The Web-based reference tool is our first product. I've noticed or been told about Qwiki-like devices not only in 2001, but also in Total Recall, Iron Man, and Wall-E. It's hard to imagine a future in which they don't. We think the next iteration is to let machines select and present the content. Here, content is selected and presented by friends. ![]() Review your own online behavior: many of us are spending our time inside environments like Facebook and Twitter. Our mission is not to replace Google searches but, instead, to introduce a curated information experience: an alternative to forcing people to wander through the wilds of the open Web. But Qwiki differs from Google the same way a restaurant meal differs from preparing your own dish from supermarket ingredients or a museum exhibit differs from a stack of art books. You'd think the challenge is getting a world immersed in Google to use another tool for research. ![]() Type in "Buenos Aires," for example, and you'll get a mix of photos, videos, and interactive maps, accompanied by a voice-over summary. I get the comparison: Qwiki takes raw information on, for starters, 2 million of the most popular Web topics and turns it into an interactive presentation on your chosen subject, narrated by a computerized voice (ours is female). It's like "your personal HAL," said one of the judges, referring to the talking computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Built by a tech team lead by Louis Monier (creator of AltaVista, the first all-Web search engine), it won best startup at TechCrunch Disrupt, an über-geek meetup in San Francisco. I unveiled Qwiki, a platform for vivid, multimedia tours of a given topic. But last month-after voiding my own life savings, securing other investors, and moving to Silicon Valley-my vision finally came to life. ![]() When I presented it to investors in Manhattan, they told me I was nuts. Using the Web to get an overview of Buenos Aires? The experience should feel no different than having a well-traveled friend guide you through his photo album. The push now should be toward recasting this stockpile into a relatable form. Raw computing power has grown exponentially for decades, and thanks to a previous generation of inventors and entrepreneurs, we already have the architecture to house and sort mounds of data-which is why we have the happy problem of an information surplus. In the evolution of the Web, it's the logical next step. It needs story, a quintessentially human way to experience information. I realized that what the Web needs isn't another search engine. Amid this frustrating experience, however, I also had a moment I'll never forget. It took so long to assemble key facts about the city, I almost missed my flight. There were lists of links spammy, dense blocks of text and a hodgepodge of videos and advertising. Naturally, I searched the Web for information on the city, but what I found didn't feel natural at all. We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose.About 18 months ago, I took a trip to Buenos Aires. We will use this information to make the website and the advertising displayed on it more relevant to your interests. Targeting/Profiling Cookies: These cookies record your visit to our website and/or your use of the services, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. Loss of the information in these cookies may make our services less functional, but would not prevent the website from working. This enables us to personalize our content for you, greet you by name and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region). Functionality Cookies: These cookies are used to recognize you when you return to our website. This helps us to improve the way the website works, for example, by ensuring that users are easily finding what they are looking for. ![]() Analytics/Performance Cookies: These cookies allow us to carry out web analytics or other forms of audience measuring such as recognizing and counting the number of visitors and seeing how visitors move around our website. They either serve the sole purpose of carrying out network transmissions or are strictly necessary to provide an online service explicitly requested by you. The cookies we use can be categorized as follows: Strictly Necessary Cookies: These are cookies that are required for the operation of or specific functionality offered.
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