Google’s search engine capabilities have been a great way to weed out the news that doesn’t matter to you and find the sweet nuggets of information that could end up shaping your day. Now, you don’t have to worry if you forgot to check the local headlines before heading out the door. Google offers Google News for mobile devices with the ability to use your location to get the news that is relevant to your city and the surrounding area.
Google isn’t new to finding your local news. They developed the location-based service back in 2008 that included news for just about every city, state or country. However, that service is now available on the go through your Android or iPhone device.
Getting it to work is simple enough. Simply open up the mobile device’s browser and head to Google News where a pop-up will ask to use your location. With a simple confirmation, a new category will appear with the title “News near you.” Access to this could become a valuable tool to avoid delays, traffic or details on certain events.
Google did not stray far from their initial functionality when creating the location-based news function. They scan through every word of news stories to determine which location the article is relevant to and where it is located, and from there determine if it is appropriate to label it as local news to your location. Sounds like the perfect way for a large search engine.
Many will find this a beneficial resource for relevant and local news, but may not want to be broadcasting their location to Google on a constant basis. Fear not, the feature can be turned off at any time by hiding the section in your personalization settings or adjusting the settings in your mobile browser.
Never be caught wondering what’s going on in your city again, let Google News do that work for you.
Check out some other Google mobile features with push Gmail and mobile Google Buzz.
