Tech giant Google has launched new tools and features for both readers and reporters designed to aid local news organisations.
The headline feature is a carousel that shows local news in response to search queries, launching around the world in all languages.
Google initially launched the feature to provide local information for Covid searches, but it has now been expanded to other topics like sports, local government and more, reports The Verge.
Google said it is been tweaking its systems so that authoritative, relevant local news sources appear more often next to national publications in Top Stories and other general news features.
"This improvement ensures people will see authoritative local stories when they're searching for news, helping both the brand and the content of news publishers reach more people," Google said.
It is also able to drill down into narrow subtopics related to local news, like high school football. Combined with its location services (provided you have those enabled), you should get more relevant results.
"For example, if you are in Detroit and search for football, we will now show you results for local high school and college teams, rather than just showing you results for, say, the professional team," Google said.
It will also surface tweets from news organisations along with "authoritative sources and authors".
Alongside the new consumer features, Google announced new data tools for reporters.
First up is the Census Mapper project, a map that can be embedded in stories to display Census data at the national, state and county level. It was produced as part of the 2020 Census Co-op, supported by the Google News Initiative.
It can show Census data at a local level, showing how populations have shifted over time. Google is also improving its Common Knowledge Project, a visual journalism project that allows reporters to explore local data.
India surpasses Australia, Japan, Hong Kong in data centre capacity
India has surpassed major countries like Australia, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Singapore, and Korea becoming the country with the highest data centre capacity of 950 MW in the Asia-Pacific region (excluding China), according to a private report released on Wednesday.
Fire erupts at Mumbai hoarding crash site, doused quickly
Eyewitnesses said that as the rescue operations continue for the third day since the gigantic billboard collapsed on Monday afternoon, a gas cutter used to cut the heavy metal rods sparked a blaze.
Indian tech leaders stand behind Ola's Bhavish in his fight against Microsoft & LinkedIn
Indian tech industry leaders have come out in support of Ola Founder and CEO, Bhavish Aggarwal, after his tirade against Microsoft-owned LinkedIn for deleting his posts and "bullying Indians" into agreeing with the Big Tech platforms or cancelling them out.
UPI payments see surge in India, leading people to overspending too: Experts
As India's digital and less-cash journey gains steam, more and more people are not only purchasing their daily essentials via unified payments interface (UPI) mode of digital transactions but also costly home appliances, high-end gadgets and designer apparels, among other things.
Musk's X banned over 1.8 lakh accounts for policy violations in India in April
In total, X banned 185,544 accounts in the reporting period. The microblogging platform, in its monthly report in compliance with the new IT Rules, 2021, said that it received 18,562 complaints from users in India in the same time frame through its grievance redressal mechanisms.
'Will always protect reservation for SC, ST and OBC', assures PM Modi
Assuring that the rights of SC, ST, and OBC communities would be protected under his leadership, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Friday, slammed Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) for trying to "divide and manipulate" reservation policies for its political gains.
PPE-clad thieves clean Nashik ICICI Home Finance locker of Rs 5 cr gold jewellery
In a sensational operation, at least two thieves, one shrouded in a PPE kit, broke into the locker hold of the ICICI Home Finance Co. Ltd Nashik branch and scooted off with gold jewellery worth around Rs 4.93 crore, police said here on Monday.
Helicopter crashes en route to pick up Shiv Sena leader in Maha's Raigad
In a shocker, a private helicopter which was flying to pick up Shiv Sena Deputy Leader Sushma Andhare, suddenly crashed on landing, officials said here on Friday.