News you can consume.

The idea of news as a consumer product really hit me this morning, when I clicked from Google to CNN to find stories CNN recommends based on my browsing history, much the way Amazon presents me with things to buy based on my online behavior with them, I assume. All the stories were interesting in the sense that if I were stuck in a waiting room I’d choose them over an eight-month-old issue of People magazine. Otherwise, the list of recommended stories didn’t seem specifically customized to my interests and could best be classified as “things that occur on earth.” That’s probably because I’m not a frequent visitor to CNN. However, I’m going to start going there more, just to see if stories about trading privacy for convenience will show up on my recommended list.