Restaurant reviews... Corporate addresses... Names. Phone numbers... Product descriptions...

The web is overflowing with descriptive information. The web is also rich with new applications that aspire to use this data. Right now most content is not linked with the applications. Entity extraction is the glue which will connect document authors with application functionality. Imagine a “smart menu”, which when you highlight a restaurant address on a web page, automatically provides a popup map. Or when you highlight a book title, it automatically offers a review or to deliver it to you for the lowest available price. Imagine “smart cut and paste” which allows you to push any address directly into your contact manager. Imagine a button which appears at the top of an email from UPS which allows you to track that package.

This week, the latest version of the Windows Live Toolbar will include a new entity extraction engine. The first uses will focus on addresses maps, and later uses will include shopping and finance.

Related Links:
Paul Viola, Principal Scientist
Mukund Narasimhan, Scientist
Smart Menus: introduced and explained with videos