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With SemantiFind, Internet Users Always Feel Lucky When They Hit the Search Button

Posted on: Monday, 8 September 2008, 15:00 CDT

SAN DIEGO, Sept. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Semanti, a Web services provider offering "find" technology to enhance the results of search engines, today announced its flagship product, SemantiFind, at the DEMOfall 08 conference in San Diego, California. SemantiFind is a Web service that enhances the search engine experience by letting users indicate the precise meaning of their search queries.

The service works within preferred search engines, and offers a drop-down list of specific terms and definitions that help people select what they mean, such as "Visa" the travel document instead of "Visa" the credit card. By understanding a user's meaning, SemantiFind returns more meaningful and relevant information and saves people the hassle of sifting through unwanted pages or reformulating their query to find results that might be buried.

Currently, searching the Web requires people to guess what words and phrases the search engine requires to find the most accurate and complete information. Search engines cannot understand the meaning of a Web page; It can only match search terms to words on a page. If the user wants to find information about the "mileage" of a specific model of car, they may get pages about fuel economy or they may get pages about cars with a certain amount of miles on them. The user has to guess how the search engine retrieves information rather than using the words and phrases the person prefers. SemantiFind understands there are different ways to say the same thing, so consumers don't have to guess which words will yield the most meaningful results.

"While search engines have become ubiquitous for Internet users, people often spend more time than they realize sifting through thousands of Web sites to find the ones that are most relevant to their needs," said Bruce Johnson, CEO of Semanti Corporation. "SemantiFind lets people refine their search at the very beginning, while they're still typing in the search bar, so they get what they want, not just what they said."

As users begin typing into the search bar, they can pre-define exactly what information they want to retrieve through SemantiFind's drop-down list containing millions of terms along with their definitions. Once users find pages they like, they can indicate quality results with a simple click of the "Symantify" button. "Semantified" pages are included as part of the user's future searches, making it easy to find valuable information again. Each Semantified page also becomes available to the SemantiFind community, enriching everyone's search experience. SemantiFind prioritizes pages that were "Semantified" by a user's invited friends above those of the rest of the community because they are likely to be more relevant. This approach uses the "wisdom of the crowds" to sort out the good pages from the bad.

Another issue facing users of current search technology is the sheer volume of results they get, many not even matching what the user intended. SemantiFind helps users sort through search engine results by graying out the pages that don't match the user's chosen meaning. For example, when a user searches for "Apple" the fruit, SemantiFind will gray out results about Apple computers or Apple the record company. SemantiFind can identify these mismatched pages because other users have assigned meaning to the page's content with the Semantify button. All of the results a search engine would normally return are still available, but the relevant results are easier to identify.

SemantiFind allows users to continue to use their preferred search engine as usual. Previous attempts at solutions to improve search have required users to switch to a new service. SemantiFind simply adds a service layer that provides the intelligence to define search terms, and calls out the SemantiFind results separately from their regular search engine results. However, users can still see the normal results their search engine would return in addition to the SemantiFind results to give them ongoing choice and ease with how they currently search.

SemantiFind launched its product at the highly-respected DEMOfall 08 Conference in San Diego, California this week. DEMO is the premier launch venue for new products, technologies and companies. The show's executive producer, Chris Shipley, screens hundreds of entries to uncover the most promising new technologies to introduce at the conference.

"We search world-wide to find trend-setting technologies," said Shipley. "SemantiFind's search enhancement technology promises to truly improve the way users search and find the ever-increasing information available on the Web. SemantiFind's service approaches the next generation of technologies, and provides a useful enrichment to the Internet experience that is easy for consumers to incorporate into their current search routine."

SemantiFind is available now for download at http://www.semantifind.com/. It is a free service to consumers. The product is currently available for use with Google, but expects to have additional search engine support available within the next 30 days.

About Semanti Corporation

Semanti Corporation develops solutions that help consumers find and retrieve personally relevant information on the Web. Its initial product is SemantiFind, a web service that enhances the search engine experience by delivering more relevant and meaningful search results. The company is headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. For more information, visit http://www.semantifind.com/.

About DEMOfall

Produced by Network World Events and Executive Forums, the semi-annual DEMO conferences focus on emerging technologies and new products, which are hand-selected from across the spectrum of the technology marketplace. The DEMO conferences have earned their reputation for consistently identifying tomorrow's cutting-edge technologies, and have served as launch pad events for companies such as Palm, E*Trade, Handspring, and U.S. Robotics, helping them to secure venture funding, establish critical business relationships, and influence early adopters. Each DEMO conference features approximately 70 new companies, products and technologies. For more information, visit http://www.demo.com/.

Semanti

CONTACT: Media, Jane Gideon of Incendio International, +1-415-682-9292,jane@incendiopr.com, for Semanti Corporation

Web site: http://www.semantifind.com/http://www.demo.com/

Source: PRNewswire

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