Web search holds the key to the future. So say the Time Monks, as the group that runs the Web Bot project styles itself. This uses web crawler software to find 300,000 keywords in blogs, forums and chat rooms, then applies a filtering algorithm to the text around each keyword, combining the results to predict future events. So far the results of this "wisdom of crowds" approach have been mixed. Yet in May Google saw fit to invest in Recorded Future, a Boston-based start-up that specialises in novel ways to relate the past, present and future. Its software collates web-based information about people, places and events, as well as the tone of news reports and posts from tweets, blogs and social media sites. Specialised algorithms then label the information, look for connections and attempt to plot the "online momentum" for each event. According to Recorded Future, this can help predict events such as stock market trends, the launch of new Pharmaceuticals, even terrorist attacks. Yahoo's research lab in Barcelona, Spain, has developed a similar system called Time Explorer.
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