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Boxxet, a Tool for Automatic Webpage Generation

tkajstura writes "New Scientist is reporting on 'a new tool [called Boxxet that] offers to create websites on any subject, allowing web surfers to sit back, relax and watch a virtual space automatically fill up with relevant news stories, blog posts, maps and photos.' It uses an algorithm based on unique word count to filter an index and integrate relevant subject information into the page, called a 'Boxxet.' The tool will first be available by invitation only, opening to the general public by the end of April 2006."

13 of 109 comments (clear)

  1. Example result? by NitroWolf · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Does anyone have an example page that is a result of this alogrithm? The article is a little sparse on details or functionality, and you can't see anything if you go to the website.

    From what I've read, I've tried to come up with stuff that I'd put in the first 5 links to give to the site, and I'm having trouble. I don't necessarily like to view the same things or same types of things from day to day, so I'm not sure how useful that'd be...

  2. More junk websites with adverts by zubernerd · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I can just see this program being used to "create" content to push more advertising. Just what we need more of, websites that have recycled content put online for ad revenue.

    --
    Accentuate the positive, don't waste your mod points on the negative.
  3. Google? by DoninIN · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Isn't that what a search engine does? You type in a phrase and it finds things like that and sends you a web page?

  4. That's right... by danpsmith · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...I only read the best webpages generated by algorithms which suggest what I might find interesting...

    --
    Judges and senates have been bought for gold; Esteem and love were never to be sold.
  5. This is an affiliate persons wet dream by CitznFish · · Score: 5, Insightful

    and a nightmare for search engines. Hopefully there will be a way to detect boxxet pages and purge them, or at least show them seperately from relative content. Going from a search result link to another link full of partial information will be frustrating for many users and only benefits those who are makign aliving off of google ads, affiliates, etc.

    --
    'mmmmmmmmm.... forbidden donut'
  6. I only hope... by Audacious · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I only hope that they took into consideration hackers trying to break into websites. I've been getting lately:

    Drupal: Someone trying to see if I am running Drupal.
    Mambo: Someone trying to see if I am running Mambo.
    phpmyadmin: Same as above.
    xmlrpc.php: Used (or it used to be used) by both Drupal and Mambo.
    index.php and index2.php: Used by both Drupal and Mambo.
    cmd.gif: Four different sites configured to help hackers deface your site.

    and lots of others. So my input would be to run a test site annonymously as Boxxet and see if the hackers can breach the site before releasing it for people to use. Otherwise - it looks like it might be a nice kind of program to use.

    PS to whoever is running Slashdot: The "Sections" area is doing some strange things and gave me an error once about SectionPrefs(???).

    --
    Someone put a black hole in my pocket and now I'm broke. :-)
  7. Now, automated link farming! by Animats · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Just what we needed, a way for search engine "optimizers" to generate giant automated link farms. Even with manual blogging, there's an annoying tendency for blogs to link to blogs, and, eventually, to spam-type press releases. You know, stuff like this: We'd like to give a high five to our research team. Our portfolio is up 70% so far in 2006 and looking stronger every day! We hope our members have been keeping up with these incredible picks. Let's take a look at this next winner. (From a real spam.)

    Now we'll have thousands of phony "news sources" like that, all linking to each other.

    So now each search engine will have to develop an automated tool to find and ignore this dreck.

  8. So, this is simply... by Zadaz · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Taking something like

    news.google.com -> Personalize -> Save Page as...

    Except automated?

    I guess sometimes the simple ideas are the best one.

    Except when they're just dumb.

  9. Copyright issues? by zubinjdalal · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It would be interesting to see how much information Boxxet pulls off other sites and how it represents this as useful information without broaching copyrights.

  10. Re:invitation only by tcopeland · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "invitation only" makes a lot of sense... it helps you throttle the initial flood of folks until you've sorted out what people like and dislike.

    We're using it for indi (built with Rails, w00t!) and the waiting list keeps growing, good times...

  11. Re:Of course! by hyfe · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Urg, how many times have you read that meme? .. and you still didn't get the gist of it?!

    The point is to supply two premises which does does not lead the conclusion 4, and leave it as an exercise to the reader to figure 3.. you know, as a horrible, horrible business plan.

    In your point however, premise 1 and premise 2 certainly leads to conclusion 4, leaving step 3 totally f*cking uneccesary.. and as a plan it thus actually makes sense (although it may or may not be doable, but that's for the feasibility analysis to discover :))

    --
    "" How about taking the safety labels off everything, and let the stupidity-problem solve itself? """
  12. Re:Dubious Phlisophy by Hal_Porter · · Score: 3, Insightful

    No the number of posters is growing very quickly, but the number posting new information grows very slowly. So they get gradually drowned out by the ever rising tide of cliches, plagiarism, tedious restatements of conventional wisdom with no original additions and total batshit bugfuck crazy gibberish.

    I can't believe you could read /. regularly and find it a hard concept.

    --
    echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
  13. Re:Sorry . . .why? by spacepimp · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Have you ever searched through google to find a website, for an answer to an obscure technical question, or for any search for that matter, only to come across a bogus hacked together site selling adspace along the margins. I have noticed this occurring with increasing regularity. what this achieves is automating that process so some human doesnt have to cob together an uttelry useless webasite to sell his adspace along themargins, now he can automate that process, and make more websites that will waqste your time, and probably make it more difficult to find a useful one. maybe im oversimplifying al this, but i don't see much else use for this application.