Games Gadgets n Technology

Watch out Pranoy Roy, Rajdeep Sardesai and Barkha Dutt. New technology from researchers at US-based Northwestern University provides individual users with an automated, personalised newscast that is completely virtual – including a virtual anchor.
Invented by Kristian Hammond, co-director of Northwestern’s Intelligent Information Laboratory (InfoLab), and graduate students Nathan Nichols and Sara Owsley, ‘News at Seven’ collects, edits and organises existing news stories based on a user’s interests, then passes the formatted content to the virtual anchor that’s based on video game characters.
Using Web resources like Google and YouTube, the system utilises the text of news stories to retrieve video, images and blogs related to the content.
“It’s a completely personalised and automated news report using Web resources,” explains Hammond. “The system can create a news package based on someone’s interest; then deliver it on demand. It is the first step in creating a world in which information is automatically gathered, edited and delivered to people based on their interests and needs.”
Once it has assembled the materials, the system edits the news stories, replacing abbreviations and other phrasings that are appropriate for written text but not meant to be spoken.
News at Seven virtual anchors then present a performance that combines techniques of modern news programming with features made possible by the fact that the system is completely virtual.
With further research and development, the creators of News at Seven hope to offer a commercially viable replacement to the typical televised news show, offering instead a show tailored to a user’s specific interests. A brand new news package could be delivered daily or even every half hour. To view a News at Seven newscast, visit: www.youtube.com/profile?user=NewsAtSeven