "front pages" for various topics, with both headlines to stories and photos. It's a change I found impressive when seeing preview of it last month, and it is well worth checking out. Again, expect a complete story from Chris next week.
Finally, there are no search engine headlines from around the web in this issue, due to the problems with Chris's computer. However, you can get an online fix from the link below, and headlines will return in the next issue.
Google News
http://news.google.com/
Google News Smarter Than Ever
holovaty.com, Sept. 19, 2002
http://holovaty.com/blog/archive/2002/09/19/1209
More coverage about how a test version of the new site was made available to those with certain browsers. The "UPDATE, 3:30 p.m. EST" portion has a link to screenshot of the new site.
