Google News is pretty much a household phrase nowadays, and the company just release a big update to its Android and iOS apps that adds in a lot of machine learning. Presumably, this will help you get more relevant and interesting news to read within the app.

If you're a news hound, there are plenty of apps and services out there to help you keep tabs on what's going on around the world. Heatmap News does just that, with an added bonus: it maps out exactly where that news is happening.

Creative professionals have a habit of carrying a portfolio with them for interviews, but The Daily Muse advises every type of job-seeker to have a body of work prepared -- unlike a portfolio, one you leave behind with the hiring manager.

Android: The succinctly-named News is a powerful app for staying on top of the latest developments in the world.

Keeping up with the stream of news throughout the day can be difficult. If you're looking for a way to stay updated without heading over to Google News repeatedly, GNews is a Chrome extension that allows you to quickly glance at hot topics and move on with your day.

Google News rolled out a new look today, but right now that only applies to users in the US. However, Google Operating System points out there are some new settings for customising what appears on your Google News feed available worldwide, including options to control the number of posts you see from blogs and whether press releases are included.

Because the read-things-on-devices market isn't crowded enough, the Wall Street Journal claims Google is looking into a "digital newsstand" to deliver major print media outlets onto Android-powered devices.

Google recently revamped its News search site and made it easier to customise, but one of its most useful features -- setting up alerts for topics of interest -- remains much the same. Here's how to set up a regular alert from the service on your favourite topics.

If a story pops up in Google News that you'd like to keep track of, you can now add a familiar "star" to it. That allows you to track multiple stories from a "Starred" menu, and get updates on new developments.

Google Labs released a new experimental news tool today called Google Fast Flip—"a new reading experience that combines the best elements of print and online articles."

Want to track a topic across the web's news sources from the last few years, the last few months, or since yesterday morning? A new Google Labs tool provides an easy-to-navigate headline timeline.

Fancy adding a topic-specific headline feed to your blog or site? Google has just added the ability to generate an automatic Google News box (which it brands as a NewsShow), either covering broad topics or specific keywords. If you're programming-friendly, you can work directly with the News API, but most users will probably just settle for the wizard that automatically creates code to paste into your blog or site template. It'd be nice to see a wider range of formats, but it's still an easy way to put some topical links on your site. NewsShow Wizard

Google Earth has added geo-located Google News stories to its many useful layers, giving users of the desktop app access to national headlines and local news. Starting today, users can expand the "Gallery" node in their left-hand "Layers" menu and click "Google News" to have tiny newspaper icons displayed on their map. Click on a news icon, and you get the first paragraph and relevant links to the story. For tracking election news or seeing what's happening in your neck of the woods, Google Earth has become a pretty handy tool.

Extra! Extra! Discover the world's news in Google Earth

Google News recently added a localisation feature to its main page, gathering stories not just from local newspapers and web outlets, but supposedly from sources across the internet:While we're not the first news site to aggregate local news, we're doing it a bit differently -- we're able to create a local section for any city, state or country in the world and include thousands of sources. We're not simply looking at the byline or the source, but instead we analyze every word in every story to understand what location the news is about and where the source is located.Nifty stuff, and a good way to keep up on what's happening in your neck of the woods. All News is Local