Providing news updates straight to the users' inboxes

Jan 19, 2009 09:51 GMT  ·  By

In a move designed to bring its search service a step closer to what Google has to offer, Microsoft debuted Live Search News Alerts at the end of the past week. The new option available for Live Search allows users with a Windows Live ID to receive alerts via email for the news indexed by the Redmond company's search engine.

In this regard, the software giant is offering users the possibility to optimize the delivery of news alerts via email, by customizing items in accordance to their topics and volume.

“Now you can have your news delivered to your inbox every day, twice a day, or just once a week. You can get top headlines, headlines for a specific area like business or world news, or the latest stories related to a search you define. You can set up as many different alerts as you want and send them to any email address associated with a Live ID,” Jacquelyn Krones, Live Search product manager, revealed.

Users will first have to own a Windows Live ID, or be sure to sign-up in order to access the service. Starting with the end of the past week, the News Live website features a News Alerts link that enables them to sign-in and get the latest updates from Live Search e-mailed to them.

The custom news alerts permit users to select certain types of stories, as well as the frequency at which Microsoft will offer the updates. Once they have chosen the options associated with their news alerts, all that they have to do is click on the Create alert button.

“Once you begin receiving alerts, you can unsubscribe from any that are no longer useful. But we hope you find this feature useful for a long time, and welcome your input on ways to make it even better,” Krones added.