BotSpot^® Bi-Weekly Newsletter

December 20, 2000

Bots, Spiders, and Now... Ants?

By Brian Proffitt
Managing Editor, BotSpot

I am getting excited lately, as the last days of the 20th Century draw to a close. I am waiting anxiously for the robots of the future to come and clean my office for me. My friends tell me that I'm going to have a long wait, but I know better. In the 21st Century, we're going to have robots to do all our menial tasks for us, and flying cars, too.

Just you wait.

Meanwhile, in the real world, BotSpot gets innundated with shopping bots that are making their presence known on the Web, a lot of new and innovative work is being done in the area search bots. Something crossed my desk the other day that I wanted to share because (a) I'm a sharing kind of guy and (b) it's my job.

The site is called QuickAnts, and it is one of the slicker search models I have seen in a while.

Unlike search agents and spiders that go out and get a static collection of data that may be a few days old, the QuickAnt seach engine uses smaller, real-time bots that they call ants.

Each ant is assigned to a specific informational or commerce Web site, and any query typed into the Google-like search interface is first analyzed to see which ant the query is assigned to. This analysis includes a meta search engine, a keywords dictionary, and what QuickAnts calls some "topic-specific coding."

Once the topics are deduced, the appropriate ants are given their marching orders. Each ant transforms the query into a query specific to its data source. An ant going to Amazon.com, would fire off the appropriate search there, for instance.

Finally, the results of those ants are ranked and truncated and the resulting page is displayed. Not just a generated page of ranked listing either, but the actual pages, displayed in the lower frame of the QuickAnts Web page.

A search for "Indianapolis Art," for example, yielded the search results page from the World Wide Arts Resources Corporation, which in turn displayed a pretty decent listing of the available arts in the Circle City.

The speed of this search engine varies, because it has to rely on the kindness of the search functions the ants are talking to. In almost every search, though the target site seemed to be the source of any slowdown experienced.

Some fine-tuning may be in order, however. I ran two people searches, one for a person I know has a well-trafficked site on the Web, and up came the Internet Movie Database and some really odd hits. My associate is neither an actress or named "James Cagney," so there were some problems here.

The second search was for me, and there the search engine went straight to Amazon, which was good, but my name produced Amazon's music search page with "no matching results." Too bad it missed the 13 books I have written.

Despite these glitches, QuickAnts is useful for those searches that didn't involve looking for a person. Currently its using 168 information sites and is looking for suggestions and comments for additional sites.

Will ants be the wave of the future? Perhaps so! They certainly have a better chance than a flying car.

BOT2001 Coming Soon!

The end of the year is fast approaching, at least for those of us using the Gregorian calendar. What new things will the next century bring us? To get a good idea, plan to attend BOT2001 at the Fairmount Hotel in San Francisco on January 25, 2001!

BotSpot, along with BotTechnology.com, is pleased to be hosting BOT2001, a one-day seminar crammed with information on bots. Presented by BotSpot Creator and Founder Marcus P. Zillman, BOT2001 will be the event of the year for bot developers and implementors, new or experienced.

At BOT2001, SearchBots, ChatterBots and KnowledgeBots will be discussed in specific defined presentations from the leaders in the field. Case studies and implementation strategies will take you deeply into the bot arena to take back specific recommendations for both marketing and research.

Conference proceedings will cover all aspects of bots and intelligent agents allowing the most inexperienced observer to the seasoned professional to have a better understanding of this field. Experts will diffuse the latest hype and give you specific information on how to implement bots and intelligent agents into your marketing or research plans.

For more information, visit the conference site, where you'll find a full agenda, travel and lodging information, and a list of conference participants.

We look forward to seeing you there! If anything, you can watch this Midwestern boy struggle to deal with all those hills in the city!

News Highlights

Metahoo!
It's simple, it's clean, and most of all, it's fast! A new search bot has rode into town--but can it replace the likes of Google and Yahoo?

Glot-Bot Learns Language One Letter at a Time
According to its creator, Glot-Bot is "the application of genetic algorithms towards the creation of a functional english vocabulary." It is certainly a good step towards the ability for AI communication.

Copernic Puts Your Desktop At Center of Universe
Copernic Technologies, Inc., makers of the Copernic search engine, are beta testing a desktop shopping bot that integrates with Internet Explorer and launches detailed searches for prices and product reviews.

Gain Innerpeace
Eliza was designed to let people reflect on their actions and maybe figure out a little bit more about themselves. Innerpeace goes way beyond anything Eliza ever tried and genuinely tries to get at the heart of any thing that seems to adversely affect your life.

LeknorChat Prattles on IM
Ever get tired of talking to people on the chat circuits? Here's a chat bot that will handle your communications on AOL's IM client. On the Internet, no one knows you're a bot.

Bots Snarl Sites Looking for PS2
PlayStation 2 is the hottest thing on the toy market today. In these modern times, instead of parents fighting in the toy store aisles, now we have bots to do that same thing!