Chicago - 3:22 am on Apr 24, 2003 (gmt 0)

Nice post, too, Danny.

"Applied Semantics' products are based on its patented CIRCA technology, which understands, organizes, and extracts knowledge from websites and information repositories in a way that mimics human thought and enables more effective information retrieval. A key application of the CIRCA technology is Applied Semantics' AdSense product that enables web publishers to understand the key themes on web pages to deliver highly relevant and targeted advertisements."

Danny, slice it or dice it as you may. This is about serving better ads. Regardless, of the manner in which it is ultimately achieved. Of which, I expect some surpises and ingenuity from Google. Additionally, Google might not of admited weakness in the arena of contextual advetising, but what makes you think they had to. You ever buy a kewyord phrase on ADwords without a bracket [] only to find you ads showing up in a manner (for search phrases) you never imagined. Do you think BLOGs was the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow or the tip of the iceberg? Morevover, Google itself suggested that this move was people (human resource intentiligence) oriented. They are looking for a jumpstart to their application development needs in the space wherein they inherited, not earned, the designate as the "largest performance-based search advertising program" in the world.