Google Fast Flip

Google Fast Flip

Screenshot of the Fast Flip homepage
URL http://fastflip.googlelabs.com
Commercial? Yes
Type of site News
Registration Not required
Available language(s) English
Owner Google
Created by Google
Launched 14 September 2009[1]
Current status Offline

Google Fast Flip was an online news aggregator from Google Inc. that mimicked the experience of flicking through a newspaper or magazine, allowing visual search of stories in manner similar to microfiche.[2][3][4] It was launched in beta by Google Labs at the TechCrunch 50 conference in September 2009.[5][6][7]

The site presented images of stories from Google's news partners, which could be clicked on to navigate to the story on the news provider's own website.[7] Stories could be scrolled between using the mouse or cursor keys. The presentation of stories used a similar algorithm to Google News, but stories could be ordered by publication as well as by subject.[6] Krishna Bharat of Google News has said that "Fast Flip is mostly for longer shelf-life content, the kind of content you want to recommend to other people."[8] Fast Flip was created after Larry Page "asked why the web was not more like a magazine, allowing users to flip from screen to screen seamlessly."[4] Fast Flip was available as well on iPhone and Android mobile devices.[9]

Users of Fast Flip were able to follow friends and topics, find new content, and to create their own customized magazines around their searches.[10]

At launch, there were 39 mainly US-based news partners. Google said that it would share the majority of revenue from contextual adverts with its news partners.[7][8][11]

Fast Flip has been praised for allowing visual,[12] fast[13] and serendipitous[14] browsing of news stories, but it has been criticized as being a novelty,[15] anachronistic, as it emulates print media,[16] limits navigation and presents few news sources,[17] and as being more focused on the needs of publishers than of readers.[18][19][20] Its visual search has been compared to the beta visual search of Microsoft Bing[2][16][21] and to The Onion's microfiche iPhone app.[22] Fast Flip has also been cited as a demonstration of Google's power in the news marketplace; by setting up another news interface that uses publishers' content without returning much value.[23]

In September 2011, Google announced it would discontinue a number of its products, including Google Fast Flip.[24]

See also

References

  1. ^ Bharat, Krishna (14 September 2009). "Read news fast with Google Fast Flip". The Official Google Blog (Google). http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/read-news-fast-with-google-fast-flip.html. Retrieved 2009-09-21. 
  2. ^ a b "Bing and Google launch visual search". Mirror.co.uk (Mirror Group). 15 September 2009. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology/2009/09/15/bing-and-google-launch-visual-search-115875-21675590/. Retrieved 2009-09-21. 
  3. ^ Boulton, Clint (15 September 2009). "Google Fast Flip is Geared to Generate More Ad Dollars". eWeek. http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Search-Engines/Google-Fast-Flip-is-Geared-to-Generate-More-Ad-Dollars-184305/. Retrieved 2009-09-21. 
  4. ^ a b Shiels, Maggie (15 September 2009). "Google turns page on news content". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8256054.stm. Retrieved 2009-09-21. 
  5. ^ Krazit, Tom (14 September 2009). "Google testing Fast Flip for Google News". CNet. http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-10352342-265.html. Retrieved 2009-09-21. 
  6. ^ a b Bunz, Mercedes (15 September 2009). "Google's Fast Flip is for publishers". PDA: The Digital Content Blog (The Guardian). http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2009/sep/15/digital-media-newspapers. Retrieved 2009-09-21. 
  7. ^ a b c Allen, Katie (21 September 2009). "Google's mission to drive up newspaper revenue". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/sep/21/google-newspaper-fast-flip. Retrieved 2009-09-21. 
  8. ^ a b Johnson, Steve (14 September). "Google news feature mimics print sources, lets people browse stories". San Jose Mercury News. http://www.mercurynews.com/businessbreakingnews/ci_13335796. Retrieved 2009-09-21. 
  9. ^ "Mobile Preview". Google Fast Flip. http://fastflip.googlelabs.com/mobile. Retrieved 2009-09-21. 
  10. ^ http://pcmike.com/2009/09/25/googles-fast-flip-is-pretty-slick/
  11. ^ "All Sources". Google Fast Flip. http://fastflip.googlelabs.com/sources. Retrieved 2009-09-21. 
  12. ^ Sherman, Erik (15 September 2009). "Google Fast Flip Becomes the News Stand, Pressure on Publishers". BNet. http://industry.bnet.com/technology/10003382/google-fast-flip-becomes-the-news-stand-pressure-on-publishers/?tag=shell;content. Retrieved 2009-09-21. 
  13. ^ Smith, Stevie (16 September 2009). "Google offers swift page perusal with Fast Flip". The Tech Herald. http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/200938/4447/Google-offers-swift-page-perusal-with-Fast-Flip. Retrieved 2009-09-21. 
  14. ^ Taylor, Catharine P (16 September 2009). "Google's Fast Flip and the Return of Serendipitous Surfing". BNet. http://industry.bnet.com/media/10004137/googles-fast-flip-and-the-return-of-serendipitous-surfing/. Retrieved 2009-09-21. 
  15. ^ Cheng, Jacqui (15 September 2009). "Hands on: limitations of Google Fast Flip make it a novelty". Ars Technica. http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2009/09/hands-on-limitations-of-google-fast-flip-make-it-a-novelty.ars. Retrieved 2009-09-21. 
  16. ^ a b Bradley, Tony (15 September). "Google Fast Flip Bridges Digital and Print Media". PC World. http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/blogs/bizfeed/172056/google_fast_flip_bridges_digital_and_print_media.html. Retrieved 2009-09-21. 
  17. ^ Merritt, Nick (21 September 2009). "Why Google's Fast Flip misses the point". TechRadar. http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/why-google-s-fastflip-misses-the-point-635923. Retrieved 2009-09-21. 
  18. ^ Hickins, Michael (16 September 2009). "New Google Service Nothing To Flip Over". InformationWeek. http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2009/09/new_google_serv_1.html;jsessionid=1OR13LQ2CE5LTQE1GHPSKH4ATMY32JVN. Retrieved 2009-09-21. 
  19. ^ Mick, Jason (16 September 2009). "Is Google's Fast Flip News Service a Stud or a Dud?". DailyTech. http://www.dailytech.com/Is+Googles+Fast+Flip+News+Service+a+Stud+or+a+Dud/article16251.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-21. 
  20. ^ Coursey, David (15 September 2009). "Is Google "Fast Flip" Really Just A Slow Slider?". Tech Inciter (PC World). http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/172010/is_google_fast_flip_really_just_a_slow_slider.html. Retrieved 2009-09-21. 
  21. ^ Beaumont, Claudine (17 September 2009). "Microsoft Bing visual search takes fight to Google". Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/microsoft/6202660/Microsoft-Bing-visual-search-takes-fight-to-Google.html. Retrieved 2009-09-21. 
  22. ^ Arthur, Charles (16 September 2009). "The Onion Microfiche: all the satire that's fit to fit on your iPhone". Technology Blog (The Guardian). http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2009/sep/16/onion-microfiche-iphone-app-news. Retrieved 2009-09-21. 
  23. ^ "Google Fast Flip". idiomag. 2009-10-27. http://platform.idiomag.com/2009/09/fast-flip-for-iphone-and-the-power-of-google/. Retrieved 2009-10-28. 
  24. ^ Alan Eustace (September 2, 2011). "A fall spring-clean". Google. http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/fall-spring-clean.html. Retrieved September 2, 2011.