Enhanced fantasy sports apps might be developed with SkyPhrase technology
Yahoo has acquired SkyPhrase, a natural language processing startup, in a move that could improve Yahoo's ability to make sense of user queries and commands across any number of Yahoo products.
Terms of the deal, which was announced Monday, were not disclosed. SkyPhrase's team has joined Yahoo's Labs business unit in New York City, a Yahoo spokeswoman said.
Yahoo Labs is a science and research division of Yahoo focused on next-generation products and services. The division is active in a number of areas -- human computer interaction, mobile and personalization are just a few -- and it's unclear into which areas specifically SkyPhrase's technology might be integrated.
What's clear is that Yahoo wants to make its services smarter at understanding natural language. By joining Yahoo Labs, both companies can "continue to work on our shared vision of making computers deeply understand people's natural language and intentions," SkyPhrase said in its announcement of the acquisition. SkyPhrase could not be immediately reached to comment further.
A cached version of the startup's website offers a clue: sports. In addition to Web analytics, SkyPhrase's business at one point included technology for National Football League statistics. The technology could be integrated into Yahoo's Sports services, which include stats, real-time scores and breaking news, and also Yahoo's Fantasy sports apps.
There are some obvious areas of Yahoo's Fantasy sports apps that could benefit from SkyPhrase's technology. The company's Fantasy Sports Football app, for instance, lets users pick players, chat with others and check message boards. Providing a suite of mobile products focused on personal experiences is a stated goal for Yahoo, so it would make sense for the company to try to improve its services there.
Natural language processing is also a hot area of search critical to the success of Yahoo's biggest competitors like Facebook and Google. Facebook is working on its own natural language search engine with Graph Search, which was announced earlier this year. And Google is constantly working to improve its search algorithms to better understand more complex queries. Its latest search ranking system, "Hummingbird," was designed for precisely that.
Zach Miners covers social networking, search and general technology news for IDG News Service. Follow Zach on Twitter at @zachminers. Zach's e-mail address is zach_miners@idg.com
In 1976 Apple launched. The business would go on to change the game, setting the bar for customer experience (CX). Seamless customer experience and intuitive designs gave customers exactly what they wanted, making other service experiences pale in comparison.
Many business and marketing managers progressing to leadership positions face evolving their focus from operational matters to strategic decision making and planning.
We have expected artificial intelligence (AI) will become part of our everyday lives for quite some time.
In this bonus last episode of this new podcast series, BrandHook MD, Pip Stocks, talks with former ANZ group general manager of marketing, Louise Eyres, talks about the importance of thinking like a customer and using intuition to solve customer painpoints.
Just printed out this Brad Howarth screed to read tomorrow. I need a good laugh once in a while. Or maybe shed some manly-man tears at th...
Larry A Singleton
What a diversity agenda has done for Kellogg's staff and innovation engagement
Morons. PC Nazis infiltrating and subverting every level in our lives.These scum have destroyed our education system.Read FrontPage Magaz...
Larry A Singleton
What a diversity agenda has done for Kellogg's staff and innovation engagement
It is an accepted fact that in the present times the mass makes use of digital marketing more often and are more and more enlightened wit...
Digital Marketing Course in Ja
Why RMIT is partnering with Adobe for digital marketing learning
If men were really the dominating brutes that feminist make them out to be ,then women really would be second class citizens. Without th...
aaron
Analysis: Gillette's latest ad only proves why brands standing for positive change is vital
In 2019 Augmented Reality plays a vital role in marketing campaign its new way to engaged user with digital content. Try Augmented Realit...
hill william
Predictions: 9 digital marketing trends for 2019