Slipr

Just got an invite to the private beta of Persai.

First impression:

My dream of a customizable, private Google News (analogous to their customizable search engine program) has come one step closer to reality.

And while what I really want is the ability to spawn a Google News homepage / engine that is only fed with feeds that I care about (but accomplishes the same kind of natural language processing magic that Google News does to group redundant stories under single headlines), this will do for the time being.

Screenshot: (click for full version)

All I have to say is, while Persai works backwards from the way I’d hoped (I give it keywords and it scours the web for things relevant to them) I’m pleased with its output — and this is the only measure of a news filter that really matters.

I can’t wait for this thing to bust out — customized news filters that go beyond basic things like PageFlakes and Google Homepage are sorely needed in these days of information overload.