“Apple News is the most polished. Google News knows the most about what you’re interested in. And Microsoft News thinks it knows best,” William Gallagher writes for AppleInsider. “You could predict all of this just from how these technology companies have always behaved but now they’re hoping to control the news you read in apps too. ”
“Google News has been formed from the ashes both of what was Google News & Weather and of Google Play Newsstand. The current app combines the features of these in to one package that is fast to get started with and quick to fill you in on everything you want to know,” Gallagher writes. “The speed of starting is because Google doesn’t stop to ask what topics you’re interested in: it uses information the company has already gathered from articles you read in Chrome, or what you search for, to get you started.”
“While it will present a news story from a site such as CNN, Fox News, or wherever, it will also always give you an important extra option,” Gallagher writes. “Under each story there is an option called View Full Coverage. Tap that and you get to see how the same story is being covered elsewhere. That elsewhere does include other news sites but it will gather together opinion pieces, videos, and Twitter.”
MacDailyNews Take: That is actually a useful feature (see our previous advice on casting a wide net for “news”), but we DO NOT want Google taking notes on what we’re reading (and you know they would), so forget it.
“Microsoft News for iOS doesn’t force you to select favorite topics or subjects either. By default, it presents a roundup of news based on your country. It does also have a prominent localization button,” Gallagher writes. “The trouble is that you know which of your local news sources is worth paying attention to —and Microsoft News does not. If you could tell it, that would be one thing, but you can’t and that’s the key failing of this app.”
MacDailyNews Take: Friends don’t let friends do Microsoft, so forget it.
“Apple News is the only one of these three that has an iOS, Apple Watch and Mac app,” Gallagher writes. “Being from Apple, it knows little about you and so the first thing it does is ask you to go through picking topics you’re interested in… Of these three news apps, Apple News looks the best. You expected that but Apple has done a nice job of presenting a lot of information in a small space.”
Much more, including screenshots, in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Steer clear of personal data-monger Google. Always. Microsoft sucks, so that’s an easy decision. Half-assed crap that could only be acceptable to Windows sufferers is to be avoided.
As always, do not solely trust Apple News. Do not solely trust Google News. Do not solely trust Microsoft News. Do not trust any single gatekeeper.
The best way to consume so-called “news” is to cast a wide net.
As always, readers of “news” need to consider the sources and interpret what they are being told accordingly. The more disparate sources you can find, the better. And we don’t mean different newspaper, network, website brands that are all owned by the same conglomerate. Determining the actual ownership of your “news” sources is an investment that requires a bit of time, but it is very enlightening. — MacDailyNews Take, June 17, 2015
SEE ALSO:
White House probes Google after President Trump accuses it of left-wing bias – August 29, 2018
President Trump attacks ‘left-wing’ Google search results – August 28, 2018
The Boston Globe Editorial Board: Break up Google – June 16, 2018
Bernstein: Google to pay Apple $3 billion this year to remain the default search engine on iPhones and iPads – August 14, 2017
James Damore: Why I was fired by Google – August 12, 2017
European Union hits Google with record $2.73 billion fine for abusing internet search monopoly – June 27, 2017
Google’s Eric Schmidt wore staff badge at Hillary Clinton’s ‘victory’ party – November 16, 2016
WikiLeaks emails show extremely close relationship between Clinton campaign and Google’s Eric Schmidt – November 1, 2016
Eric Schmidt-backed startup stealthily working to put Hillary Clinton in the White House – October 9, 2015
Obama to reward Google’s Schmidt with Cabinet post? – December 5, 2012
Google outfoxes U.S. FCC – April 17, 2012
Google Street View cars grabbed locations of cellphones, computers – July 26, 2011
Consumer Watchdog calls for probe of Google’s inappropriate relationship with Obama administration – January 25, 2011
FCC cites Android ‘openness’ as reason for neutered ‘Net Neutrality’ – December 22, 2010
U.S. FCC approves so-called ‘net-neutrality’ regulations – December 21, 2010
Wired: Google, CIA Invest in ‘future’ of Web monitoring – July 29, 2010
Just love Google news. Hands down the best news source. Really not close.
Google News screwed the pooch with their latest redesign. Unusable. I’m pretty sure they have a department there that looks at ways to cripple their software.
Get your news from a variety of sources. But make sure non of your news sources are from social media or manufactures of electronic devices.
Like these??
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/when-it-comes-to-fighting-fake-news-the-brett-kavanaugh-battle-showed-major-newsrooms-are-all-talk
calling news sources a ‘variety’ when they (mostly) tell the same lie is not variety, it’s propaganda.
The WashingtonExaminer rag you quote from is a known biased conservative rag. The article in question is labeled “Opinion”.
Thanks for proving my point, bjr.
You say get news from a variety of sources so I show you an article from a source you ignore which list BS in the Kavenaugh coverage and you immediately claim it is biased.
I know the site is right leaning just as I know the NYTimes, Washington Post, and all the networks are left leaning, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have merit just like some of the reporting of other news outlets.
I also know about the related article you linked.
Do you know what all the ethics complaints are about or do you skip the details of such? None are related to anything before the confirmation hearing. More BS.
How about a link to the Supreme Court upholding one of his rulings the first day he was on the job??
Again, thanks for proving my point by showing no matter how many news sources there are, people like you read only one side/one view and claim to know what the Hell is going on.
“OPINION
Confirmation bias: Brett Kavanaugh and the major media’s worst moment”
wow, you just don’t get it
“More than a dozen ethics complaints were filed against Kavanaugh in his former court, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. DC Circuit Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson and the Circuit Judicial Council — Chief Judge Merrick Garland recused himself — had asked Roberts to transfer the complaints to another circuit, a request that’s in line with how federal courts in recent years have dealt with high-profile ethics cases; judges who previously asked for transfers cited a desire to avoid conflict-of-interest issues.”
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetillman/the-ethics-complaints-against-justice-brett-kavanaugh
Click to access 10-10-18-Roberts-Letter-Tymkovich.pdf
Two points.
1) Apple News should also be available on OS X, rather than limited to IOS devices.
2) Apple News should allow you to block specific sites. I select topics which interest me, but some of the sites selected by Apple turn out to be click bait, do not play nicely with Apple News, or are unreliable sources. I know I can block topics, but I’d like to block certain sites reporting about those topics.
Examples include Which ( similar to Consumer Reports ), where the answer to the headline is only visible to paid subscribers, or the Daily Express, where you need to click on their main site to continue reading a story and are given no option other than to accept all their cookies and other rubbish.
Apple News IS available on OS X (Mojave). It looks like utter crap, some of Apple’s most piss poor programming and interface, but it is there.
Thanks for that. I’m not running Mojave at the moment. However a news application is the sort of undemanding application which should be able to run on pretty well any Mac.
Hopefully Apple will shortly announce new Macs and tempt me to finally upgrade.
Apple news as well as the stocks app are ports from iOS and use a new framework to make that possible that’s only available in Mojave.
Ha ha…poor writing MDN, no wonder you are just good for the Apple sheep.
I love Apple News. I use it all the time.
All you need is Drudge Report. It pulls stories from the whole spectrum of conservative to liberal. Now I just happen to wear a MAGA hat but I do enjoy a good laugh from the left hand side of the page.
The Truth is @ Breitbart.com the rest is Fake News
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/
Don’t trust this site… it’s pure bias against Microsoft.
Don’t trust nitwits actually called “Nit”, they’re biased against intelligent and are poster-people for dumbosity.