New Job - OthersOnline.com

I just started a new job at OthersOnline.com. It's a new startup with a social networking spin. We let users declare themselves, their pages and interests, then be syndicated around the web via the OO Widget (see it to the right). We also have a browser toolbar that allows users to see other people relevant to the user's own interests and the content of the current webpage. I think my official title is the "Search Guy" or "AI Guy" or something. The potential of these two basic ideas is huge, and I'm wading in chest deep to put some great AI ideas into the systems. More posts coming soon on these topics.

I spent the last (nearly) eight years working at RightNow Technologies (a CRM SAAS company - once upon a time it was a small startup as well) in the AI Research Labs. At RNT I was in charge of implementing various search engines, data mining & nlp algorithms, swarm techniques, user interfaces, analytics, and whatever AI I could throw at the basic problem of enabling endusers to find information on approx 2000+ customer service portals around the web (here is Leapfrog's Portal). I spent most of the last six months becoming the project manager of the group, responsible for multiple projects, coordinating with product management, initiating new feature ideas, etc. It's a fantastic group to work for, and has an application for about any advanced CS topic there is. A more complete synopsis is on my resume.

(At some point in 2008 I will hopefully finish a PhD in CS at Montana State - topic is Theory of Genetic Algorithms)