A new homegrown Internet portal was launched yesterday, hoping to grab a slice in the crowded multibillion-dollar search engine sector.
The new Chinese-language portal, Monkia, features a multicolored interface and a public-welfare service, in addition to the usual search-engine functions.
"Search engines are the fundamental technology in the information age," Sun Wu (吳昇), founder of Monkia Info (新典資訊), said during a press conference yesterday. "There is always room for improvement in this regard."
Wu said that Monkia will add more colors and pictures to attract Internet users, adding that the portal uses the Best Approximate Matching technology, which allows users to input homophones and still get the correct results.
Wu, an information engineering professor at National Chung Chen University, established the Global Area Information Servers (GAIS) in 1994. GAIS, a research-oriented system under the university, was an early success and was later used by Openfind Information Technology (網擎資訊軟體), another local portal.
When asked how Monkia can compete on limited resources, Wu said, "I will keep advancing its technology to bring the most precise results and user-friendly features, hopefully to win users' recognition and make money to contribute to society."
He said Monkia will provide free advertising for groups helping the disadvantaged.
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