ZIPpy news via Google: Localized by zip code or city name
A while back someone mapped the settings of Gutenberg classics—literally, by location, even within cities. I’d love to see a Web tool to help people find modern novels or nonfiction works centered around their surroundings. Perhaps Google can oblige.
But meanwhile, how about something a little less exotic—up-to-the-minute news by location?
Google News, it seems, is doing a Topix act within the U.S. now and for the rest of the world eventually. As reported in the Google News blog and elsewhere: “Today we’re releasing a new feature to find your local news by simply typing in a city name or zip code. While we’re not the first news site to aggregate local news, we’re doing it a bit differently—we’re able to create a local section for any city, state or country in the world and include thousands of sources. We’re not simply looking at the byline or the source, but instead we analyze every word in every story to understand what location the news is about and where the source is located.” Look under the “Top stories” section on Google News’ main page, under “View stories near you.”
Tip: You can turn the results into an RSS feed—look in the left column of the local news page that “View stories” leads to, once you’ve plugged in your location.
Related: Whether the Washington Post could be merging its newsroom and Web site, in the Washington City Paper.
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