Personalizing Your News

Posted on January 2, 1999

Most journalists already know the net is great source for reading online news from some of the world's best newspapers and magazines. (You can find a selection of them on my newspaper page.)

But few of you may know how useful the net can be in personalizing your news, choosing the news topics and sources you want. Think of it as putting the "me" back in media.

There are three basic kinds of personalized news services available, almost all of them free: Screen savers and headline tickers; customized web pages; and subscription email accounts.

HEADLINE TICKERS

Headline tickers run across your screen like those stock market tickers you see on the trading floors. You configure the program to selected the news sources you want and any time you click on a news item, it takes you to that web page. The main advantage is that you can keep the tickers running (as long as you're connected to the web) while you are doing other work on your computer.

HEADLINER: My personal favourite, it is simple to install and has a good Canadian selection -- including The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star and Newsworld. It is also much easier to turn off compared to Pointcast and doesn't hog your screen.

YAHOO NEWSTICKER: Another free service from the good folks at Yahoo. Local sports and weather also available.

POINTCAST CANADA: The grand-daddy of the news services operates as a screen saver and is still one of the best.

CUSTOMIZED WEB PAGES

These web sites allow you to customize your news and - thanks to those web "cookies" you may have heard about - they remember your preferences every time you visit the web site.

NEWSTRACKER: Your own customized clipping service, free from the Excite Search engine. Instead of hunting through all web pages, it retrieves only news stories from major papers and magazines. And it finds news from that same day - something search engines usually cannot do. A joy to use for journalists. Unfortunately, the content is almost exclusively American.

CNN CUSTOM NEWS: The American news giant lets you choose the country, topics and priorities you want. Even your favourite hockey team and stocks. (www.cnn.com)

CRAYON: CReate Your Own Newspaper - get it? One of the most elaborate personalized web pages, it takes a long time to set up but can be worth the effort. Essentially, it creates a list of glorified bookmarks in the format of a front page. You select your favourite news links from Crayon's source. Or - and this is the best advantage over CNN and other news pages - you can pick your own newspapers and enter them in. When you're finished, give your newspaper a name and voila - your private newspaper with bookmarks to your most-used sources.

MAILBOX DELIVERIES

Various email services (most of them free) will send you regular dispatches with the news you have selected. The advantage, obviously, is that you'll get the news in your mailbox every time you check your mail.

CANADA NEWSWIRE: The main PR news service in Canada allows you to select the companies or sources you want and you'll be flooded with their press releases.

CANADA CORPORATE NEWS: Business news provided by the company or sector you select. Never miss an announcement from the company or the executives you are tracking.

EUREKALERT! : Offers 2 daily email notices : embargoed news headlines and a daily news headlines listing. From American universities and scientific organizations.

THE ECONOMIST: The prestigious British magazine offers twice weekly mailings, but you have to register first - it's a long process, but it's free.

IN-BOX DIRECT : The Netscape plug in that will send the latest clippings from the new York Times, HotWired and other publications to your mailbox.