While most of the photo community seems to have been trapped in the launch of Corbis ‘ microstock extension like a deer into headlights ( did anyone asked them how much it cost to launch? another $500 million ?), while others find it funny and amusing when people explicitly steal [1] images for monetary gain ( freedom of speech should NEVER be confused with freedom to steal images), Google unveiled yet another product with a soft launch.

It is a sort of news photo portal, where images take a large part (half) of the page. You can now read headlines by selecting an image you like. It is a very interesting approach, as it clearly puts photography at the same level as text. The very first impression one gets is that of the poor quality of images used to illustrate stories.

What would be captivating, however, would be to see the percentage of stories that are read because of the images rather than the headlines. If it is a majority then maybe news outlets will finally put some more effort in selecting compelling images.

see it for yourself here

[2] Google News