I like sideways ways to get information. I subscribe to the straight-news methods– Google Alerts, Yahoo! Keyword Alerts, Technorati, meme sites, etc. And they work.
But the sideways stuff– original, first-hand research that tells you things that you wouldn’t know from normal sources– is the real deal. My CTA Alerts is an example. Its purpose is to be a place for wireless alerts about service outages on the CTA. But it ends up being pretty good at letting us know when there was a bus crash, or a building fire (I found out about the devastating Pilgrim Baptist Church fire via an alert) or a major crash (the famous "plane in street" alert).
Yahoo! Buzz Index is a canary in the coal mine for pop culture. By looking at what people are looking for, it’s a pretty good indication of what they want. And predicting what people want is a pretty big business. Their writing is sharp, like this entry speculating on why we’re interested in Sharon Stone. The things at the top advancers section always have a story about them (Robert Blake, for instance).
In the end, I like Yahoo! Buzz because it’s harder to control. Our news is so tightly wound, and fixed, and precious sometimes. This is one way you can put the hand to the straight-on news and catch some things sideways.