Microsoft's personalised news service, Newsbot, is in beta. (The UK site has been in beta for a while now and can be found here.)
Greg Linden, CEO and founder of Findory News, shares his first reactions to Microsoft's beta:
It's difficult to determine the underlying algorithms from inspecting the behavior of the site, but there appears to be strong evidence that it is mostly based on subject categories. ... If it is true that MSN Newsbot is merely using subject classifications for its personalization, Findory's personalization technology is considerably more advanced. Findory's algorithms combine statistical analysis of the article text and of users who viewed the articles with information about articles you previously viewed. Our personalized news is fine-grained. Our personalization is targeted closely to your interests while maintaining enough serendipity to enhance discovery. We help you read the news more efficiently and find articles you otherwise would miss. There is still nothing else like it out there.
