Journalism Enterprise.com

EveryBlock

Rating:

Nicolas Kayser-Bril

What do they say it is?

“EveryBlock aims to collect all of the news and civic goings-on that have happened recently in your city, and make it simple for you to keep track of news in particular areas. We’re a geographic filter — a “news feed” for your neighborhood, or, yes, even your block.”

What do I say it is?

The future of local news. Google without having to search. Journalism made efficient. And more. Adrian Holovaty’s EveryBlock harnesses the power of the web to deliver easy-to-use, relevant information to anyone.

What’s great about it?

The technical aspects of EveryBlock are certainly impressive, in terms of crawling efficiency, server responsiveness, categorization and so on. Above all, it’s a directory that does not rely on UGC at all (though it uses other sites’ content, such as Yell). That means no moderating costs and a very easily adaptable tool.

What could be better?

The site feels more like a proof that databases can be news than a user-oriented platform. For instance, there’s no RSS feeds associated with every tag, and, as Danny Sanchze writes, no easy way to make sense of the massive amount of data provided.

EveryBlock could deliver tailor-made API for every newsroom, bringing the best of both worlds on one webpage. As Holovaty says, EveryBlock is “quite complementary to traditional news organizations”.

How is it going to make money?

Although there’s some AdSense on the site, Holovaty was working on a Knight Foundation grant. Short-term moneymaking isn’t the purpose of EveryBlock.

Should I pay it any attention?

Yes! EveryBlock is the first tool allowing for retrieving information easily, without having to google for hours. As it creates direct value for consumers, there’s little chance it won’t succeed. Now, if news organizations see the potentiality of this, it will enhance greatly the value of local news articles – and that of the bottom line.

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Add comment January 25th, 2008

Newstin

Rating:

By Nicolas Kayser-Bril

What do they say it is?

“NewsTin provides multilingual news search and it introduces a completely unique dimension to it. You can search/browse/read news by topics and not just by keywords. While browsing through the topic structure you can switch languages and have foreign-language stories translated in real time”.

What do I say it is?

Newstin aims at becoming your gateway to news. Any news in any language. Sounds familiar? Then you’ve probably heard of Google News.

What’s great about it?

Its taxonomy engine goes way beyond the usual keyword and tags approach. For each article, Newstin’s engine is able to tell you what it’s about, who was mentioned, where it happened, etc.

What could be better?

Such power is certainly impressive, but creates little direct value for the web user next door. Many aspects of the site are just too sloppy to be attractive, from design to responsiveness.

For instance, on-the-fly translation is nice, but I doubt any English-speaker is interested in the marriage of Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Browned.

How is it going to make money?

Newstin is more of a B2B taxonomy business than a consumer-oriented service provider. Most of its revenues come from its professional clients. Their AdSense account probably pays for the 40-strong staff coffee, if only that.

Should I pay it any attention?

If you’re a professional with loads of textual data to organize (for instance, geotagging your archives), you probably want to consider outsourcing to Newstin. Similarly, if you are monitoring markets you don’t speak the language of, Newstin’s translation tools will prove handy.

But in the wider web, nobody beats Google at making algorithms for the masses. Newstin is no exception.

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Add comment January 18th, 2008