Fast Flip
Not to be out-done, Google has released the beta of ‘Fast Flip', which is designed to allow a print-like ability to quickly browse a number of web pages - primarily news - without "unnatural delays".
The Google blog announcing the beta, written by "distinguished researcher" Krishna Bharat, inexplicably continues to praise the uninhibited spontaneity of the print experience over the one-dimensional online equivalent. It even says: "Imagine taking ten seconds to turn the page of a print magazine!"
While Google is claiming to offer the best of both worlds with Fast Flip, there's every danger it could achieve the opposite. We did a search for HP, knowing the PC maker had launched a bunch of products this morning, and the rather limited results, which took well over ten seconds to arrive, are shown below.
Google seems to be trying to reach a compromise with newspaper publishers with Fast Flip. The likes of Rupert Murdoch have consistently complained that Google is making money on the back of their content through Google News and this product is done in cooperation with 36 publishers, including the New York Times, the Atlantic, the Washington Post, Salon, Fast Company, ProPublica and Newsweek.
They will share the revenue earned from contextually relevant ads and Google reckons it will also drive more traffic to them. "The publishing industry faces many challenges today, and there is no magic bullet. However, we believe that encouraging readers to read more news is a necessary part of the solution," says Bharat.
You can access PC and mobile versions of Fast Flip here.
