Surfing The Web

News Alerts from Google

By Dick Travis

Did you know that Google provides a "News Alert" feature which automatically sends "News Alerts" to your email inbox whenever your "requested subject" has been found either in newspapers, magazines or on the web--anywhere in the world?

This is an astute way to keep track of news on your favorite subjects or persons, without searching the web all day and night. Google allows up to ten "search topics" for you to enter.

To enter your favorite subjects, just go to Google.com, then click on the News button and then click on the News Alert button down the left hand side of the screen. This takes you to the screen where you enter the topic you wish to monitor. You can select to receive information on a daily basis or "as it happens". You will be asked to verify your request through email within seconds.

I love to receive email alerts about one of my granddaughters who plays water polo for UCSB (University of California at Santa Barbara). Just the other day, I received over ten articles which contained her name, along with links to the specific article. She had been scoring goals in each of her last six games-so the dates were arranged chronologically from last to first. You don't even have to read the entire article, since the one paragraph sent by email contains most of the information regarding her anyway.

Generally, you are better off to use quotes surrounding the subject that you wish to monitor, since this will insure that the entire phrase or name will be contained in the search. One of the annoying parts of the system, although still interesting in some respects, is the fact that your alert may contain a duplicate or triplicate of the "name" or "subject" you are searching for.

In other words, you may get alerts for a person who has the exact same name as your granddaughter, but actually is NOT her. While at first confusing, I like to forward these "identity threats" to my granddaughter and ask her what she is doing in Kansas or Maine, when she is supposed to be studying.

Keeping up with local and national politicians is another great example to monitor your favorites or even your not-so-favorites as we get closer to election time this year. Some websites are even "linking" to the news alerts of their candidate to allow up to the minute news hitting the press.You can do the same, just by setting up your Google "News Alert".

Google now has over 1,000 employees and utilizes over 10,000 "servers" located at secret locations all over the world. They now search over 4 billion web pages in over 89 native languages. And…they are averaging less than "half a second" to find and report back your inquiry. Don't be afraid to give Google your email address, since they are even more concerned as you are about the misuse of email and the protection of your privacy.

Google News Alert is still being tested, so let's hope that this product advances with even more sophistication in the future.

So what are you waiting for? Anything that's interesting to you is a good subject. I like to monitor the activities of my sports-minded grandkids, keep current with computer lingo, track medical advances, get the latest on sports teams and follow the activities of local and national politicians.

Happy News Alerts to you!

Dick Travis