Need a wide-sweeping news service to keep you up-to-date with the latest breaking stories? Now Google lets you receive news as it happens, according to your own custom profile. And it’s FREE!
You don’t need to register, provide personal information, or otherwise set up an account for the service. Just enter the topic(s) you’re interested in, choose how frequently to receive updates, and provide an email address to which the email should be delivered. You can choose to receive a daily digest or “as it happens” releases.
Google will send you an initial email with instructions to confirm your request. Once you confirm, the alerts begin. The brief alerts will contain links to the full sources, drawn from the full range of Google’s news feeds. Google News includes approximately 4,500 news sources worldwide, from local newspapers to CNN, updated continuously throughout the day.
What if you change your mind about an alert and want to edit or cancel it? Every alert you receive includes an option to cancel, so that is easy. Editing an existing alert isn’t an option, but it’s easy to cancel the old topic and enter a new one, so it shouldn’t be an obstacle. Google’s advanced search techniques can be used to define the topic – see the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for instructions. And if you change your email address, you’ll need to cancel the old alert and enter a new one with the new email address.
Other limits? You may have as many as 50 alert topics per email address. After that, the system will deny further requests. Of course, you’ll want to be selective about your topics, so you’re not overwhelmed with email.
The new service is labeled BETA by Google. If you are curious about its development and ongoing user commentary, take a look at the Usenet discussion group, conveniently linked from the main page.
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