iAP the news aggregator

The Associated Press would build a search engine that aggregates news like Google's. My first instinct is to say "No!" "Buy don't build" and "Push your content out to where your users are, don't try to pull them in."

But with Google sagging, and its algos not completely knocking off my socks anymore, particularly in the area of news, I say, why not?

Consider AP's plan a "disruptive innovation," on the low end. What if it aggregated valuable local and global content and found a way to analyze that news and make meaning out of it? Which local newspapers are most influential? Could AP create a proprietary "NewsRank" for international sources? How great would it be to find similarities between in coverage between Detroit's and Wolfburg's city papers?

For more on this story, see Businessweek. Unlike the NYT and WSJ, who treat this as a saga of the dying newspaper industry, Businessweek's coverage of the AP more accurately treats this as a David/Goliath story focusing on the AP's operations and management.

And if I may, as a former AP'er: Please guys, get out of the tower and re-integrate yourselves with your communities. It's about the people and having an identity in the place you cover. Go "Hyperlocal." See my next post, or simply this a.m.'s NYT business section.

Rupert Murdoch wants a 4-color e-reader

Rupert is on the search for a "4-color" e-reader that can save the traditional world of print news. While Plastic Logic certainly can reproduce about a 1/4 swath of the NYT print edition page layout, it is still very much a B&W affair.

The color request keeps the iPhone/iPod Touch device very much in the running, albeit one with a somewhat larger screen. 4x6? I'd carry that as a Touch - but no way I'd use that size as a phone. Give me a bluetooth and maybe then.

Check out this product demo from PL: