Vivisimo has found another messy corner of the Web to organize: the product listings on eBay.NEW YORK (AP)—Vivisimo Inc., developer of a well-regarded
Internet search technology that clusters results into categories in
seconds, has found another messy corner of the Web to organize: the
product listings on eBay.
EBays search engine mines the descriptions and categories that
sellers attach to their wares. Vivisimo believes its search
algorithm, which analyzes text in product descriptions and
generates its own categories, produces more intuitive results.
For example, a query for "digital camera" on eBay yields a
wide range of items, plus links to confine the search to the
electronics, sports or consumer electronics category or a few
subfields. The same search on Vivisimo clusters cameras by brand or
functions.
Neither method is perfect. A Vivisimo search for digital cameras
on eBay included a small "Star Wars" category. It turned out that
someone selling action figures had written that the pictures of the
toys were blurry because "I have a bad digital camera."
Still, Vivisimo offers a few other tricks in the eBay search
function that it launched this week on Vivisimo.com. They include
the ability for "advanced searches" that can distill products by
several factors, such as price range, sellers location and
currency accepted.
Pittsburgh-based Vivisimo has no official relationship with eBay
Inc., and works through eBays "application program interface,"
which lets outsiders create programs that connect to eBay listings.
Read also "eBay to Expand Developers Access With Beefier Web Services".
Web Services, Web 2.0 & SOA 
