Yesterday, Google announced that it had launched a “News Showcase” in the UK. This means that Google will pay for news content in the UK for the first time. Google has signed an agreement with 120 British publications, including the Financial Times and Reuters. Google pays licensing fees to these publications to produce news summaries and display them in the “News Showcase” product.
There are reports that these publishers will receive millions of dollars from Google every year. The product will appear in the “Google News” service App and Google Discover service. Google Discover is a feed containing articles and videos launched by Google for mobile devices. When the user clicks on the news summary in the “Google News” App and Google Discover, they will be redirected to the full news on the publisher’s website.
Google News Showcase already exists in many countries
In response, Ronan Harris, vice president and managing director of Googleâs UK and Irish marketing, said:Â âGoogle News Showcase, our new product experience and licensing program for news, will begin rolling out with local, national, and independent publishers in the U.K…âAs part of our licensing agreements with publishers, weâre also launching the ability for readers to access select paywall content. This feature will give readers the opportunity to read more of a publisherâs content than they would otherwise have access to while enabling publishers to encourage readers to become a subscriber.â
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Globally, Google has persuaded 450 news publications to produce content for News Showcase. Prior to this, Google had launched News Showcase services in Australia, Germany, Brazil, Canada, France, Japan, and Argentina. According to the company, it is currently discussing with several other countries.
Currently, technology giants are facing increasing pressure to require them to pay media companies for their content. According to Google, it would pay publishers $1 billion to buy news in the next three years.
Google search engine finally gets dark node on PC
Google has begun distributing an update for its search engine to PC users. They receive a pop-up message about the availability of a dark theme. Initially, this message was available only to users that open the Google search engine on a PC in incognito mode. Subsequently, other platforms confirmed that dark mode is available.
The prompt redirects users to a customization that allows them to choose between light, dark, or system theme. This means that the search engine will adapt to the system theme settings in Windows and macOS, making it convenient for those who prefer to switch between themes regularly.
It is also reported that for some, the function is still disabled after refreshing the page or when switching to image search. Back in May last year, the company tested the ability to create themes in mobile browsers using a hidden flag.
The addition of a dark theme for Google Search will be a welcome addition for everyone, especially those working in poorly lit environments.
