Both Google and Microsoft recently announced they’re getting into the news business – kinda. The latter gave Nieman Labs its idea for the newspaper of the future – which just turned out to be a version of the social networking aggregator Sobees. The former, meanwhile, has unveiled its news browser Fast Flip, which looks a lot like The Newseum’s Today’s Front Pages. (Check out Techdirt for more on Fast Flip.)

Microsoft’s idea is better, believe it or not, in that it allows users to compile specific content based on their interests. Unlike a newspaper, it doesn’t force you to pay for the op-ed and business sections if all you want to read is that front-page story about Kanye. Microsoft provides an a la carte solution for a modern media market that, thanks in part to Google, believes it should be able to easily find information about its specific interests.

Google, meanwhile, does little more than re-package a product that’s already struggling. It’s like putting a bow on an AMC Pacer: the ribbon might be shiny, but it still ain’t an ’09 Mustang.

UPDATE 09/18: The Fast Flip link has been fixed.

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