The KATO Agency

KATO on the Media

2010-05-22T21:30:00.000-07:00

In this segment, KATO turns its robotic eye towards online media.

What Makes an Internet Meme Go Viral?

On The Media is an NPR franchise covering stories that focus on the media itself.

Pandora Radio, Mobile and Beyond

Joe Kennedy, CEO of Pandora, speaks on Pandora's future mobile implementations Pandora, a personalized Internet radio service, is one of the most popular free iPhone apps, with 5 million downloads since launching an iPhone app in September 2008. After launching a Blackberry app last month, Pandora has 1 million activations.

S.773 - Cybersecurity Act of 2009

A bill to ensure the continued free flow of commerce within the United States and with its global trading partners through secure cyber communications, to provide for the continued development and exploitation of the Internet and intranet communications for such purposes, to provide for the development of a cadre of information technology specialists to improve and maintain effective cybersecurity defenses against disruption, and for other purposes.

KATO on Enterprise Collaboration

2010-04-26T11:47:00.001-07:00

We've been using KATO to follow trends in Enterprise Collaboration. Here are some of what KATO has found for us recently.

The Myth of Enterprise Social Networking

If your needs are primarily focused on security and IPL, then don't go social.

Top 4 Considerations when Selecting the Right Collaboration Platform

Overcoming confusion between enterprise collaboration and project management.

To Tweet or Not To Tweet

Grass roots blogger shares her likes and dislikes on all things twitter in this simple introductory blog post.

Collaborative Consumption

How collective intelligence is redefining the P2P consumer space.

3 Simple Trust Building Techniques for a Profitable Business Web Site

Surface the FAQ, start with what is known then move to what is new, argue against self interest.

Email Your Requests to KATO

2010-03-07T09:21:00.000-08:00

We're starting to gear up the testing of the new KATO engine. This is the actual working part of KATO which is still very much in an early stage of development but would appreciate your giving it a spin and providing feedback.

KATO is not a search engine. It may perform web search functionality for you but there has to be three criteria in your web search requests to KATO in order for KATO to add more value than Google.

Your search is ongoing and open ended. You want to keep up to date with the latest and not just finish once you have found the answer.

Your search is towards a specific purpose other than general curiosity. Finding good results helps you towards a goal that you must communicate to KATO. KATO needs to adjust where and how it searches based on your intended goal or purpose.

Your search is domain specific. KATO does not and cannot search the entire Internet the way Google does. KATO can search dark spaces based on the users login information (if the user can trust KATO with that information). KATO can search web sites assessed by domain experts for the quality of their information. Those are two features that lie outside of Google's mandate.

Right now the engine has only an email interface so please email your request to the following address.

KATO will start looking for what you want and will email the results back to whatever account you emailed KATO from. Feel free to provide feedback about those results either as a comment here or as another email to KATO.

Usability Testing Continues

2010-02-13T22:38:00.000-08:00

We continue to iterate the prototype as we make adjustments based on your feedback. Here is what is new from last week's version.

Some of you wanted to go straight into a chat session with KATO after telling KATO what to do so you don't have to click on the chat button anymore in that specific scenario.

We heard you complain about the detail area on the right hand side being too busy so we added a dual display/edit mode for you.

When you bring up a response on the right hand side, it starts in a display mode which is less busy. Clicking the edit button switches the display to edit mode. This is a toggle button so you can click it again to return to display mode.

Demo Upgrade

2010-02-08T09:00:00.000-08:00

We have made enhancements to the prototype based on your suggestions.

New request functionality surfaced on welcome tab.

Text based form buttons replaced by icon button toolbar.

Search results get shown immediately after saving a request.

Can download to either Word, Excel, PDF, or HTML formats.

Better tab management introduced. No duplicate tabs allowed and you can close a tab by clicking on the red X icon.

An interactive chat facility with KATO has been introduced. KATO can interview you to help refine your search query.

You can now return to the originating request when viewing a result.

Better folder management surfaced. You can move a result to a different folder or create a new folder for it.

Remember that this is just a prototype so none of this functionality actually works. We're just faking it right now until we get the finalized requirements right.

KATO gets stronger only because cool folks like you tell us what works about it and what doesn't. Please continue to evaluate and provide feedback, either by emailing us at or by commenting on this post.

KATO Mockup Take 2

2010-01-31T16:25:00.000-08:00

We have reloaded a new mockup for KATO, this time with a more modern and stylish GUI. Here is what has changed from the previous one.

switched from Outlook style tabs to vertical tabs

switched from simple links to a multi-column grid

any result can now be a folder for more results

as you load more items into the right hand side, they just become tabs so you can revisit where you have already been more easily

As always, let us know what you think. Is this mockup better than the last, worse, or about the same?

KATO Mock Up

2010-01-18T12:04:00.000-08:00

Work on the KATO redesign effort continues. Thanks to everyone who gave feedback about the proposed new architecture. We are also conducting some preliminary usability trials.

To that purpose, we have published a new demo site. This one is non-operational. It doesn't save anything and it doesn't actually accomplish any KATO like activities. Think of this as just an electronic version of a paper mock-up.

We hope that you play around with it and let us know what you think. Pretend that this is the kind of GUI you would see after signing in to KATO in order to check on past requests, review results, or update settings. There will also be an email interface where you simply email your new requests to KATO and a search box interface where you type your request into that search box on your web browser and select KATO from the drop down list.

KATO Redesign

2009-12-20T13:25:00.000-08:00

We are seriously contemplating a complete rewrite of the open source project KATO and ask that you help us decide which way is the right way to go.

KATO is all about saving time online by delegating tasks to KATO. Let KATO do the repetitive and boring work to find what you are looking for then do what you want it to do once KATO finds what you are looking for.

So, why should we redesign KATO now? Currently, the architecture is very focused on the notion of a repository of software agents. Each agent does one thing. The end user must schedule then configure an agent before running the engine. This requires that the end user must choose an agent and set up its parameters and events. The end user may even have to enter duplicate search criteria in order to run multiple agents on the same query. That doesn't sound very easy to us.

The end user isn't the only one with a difficult task in KATO. Because the current architecture is software agent focused, the developers sometimes have to write duplicitous code. You have to create a new agent even if what you are looking for is already being handled by another agent but what you want to do with it once you find it is different.

Please help us in this redesign effort so that we can get it right this time. I want you to participate in the ongoing discussion on this proposed redesign of KATO. I also want you to take this online survey to help us understand just what you are looking for in KATO.

Help Shape the Future

2009-11-19T12:00:00.000-08:00

From social media to business intelligence, software agents are subtly playing an important role in the shaping of the next generation of the web. In only two months, KATO has gathered an impressive catalog of agents but this is only the beginning.

Imagine a world where any time consuming online task is delegated to your own personal KATO. Executives have their own personal assistant who delegate tasks to the most qualified person in the organization. With KATO, you will be able to state your wish and under-the-covers, KATO will find the right software agent or agents to make it so. Concerned about security? Order KATO to constantly check your accounts and profiles to guard against identity theft. Want the best deal on a purchase? Have KATO scour the web for the lowest price for what you want automatically. Need to keep up to date on recent trends of interest? Tell KATO to keep you informed about what is new without deluging you with what you already know. That is the future of KATO.

The first step on the road to this vision is to build out a large catalog of those software agents. Here is where you can help shape this vision of the web's future.

What online tasks would you like to see KATO able to complete?

What software agents would you like to see as a part of the KATO catalog?

Please contribute your ideas to KATO by joining the discussion either on the project web site or on the open source repository. Take part in exploring a web where you are in control. See you there.

KATO- EXPOSED!!

2009-11-11T18:33:00.000-08:00

Ahhh what a week this is becoming. Three tests: Biology, Math, and Business Law. Work five days out of the week. School four days out of the week. Oh yeah, and I am dedicated to saving Internet users time on the web. How you ask? Well that's where this thing known as KATO comes in at. However, before I get into the intricacies of what KATO is, and how it works, I want to know if I'm the only person in the world who is always stressed for time? Is there anyone else out there who have to be in two places at one time? Is there anyone out there with multiple commitments, and wish that there were some way that they could delegate some of their tasks to an assistant, while they handle other, more "important" things? Well if you are constantly consumed with responsibilities that require you to be offline, and your cell phone is not an adequate substitute for your computer, then you may want to consider KATO(Knowledge Agency Technology Offering) .
KATO is an open source project with the simple goal of making the web work for you. The concept behind the project is: to have a robotic web-based personal assistant, who understands our needs, and desires down to a tee. The idea is for KATO to be able to perform our online tasks for us, while we are away from our MACs, and PCs. KATO will be "you" online, while "you" are offline. What the heck does that mean? Well, while you are off at work, or school, KATO, which is primarily made of agents( small software programs) that communicate with each other to successfully execute your desired actions, will be acting on your behalf to do the things that you would ordinarily do if you were online. Is there a certain way that you read an article? Are there any websites that you must visit everyday? If so, teach KATO, and allow KATO to do it for you.
KATO is not just a representation of "you" when you're offline. KATO is also a sidekick. I hate it when I'm online and I do not finish doing all the things that I planned to finish because I have to go to school, or go to work, or my time has expired, and someone else has to use the computer. That being said, and KATO being the sidekick that it is, I would be able to simply assign KATO to perform some of my mundane tasks, such as check my email, while I do other things such as purchase airline tickets.
Although KATO has the opportunity to make the lives of the busy, always on the go individuals, a littler easier, it will not be a reality without the help of developers worldwide. As one of the co-founders of KATO, I thought that it would be better to allow developers from all around the world to contribute their own agents to KATO. After all, KATO is powered by agents. The more robust the agents, the better KATO can serve endusers. Why should you consider creating agents? What's in it for you?

In the coming days and weeks, I will be making some additional post that will explain how KATO works, as well as explain step by step why developers and user alike should contribute to the vision and opprotunity that is KATO!

Stay Classy Folks
MB

What are Software Agents?

2009-10-30T22:00:00.000-07:00

KATO is an open source project whose mandate is to apply the engineering principles for software agents discovered by academia in the past ten years to more mainstream purpose.

But just what precisely is a software agent? First of all, the wikipedia article on software agents does a pretty good job. Here are some more points to consider.

You grant the agent the authority to do something for you when certain conditions occur, thereby granting the agent the power to represent you. It does things based on your wishes and in you behalf.

Agents must run in some kind of container that handles scheduling, persistence, messaging, logging, etc.

Not a single agent can do everything. Just as you delegate tasks to agents, agents must be able to delegate sub tasks to other agents. To this end, an elaborate communication mechanism is required for agents to share information with each other.

Software agents are parallel, distributed, and mobile.

KATO for PHP either implements or plans to implement all of these capabilities. KATO for Java extends the JADE environment to handle these capabilities.

Learning How To Use KATO

2009-10-23T16:24:00.000-07:00

There is the project web site for the open source project called KATO. Because KATO is an open source project, you can always download the code and run KATO on your own systems. There is also a KATO demonstration site where you can see KATO in action without having to download or install it.

Here is a sample tutorial video from the online course for using the KATO demonstration site.

Please Help KATO Grow

2009-10-22T13:44:00.000-07:00

There is a very easy way to help KATO. You can cast your vote for the KATO project on idea blob. Also, feel free to participate in the discussions there on the comments and advice areas.

We are very interested in your opinions about KATO so feel free to participate in either the discussion about KATO on Cogenuity or SourceForge.

Or just express your opinions here.

The KATO project is in a very early stage of its development so your participation can make a big difference.

Schedule Data and Java

2009-10-14T14:56:00.000-07:00

We just published a new release of KATO. Branded as 0.2, this release adds a new entity, called Schedule Data, and introduces the framework for Java developers. There is also a new sample agent included that processes email.

The Schedule Data table captures information for the KATO agents to process with. There is already a Schedule Parameter table that captures the parameter information to be fed into a KATO agent when it is scheduled to run. Why do we need the Schedule Data table? The Schedule Parameter table contains the parameters that the user supplies to the agent in order for it to get the desired task done. The Schedule Data table is where the agent can share additional information with itself across different runs of the agent. Think of it as a way to persist working storage between runs.

This release also includes the files needed for development of KATO agents in Java. There is now a Java folder that has three Java source files in it; EmailAgent, SuopfAgent, and TwitterStatus. The EmailAgent is a sample agent written in Java that reads your email and tweets whenever it finds a new email sent by the desired person. This keeps you from having to check your email if all you are interested in it receiving email from a certain person.

We wanted to write this same agent in PHP but ran into a problem where you had to recompile PHP with IMAP turned on. This is not feasible when using a shared server from a web hosting service provider. I am open to any suggestions or recommendations that you might have on getting PHP to read email in a non-destructive way.

The SuopfAgent is the Java class that you must extend when writing your own agents. Be advised that the TwitterStatus class is stubbed out in the package releases so use subversion to get the real working version.

Be advised that KATO agents in Java are built on top of the JADE framework so you will need to grab a copy of that as well. There are also some other software dependencies that you should be aware of.

Thanks SourceForge

2009-09-26T09:27:00.000-07:00

SourceForge is the repository chosen for KATO and they do a fantastic job. In addition to providing parking space for your source code, they offer a full line of coding services of use to geographically dispersed development teams and all for free.

They give you a free web site to host your project. This includes access to MySql, PHP, or Perl (all hosted on servers maintained by SourceForge, Inc) so you don't have to use static web pages. I used the Web 2.0 News Portal to publish the project web site for KATO.

They also provide free version control including CVS, Subversion, and GIT. This means that your source code on SourceForge isn't just the latest stable copy. It is the active and definitive repository.

More freebies include a tracking system for your enhancement requests and defects and a discussion forum. They also provide analytics and a rudimentary document management system.

Under Construction

2009-09-24T14:15:00.000-07:00

Work is underway for the first release of KATO. This includes two web sites, the open source project itself and the project web site which documents and promotes the open source project.

The first release of the open source project is going to be a bare-bones, proof-of-concept LAMP web app which developers can download, install, configure, and run to test the sample agents or their own agents.

The project web site will contain documentation on how to use KATO and on how to participate in it. This web site will be deployed using another open source project web app called the Web 2.0 News Portal.

We will also deploy the KATO open source project itself as a part of the project web site as a demo for users to try out without having to download and install KATO. The look and feel for the project web site is different than the look and feel for the open source project.

Humble Beginnings

2009-09-22T12:06:00.000-07:00

KATO started as an idea between Michael and I. The Internet has become so much of a time waster. What we really need is a way to automate Internet related chores, freeing us up for more interesting pursuits. It is our mandate to bring the great work of software agents out of academia and into the mainstream.

Originally called SUOPF, we have started working on the project web site for a developer preview release. We decided to release KATO as open source. You can also follow the status of KATO on Twitter.