Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Sci-Tech Today - Computing - Inform.com Takes on Google, Yahoo News Aggregation:
"Information Technologies has thrown down the gauntlet to Yahoo Latest News about Yahoo and Google Latest News about Google news services with the beta release this week of Inform.com, which uses proprietary technology to tag, score and aggregate news articles.
The site offers content from some 1,000 news organizations and 100 blogs Latest News about Blogs. The New York start-up is seeking to expand the traditional realm of Internet news aggregators and revolutionize the user experience.
The free Web-based service provides users with the same level of customization as sites such as Google News and Yahoo News, allowing users to select categories such as technology, business, or entertainment. The differences, however, between Inform.com and other news sites can be found in functions and capabilities.
Tagged, Ruled, and Ready
Neal Goldman, CEO of Inform, explained how the site's technology transforms the content it collects from online sources. For instance, a 10-page article from The New York Times first is stripped of extraneous HTML coding. The reconstituted single capsule then is pushed through millions of rules that "crunch it down into elements and score it."
Next, the technology pulls out information about people, companies, topics, places, and industries, and gives each component another score. That information then is put into a series of algorithms.
On the front end, the user does not see a hint of the metatagging. He or she sees an interface reminiscent of Amazon.com's Latest News about Amazon.com one-click shopping cart. Inform.com also provides recommendations for related articles and topics.
"We convert news into math and the resulting metadata enables a new user experience," said Goldman. "Scientists have been trying to create a common semantic, or invent a mathematical schema for describing the English language for years. We're doing it."
News You Can Choose
Goldman acknowledged that, in its current incarnation, the site will attract predominantly news junkies and users whose professions demand access to multiple news sources. However, he pointed out that the purpose of the beta period is "to expose [the technology and Web site] and get a much broader base of usability."
"The challenge for us now is making it usable for the average user," Goldman said. "The challenge is to take something that is powerful and make it easy it use."
Plans are in the works to provide a higher level of customization. The next level of the service will aim at personalization Latest News about Personalization of news stories, much in the way TiVo Latest News about TiVo suggests TV programming geared to a user's particular interests, Goldman said."
"Information Technologies has thrown down the gauntlet to Yahoo Latest News about Yahoo and Google Latest News about Google news services with the beta release this week of Inform.com, which uses proprietary technology to tag, score and aggregate news articles.
The site offers content from some 1,000 news organizations and 100 blogs Latest News about Blogs. The New York start-up is seeking to expand the traditional realm of Internet news aggregators and revolutionize the user experience.
The free Web-based service provides users with the same level of customization as sites such as Google News and Yahoo News, allowing users to select categories such as technology, business, or entertainment. The differences, however, between Inform.com and other news sites can be found in functions and capabilities.
Tagged, Ruled, and Ready
Neal Goldman, CEO of Inform, explained how the site's technology transforms the content it collects from online sources. For instance, a 10-page article from The New York Times first is stripped of extraneous HTML coding. The reconstituted single capsule then is pushed through millions of rules that "crunch it down into elements and score it."
Next, the technology pulls out information about people, companies, topics, places, and industries, and gives each component another score. That information then is put into a series of algorithms.
On the front end, the user does not see a hint of the metatagging. He or she sees an interface reminiscent of Amazon.com's Latest News about Amazon.com one-click shopping cart. Inform.com also provides recommendations for related articles and topics.
"We convert news into math and the resulting metadata enables a new user experience," said Goldman. "Scientists have been trying to create a common semantic, or invent a mathematical schema for describing the English language for years. We're doing it."
News You Can Choose
Goldman acknowledged that, in its current incarnation, the site will attract predominantly news junkies and users whose professions demand access to multiple news sources. However, he pointed out that the purpose of the beta period is "to expose [the technology and Web site] and get a much broader base of usability."
"The challenge for us now is making it usable for the average user," Goldman said. "The challenge is to take something that is powerful and make it easy it use."
Plans are in the works to provide a higher level of customization. The next level of the service will aim at personalization Latest News about Personalization of news stories, much in the way TiVo Latest News about TiVo suggests TV programming geared to a user's particular interests, Goldman said."
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