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CNN, Oracle Partner in Personalized Web News Service

CNN Custom News uses Oracle software to catalog news and deliver it to any Internet device.

By Yardena Arar, PCWorld   

Like other customizable Web-based news services such as PointCast, CNN Custom News delivers content to users based on their interests as specified in a point-and-click form. However, unlike PointCast, which requires you to install software that automatically displays requested content on the desktop, CNN Custom News reports are generated on the server side. That way, you can log in and access the customized report via any Web-enabled device, from a PC or NC running a browser, a pager, a set-top box, or another mobile device.

The news comes from CNN and 100 other information sources; Oracle provided the software--both the server and a content-sorting program called ConText that reads all the stories and sorts them into categories based on linguistic analysis using 200,000 concepts.

Turner, in his usual colorful style, introduced the service during a Comdex keynote presentation with a humorous description of his own experiences with information overload. Watching stock prices on a desktop ticker, he said, was similar to playing a slot machine: %dquotIt%squots hypnotic. You want to watch it. You know, you lose $20 million, you gain $20 million.%dquot

He talked about keeping an eye on CNN Headline News to see what would happen to Timothy McVeigh, convicted Monday in the Oklahoma City bombing. %dquotAre they gonna fry him, or give him life in prison?%dquot Turner added that he had 15 TV sets in his office.

%dquotI feel like I%squotm in a sports bar,%dquot he joked. %dquotI%squotm a software person, but the old kind--Tom & Jerry, Bugs Bunny, Gone With the Wind, CNN, baseball.%dquot

Ellison demonstrated the new service. %dquotIt%squots like a blending of the broadcast experience and the viewing experience,%dquot he said.

In addition to access on demand over the Web, the service can generate a customized desktop ticker. It also allows advertisers to target users according to demographics.