Fast Flip

This week Google Labs launched Fast Flip, a news/story search engine that provides results as screenshots of relevant articles.

The idea behind Fast Flip is to enable users to visually "flip" through the information they most want to read. Headlines and popular topics are easy to spot.

Fast Flip is also "smart," meaning it tailors itself to a user based on the selections s/he makes, making it a melange of "fast browsing, natural magazine-style navigation, recommendations from friends and other members of the community" and "serendipitous and personalized" content, wrote Krishna Bharat of Google News.

The service is supported by contextual advertising, revenues of which will be shared by Fast Flip's publishing partners, including The New York Times, the Atlantic, the Washington Post, Salon, Fast Company, ProPublica and Newsweek.

"This gives publishers an opportunity to introduce new readers to their content. It also tests our theory that being able to read articles faster means people will read more of them, driving more ad revenue to publishers," Bharat wrote.

In February, The New York Times launched a skimmable beta edition of its Sunday newspaper, hoping — like Google — to draw new audiences that are accustomed to skimming the 'net for topics of interest.