While in Silicon Valley recently, I had a chance to meet up with Tony Conrad, who is a venture capitalist. We talked about one of his ventures, Sphere, which got its start in 2005.

Well, now the company is a part of Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX)'s AOL (the price tag of the acquisition was not disclosed).

At the core of Sphere is compelling technology -- that is, an advanced search system. However, the issue was: what to do with it?

Continue reading Sphere: shapes a deal with AOL

Sphere: shapes a deal with AOL originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Sphere, a new search engine with $3.75 million in VC funding from Hearst Publishing, Trident Capital and About.com founder Scott Kurnit, launched this week. GigaOm reviewed the site last fall, giving it a thumbs-up. Zdnet also gives it a good review, noting that is "generally speedy" and the interface is "clean and easy to navigate." Here are some other reviews:

TechCrunch:  "As great as the basic search platform is, what I like best about Sphere is in the Tools area. Install the "Sphere It" bookmarklet and click it whenever you are reading something that you'd like more information on. Sphere will analyze the page in real time and present blog search results that are relevant to that topic. It's important to note that this is not a search to find blogs linking into that page you are viewing; rather you are finding fresh blog content that is related to the subject matter of what you are reading. I've tested this and find it extremely useful."

Continue reading Reviews of new search engine, 'Sphere'

Reviews of new search engine, 'Sphere' originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 03 May 2006 13:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.