From the ArcaMax Publishing, Science & Technology Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/technology/s-463621-417277
TOKYO (UPI) -- Japanese scientists have created a technology that
allows shoppers to record a product's barcode and receive instant
buying advice based on Internet reviews.
Researchers at Toshiba's Corporate Research and Development Center, in
Japan said shoppers often have only a sales representative's word for
whether a particular brand or model has a good reputation. But now
Takahiron Kawamura and colleagues have developed the WOM, or
Word-of-Mouth, Scouter to allow shoppers to get the latest reviews for
a product while they are shopping.
The process involves taking a photo of the item's barcode with a cell
phone camera. The Scouter then gathers the item's meta data via the
internet, including information from blogs and Web sites that reviewed
the product.
The researchers said their device uses natural language processing
techniques to analyze what blogs and reviews are saying about the
product. The Scouter then provides a straightforward positive or
negative opinion on the product's reputation.
The scientists say the device could also be adapted for such purposes
as choosing a movie, a restaurant or, potentially, whether to accept a
specific job offer.
The system is reported in the International Journal of Metadata,
Semantics and Ontologies.