Yahoo introduced on Monday a new app for iPhones and iPod Touch devices based on Summly - the startup the company bought last month for $30 million - which features quick story summaries delivered by Summly's natural-language algorithms and machine learning.
CEO Marissa Mayer announced an update to the app in a blog post, saying, "The new Yahoo! mobile app is also smarter, using Summly's natural-language algorithms and machine learning to deliver quick story summaries. We acquired Summly less than a month ago, and we're thrilled to introduce this game-changing technology in our first mobile application."
Yahoo made a splash when it acquired Summly British teen, Nick D'Aloisio , just a month ago. D'Aloisio, created the app when he was just 15 and as part of the acquisition, D'Aloisio and the rest of the Summly team joined Yahoo to continue their work on the app.
The app is currently only available to users in the United States. The new app includes an update to search functionalities, like better video and image search.
Users can personalize their news by selecting the types of stories that interest them: business, science, entertainment, sports, etc. Each article showcases more topics that may be of interest, and allows the user to hide those that aren't.
This is the latest in a string of updates to Yahoo's mobile products. The company released a standalone weather app as well as an update to its mail app last week.
