NewsWeeder Launches Talking Aggregator to Beat News Overload
NewsWeeder, a newly-launched news aggregator, tackles the productivity pitfalls of news feeds using text-to-speech and proprietary précis technology. Users don't have to interrupt their work while they listen to bulletins containing summaries of new articles.
Ramsgate, United Kingdom, July 04, 2010 --(PR.com)-- NewsWeeder is a new online talking news aggregator that can automatically filter, precis and read aloud news bulletins as they hit the web. Workers overwhelmed with the number of news feeds they need to follow can hear regular customized news summaries without interrupting their work.
“News feeds are a great way to keep up to date,” said Kit Jolly, designer of the new system, “but there are so many and it's so important not to miss anything that constantly dropping what you're doing to see what's arrived can really hurt your productivity. NewsWeeder addresses that by reading out a precis so you don't have to stop what you're doing unless it's something important - then it will take you to the original article.”
NewsWeeder works by collecting new articles from the user's feeds into bulletins. The user can control the number of articles in a bulletin and the bulletin frequency and schedule, so for example bulletins can be switched off during evenings and weekends. Bulletins can also be downloaded as MP3 files - useful for a user who wants one big bulletin a day that they can listen to in the gym or during the commute to work.
NewsWeeder brings together a number of technologies including XML, full-text indexing, text-to-speech, a proprietary precis algorithm and an AJAX user interface. It is completely browser-based so there are no downloads or platform requirements other than a modern browser. There are around three hundred pre-configured news feeds for the user to pick from covering topics such as news, technology, environment and arts, and users can add their own RSS or Atom feeds by pasting in the feed URL.
Users can sign up for free at www.newsweeder.com. NewsWeeder works with recent versions of popular browsers.
NewsWeeder is the brainchild of Kit Jolly, an independent software developer based in south-east England.
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“News feeds are a great way to keep up to date,” said Kit Jolly, designer of the new system, “but there are so many and it's so important not to miss anything that constantly dropping what you're doing to see what's arrived can really hurt your productivity. NewsWeeder addresses that by reading out a precis so you don't have to stop what you're doing unless it's something important - then it will take you to the original article.”
NewsWeeder works by collecting new articles from the user's feeds into bulletins. The user can control the number of articles in a bulletin and the bulletin frequency and schedule, so for example bulletins can be switched off during evenings and weekends. Bulletins can also be downloaded as MP3 files - useful for a user who wants one big bulletin a day that they can listen to in the gym or during the commute to work.
NewsWeeder brings together a number of technologies including XML, full-text indexing, text-to-speech, a proprietary precis algorithm and an AJAX user interface. It is completely browser-based so there are no downloads or platform requirements other than a modern browser. There are around three hundred pre-configured news feeds for the user to pick from covering topics such as news, technology, environment and arts, and users can add their own RSS or Atom feeds by pasting in the feed URL.
Users can sign up for free at www.newsweeder.com. NewsWeeder works with recent versions of popular browsers.
NewsWeeder is the brainchild of Kit Jolly, an independent software developer based in south-east England.
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Contact
NewsWeeder.com
Kit Jolly
+44 7973 874677
www.newsweeder.com
Kit Jolly
+44 7973 874677
www.newsweeder.com
Contact
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