MORRO BAY, CA, October 12, 2008
/24-7PressRelease/ -- This week gCaptain announced a new tool called Discoverer. Taking a que from the popular sites AllTop and PopUrls the new feature aggregates news headlines in real time. As maritime related stories break across the web Discoverer's spider plucks the headlines and displays them seconds after they are posted. "We have been using the tool in-house since gCapatain was launched in 2006 and it's a primary reason why so many industry insiders have come to rely on the blog for breaking news. Last week we simply decided to make the full set of tools public".
From modern day piracy and rogue waves to eccentric owners and billion dollar deals the shipping industry is never short of interesting news but no one has ever accused the industry of integrating new technology quickly. That's about to change.
For the past two years the gCaptain.com blog has utilized the tools of Web 2.0 to find the most current and interesting articles about ships. The site's founder Captain John Konrad said "The growth in traffic at gCaptain has exceeded our expectations. The maritime industry is filled with interesting articles and wildly impressive media but until recently it took a company with deep pockets like the Discovery Network to bring stories from the vast oceans to the average reader."
While gCaptain's articles are certainly impressive to the average viewer it's industry insiders which sing the most praise. "Ship captains and managers are slow to adopt new technology. No one wants to be the first to pilot a 1,000,000 barrel supertanker down a narrow channel with navigation equipment that has yet to be fully tested. This culture of caution filters down to every employee both aboard ship and ashore." said Captain Joe Marks, a regular gCaptain reader. "Visiting gCaptain is the first time many of us have seen the tools of Web 2.0 but we're impressed".
This week gCaptain announced a new tool called Discoverer. Taking a que from the popular sites AllTop and PopUrls the new feature aggregates news headlines in real time. As maritime related stories break across the web Discoverer's spider plucks the headlines and displays them seconds after they are posted. "We have been using the tool in-house since gCapatain was launched in 2006 and it's a primary reason why so many industry insiders have come to rely on the blog for breaking news. Last week we simply decided to make the full set of tools public".
The ability to aggregate news headlines from across the web is certainly impressive but it's not alone in gCaptain's arsenal of information weapons. Accessible from the sites "Tools" section are a host of other resources including weather dashboards, dynamic industry conference calendars and Captain Konrad's favorite a Custom Search Engine.
"We smiled last month when the largest maritime published Informa launched Maritime Answers with the tag line 'Shipping's only dedicated Search Engine'" said Mike Schuler knowing that gCaptain's Custom Search Engine has been available for over one year. Is he worried about the rise in competition? "No The real advantage is that we use Google's algorithm, you get a more diverse and useful set of results than Informa can provide."
With the United States Coast Guard recently announcing support of Web 2.0 and companies like KVH Industries offering broadband internet access at sea, the team at gCaptain expects to see shipping companies start to invest heavily in the space. Captain Konrad says "Our biggest obstacle right now is balancing the needs of gCaptain's readers with those of the company's clients. Luckily the tools we develop for gCaptain can be easily ported to a client's website and vis versa."
You can find out more about gCaptain and test drive the new Discoverer and their other Web2.0 tools by visiting gCaptain.com and their client portfolio at UnofficialNetworks.com.
# # #
- 2.0, coast, development, experts, guard, industry, maritime, news, shipping, ships, technology, web, worldwide
Other Press Release Headlines:
