We’re adding a new configuration (dictionary) to our service offering: the 2009 ODP L1 (Configuration ID = odp_2009_l1_1.6k). This new configuration utilizes an up-to-date ODP dataset. 

Note the following information about our existing configurations:

1. The 2007 ODP L1 (odp_2007_l1_1.7k) will remain available in the service. While we think you will like the 2009 ODP configuration and we encourage you to give it a try, you can certainly continue using the 2007 ODP L1.
2. The ODP 20K configuration (Configuration ID = odp_2006_l2_20k) will be removed from the service effective immediately. We’ve listened to your feedback and are confident the new 2009 ODP configuration will meet your needs.
3. Semantic signatures are dependent on the configuration they were generated with. If you’re utilizing signatures you’ve stored, you’ll need to either continue with the same configuration, or regenerate the signatures with the new configuration and use the new signatures instead.
    

For additional information on the available configurations, see the Service Configuration page in the API Documentation. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us or notify us via the Forum. We will try our best to help you resolve any issues you may encounter.

TextWise will be presenting and exhibiting at the 2009 Semantic Technology Conference in San Diego, CA. from June 16th - 17th. The entire conference runs from June 14th - 18th.

TextWise will be joined by esteemed panelists from Hakia, Powerset (Microsoft Live Search) and RiverGlass.  The session is titled Semantic Search Beyond RDF.

Please join us with this special discount of either a FREE Exhibitor Pass or $300 off a full-access pass. Click here for details and the discount code.

Our ISP has alerted us of a scheduled maintenance period from 2 - 6am EST, Thursday 4/23. You may experience a brief outage or two during this time. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. If you have any questions or problems, please contact support@semantichacker.com.

On December 31, 2008, TextWise released an exciting update to their core API services. As we communicated at that time, our original API service was scheduled to be decommissioned.  As of May 27, 2009, calls to the original API service will fail unless changes to your application code and API URL are made.

WHAT’S NEW WITH THE API?

New API calls for:

• Matching signatures to content indexes (Wikipedia, our News and Blog collection, Amazon products, YouTube videos and Photos)
• Concept tags derived from Semantic Signatures
• Text categorization

Usage reporting - see exactly how much you have used per the API license agreement

HOW THIS UPGRADE IMPACTS YOU:

To prepare you for this migration, we have put together a Migration Guide (http://www.semantichacker.com/support/migration-guide) that will take you through the minimal requirements needed to keep your application running. The new API is already available, so you can modify and test your application or even enhance it using the exciting new API calls available to you now.

Again, the current API will be permanently decommissioned on May 27, 2009.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this process, please contact us or on the Forum. We will try our best to help you resolve any issues you may encounter within 24 hours.

TextWise is excited to announce that we’re making significant improvements to the SemanticHacker API by adding more powerful features for developers. Some of the improvements coming soon include:

Improved Scalability and Redundancy

The update will include a large jump in scalability and redundancy and accept larger volumes of transactions.

Improved Functionality

The update will include a significant increase in available capabilities including:

1.      An API for Tagging

The tagging API will allow users to systematically tag content with top dimensions created from Semantic Signatures^®. There are two types of tags:

Concepts: The top n single word or phrase tags for a given piece of input text or Web page.

Categories: The categorization of the input text or Web page based on the ODP categorization scheme.

2.      An API for Content Matching

The matching API will allow users to match against our indexes of current News, Blogs, Videos, and Photos, as well as Wikipedia entries.

3.      Improvements to the Signatures API

The signatures API will be extended to support various text extraction options and multiple semantic dictionary choices.

4.      Improved Reporting

The reporting will include graphical representations of usage patterns.

A Downloadable Content Widget

Developers (and bloggers or publishers) can install a widget on any web or blog page and see relevant results across a number of sources including blog, news and Wikipedia articles and YouTube videos.

New Demo

We’re also launching a more robust live demonstration of our API technology. We’ll replace the current Wikipedia demo with this demo on the homepage of SemanticHacker.com.

Requirements

The update will require developers using the current API to change URL to call the API and adjust their code. We will support the old API for a limited time - the exact cutover date will be announced in December so you can plan accordingly.

More details and release dates coming soon!

After another aggressive round of review by both internal and external judges and consultation with finalists, it’s been determined that none of the entries could move forward without comprehensive reworking of the strategy in order to realize any significant commercial potential.

As a result, we have decided to officially close the SemanticHacker Innovators’ Challenge. While we were gratified and impressed by the effort that went into the entries, we have concluded that we will not fund the remaining finalists.

The Challenge Team at TextWise would once again like to thank all the participants for their time and effort.

After the close of the SemanticHacker Innovators’ Challenge, we began a rigorous vetting process with 17 entries.  A combination of internal teams and a group of 10 external, independent judges were organized to review and score the entries. Through this process, we have eliminated a group of entries from consideration.

A small remaining group of entries were deemed to require “further review.” In light of this, we have found it necessary to extend the deadline to reach a decision.  We anticipate that this final process will be completed no later than the first Friday in October. During that time we will contact the remaining entrants for more details on the submission to determine if any of the last round entries might qualify for the reward as submitted. All entrants will be contacted by the end of the day today notifying them of their submission status.

The Challenge Team

If you’re attending KMWorld & Intranets in San Jose this month, please stop by our booth to hear about what we’ve got going on.

We’re located at booth #320 and we look forward to meeting you!

Please bear with us as we update SemanticHacker.com for the transition out of SemanticHacker Innovators’ Challenge mode. The API is still fully functioning and will continue to be available. Thank you for your patience!

The SemanticHacker Innovators’ Challenge concluded last night. Thank you to those of you who have entered and good luck! We are eager to start digging into the entries.

A reminder that per the terms of the Official Rules:

Notification of a selection will be made on an individual basis to the Entrant, solely by email to the Entrant’s email address Entrant submitted to Sponsor on the entry form, within 12 weeks after the close of the Challenge, which is Wednesday, September 10, 2008.