Israeli startup Spotback, which I’ve been tracking for a while, will launch tonight (Monday) at 10 PM PST. Spotback is a personalized news portal that learns from user behavior over time to deliver the news that’s just right for them.
Web 2.0 news sites usually fall into one of two categories. Sites like Digg and Newsvine take user feedback and actions to affect what the entire community sees. Personalized sites like Findory change what they present to a single user based on his or her actions over time. Spotback falls into the latter category - a personalized news site that changes for each user over time based on what they like and don’t like (although they also have a Top Stories tab with the most highly rated news from all users).
Each news item on Spotback can be rated by a user, saved, and/or emailed to others (click on image to right for larger view). Users may comment on any story. The source of the news item can also be marked, to tell Spotback to include more news like this, or to block items like it (or from that source). Finally, users can also customize the page to include whatever news categories they like (business, sports, etc.) or an RSS reader widget, which allows a user to add any news source that may not already be included in the Spotback index.
Here’s what I like best about Spotback - there is no requirement to set up a user account, you can simply access the site (personalized via cookie) if you choose to. If you do create a user account, you can rate other users and receive personalized news based on what they like and dislike, too.
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Ugh, it has no name recognition. If you want to build a name within the news industry, ya need a name.
I want to try this. I loved the way SearchFox learned my reading habits then put those articles at the top of my list.
Pretty UI for sure……
Super web 2.0
I think the jury is still out on whether this implicit (and hidden) tuning is right for all users.
My *gut* say isn’t right for the mainstream user.
Products like Tailrank allow the user to have more control over their personalization while at the same time supporting implicit tuning.
I could enable this in Tailrank if I wanted but I just don’t see it as a big win.
Of course I’ve been wrong before…
Thoughts?
Didn’t Claria announce something similar a couple of weeks ago? http://www.personalweb.com.
You download, it spies, it learns, you get personalized content.
I like this approach much better.
Man, this is a a great site. Only problem is that the space is tough. Getting mindshare will be difficult where the services don’t provide a lot of differentiated value from one another.
Don’t care for the UI, lots of features I wouldn’t need.
The only thing that’s cool with that is the little baloon thing at the top.
I can’t help noticing that the top story on that screenshot is titled: “what do you think about the vagina?”. Amusingly, you seem to have clicked it!
I like this because it passes the “mom” test (as in, could my mom use it), which I think is very important when it comes to news sites. If you get a chance, Mike, you ought to do some research on people who consume their news online, where they go, and what they like.
And Pete, who wouldn’t click that?
I like the fact that you don’t need to sign up for an account to use the site. Interested in using this site.
Cool UI, indeed. If they reduced the numbers of small icons under each item, it will be cleaner. I like the one column view much better.
The personalization part will be more evident with more usage and I’ll be looking forward to the results. It will be awesome if they allow me to prefine a few topics so I don’t have to wait until the system learns.
This is pretty incredible. It has tonnes of features…and doesn’t appear in the slightest buggy.
So many new services come along, that just do not arouse my interest — but this I’ll actually look into a bit more.
You cite Newsvine as a site that takes user feedback to affect the entire community. Although this is true on a general level (ie: pushing posts and seeds “up the vine” to main topic pages) they have also introduced a feature called Recommended Articles. This feature takes the articles that you have approved, and displays a list of articles that you have not yet seen that were approved by other Newsvine users who have similar taste to you. So they do offer something in the realm of personal recommendations.
OK, I have a verdict: I love the site. I’ve discovered a lot of news.
There’s just one drawback: lack of a community, as of yet.
I have been one of the beta testers for a while. These guys create great service. very intutitive and are very responsive to user feedback. I am thinking of making this my homepage instead of my.yahoo.com
This is really great! Seems that the more users are joining the system, there more interesting it gets. I’ve also been beta testing it, but now it’s really become relevant.
well site is ok, good job with asp but you said that it works with cookies so one does not have to register to personalize the hopepage, let me tell you my story. i did remove the stuff i`m not itnerested in, like woman, children, etc. and added more news on webdevelopment, business IT etc. then deciced to sort news in one columnt instead of two columns which comes default. one you set one column page it becomes two one-columned pages. and when u switch from one page to another you see that all your changes are gone and it has applied its default settings. in my case all news about woman, children, etc. were back on my pages and none of my additions like web development were there anymore.
so my israeli friends, work harder…
Why whould you want to get rid of the women section elwir
I really like the way registration is handled. Might try that on my site.
It looks very nice, but the personalization doesn’t seem to work right. Oh well.
damn they beat my little ass to release, i can’t give up been working on the algorithms for the past flipping year
Another great installment by the Israeli fellows.
Pretty nice little site. Not good enough to make me want to switch from NetVibes though.
Like a dumb bonde, pretty on the outside but really quite shallow inside.
Not to be fooled and give them Two thumbs down…
Kevin Burton - please don’t try and steal spotbacks ’spotlight’ by whoring tailrank again, it’s getting a bit much!
Good job anyway, Spotback has blew my stereotype away of ugly and ropey development often associated with Asian type developers
180n.com does this personalization without having to log in, but goes the social aspect of what people think is important news.
Ya, I got suckered to try it, I saw, It sucked…
Steve, you do not have to log in…
TAAZZA is comming.. Will be launched within this month !! HOpe that give Spotback a BANG !!
Paul, sorry, I knew that… I meant to write a ‘too’ in my post. LOL
Doesn’t work in Opera…the loading icon spins endlessly.
Opera is now supported (make sure your Opera browser does not identify as another type of browser). Thanks.
charbar, i just wanted to personalize it
dont think ii dont like women:) well i’m a college student, i can say i like girls instead of woman:)
awful interface - too much colour. Mutton dressed up as lamb…
You should also check out ifbyphone at http://ifbyphone.com, a personalized voice portal that offers news in addition to weather, sports, blogs, chat, a social network called Voplace, stocks, wake-up and reminder calls, notepad, games etc. On ifbyphone you can personalize your news search based on keywords, select different new feeds from a predefined list, or add your own feeds.
Spotback rules.
I don’t understand why everyone in the world is a member, it’s my only news source and has been for quite a while now.