iHarvest Launches Ad-Backed Web Effectiveness Tool

iHarvest Corp. launched iHarvest One, a free ad-backed browsing companion that helps users with the Web information management process.

The product also offers a value-added e-commerce service that automatically identifies and delivers relevant content and promotional offers from sponsors. The tool is available via a free download. Flycast Communications is the first provider of targeted advertisements.

iHarvest One enables users to create, manage, enhance and share content-rich collections of Web information, called WebBases. The product offers extensive organizational capabilities, a search-enhancing agent called WebSearch+, and a companion service called iHarvest One-to-Web that connects consumers with relevant offers at the point-of-interest.

“Millions of users search the Web each day to find pertinent information for their work or personal lives, yet they don’t have a good way of keeping, organizing, and sharing that information for further use,” said Rich Buchheim, president and CEO of iHarvest. “If you ask people, ‘Have you found useful information on the Web?’ they say yes, but they have trouble when you ask them, ‘Where is it now?’ iHarvest delivers a solution to this problem. . .”

iHarvest One is integrated into the browser for easy drag-and-drop placement of relevant Web content into adjacent WebBase folders. Upon capture, iHarvest One analyzes the content and automatically suggests a name and keywords to help users categorize and retrieve information.

iHarvest users view and experience offers and links via an unobtrusive panel at the bottom of the browser. iHarvest is able to match user profiles to relevant online merchandise, services, and content, the company said.

iHarvest One is integrated with Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher for Windows 95/98 and Windows NT. A Netscape Navigator version is due in the fall.