This is a bit off top from my usual types of post, but I have discovered something so amazing that it warrants mentioning. Even here. It is newly updated Google News app.
If you are unfamiliar with Google News, it is an app that is available for Android and Apple smart phones and tablets (that said, I found it will not run on the oldest versions of the iPad). It is a new aggregator of sorts, and it has been around for a long time. And while it was worth having before, in the past week Google updated this app and made it indispensable in my opinion. Let me tell you why.
The new Google News app allows users to add what news sources it wants to follow or not follow. When a news article appears under the For You section, you can decide whether or not to request "more stories like this" or "fewer stories like this." All of this information is fed into a complex algorithm that automatically changes what news stories you see on your Google News feed. Do you find professional wrestling uninteresting like me? Just tell Google News to show fewer news stories on the topic. Do you consider a news source too conservative or too liberal for your liking? Just tell Google News to hide stories from that news source. Do you want to see more news stories on a particular topic? Just tell the new Google News app to do so. It is amazing. And very automatic.
Now, the algorithm takes some time to learn. For some reason it keeps sending me articles on SEC football. I'm sorry, but I'm a Big 10 fan. And its agricultural offerings are a little slim, but it is improving.
If you want to teach the app to post more articles about agriculture, for example, you can do what I did and went into the Favorites section and highlighted topics on agricultural machinery, beef, wheat, cattle, sugar beets, ranching, and agriculture. Sadly, most agricultural trade journals are not teamed up with Google News to include their articles into the mix. If they did, it would be the perfect application. But it does offer enough agricultural articles to keep me interested...which is important for me as a Montana agricultural photographer. You can also save searches, too. So if I want to search the Internet for news about agricultural photography, I can save that search and manually look for any news on the subject.
If you aren't already using the new Google News app I highly encourage you to check it out. I think you just might fall in love with it like I did.
