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Genieo: combine a startup page with a content recommendation engine

February 16, 2013 By 8 Comments

Imagine if someone was peering over your shoulder, looking at the kinds of websites that you frequent, and then presenting you with more of the same or related content that they think you would like.

Would that be the best thing ever?, or the worst? Depending on how you answer that, you may really like or really dislike Genieo, a free, magazine style personal startpage that aggregates content from all over the web, based largely on the sites that you visit and/or sites that are similar.

Note that Genieo also has a ‘Personal Magazine’ option that integrates with Facebook and is designed for sharing with others and for reading on-the-go on a device. Strangely, this seemed to be broken when I tried to test it.

genio screenshot

For the privacy minded, it is important to clarify: while Genieo does monitor your browsing behavior, it purports to do so solely on your computer, and to not be sending anything to a remote server.

But the important question is: what kind of user experience does Genieo provide? In fact there’s a lot to like about it and some things that can be improved. Here’s a list of PROS and CONS:

PROS:

  • The content discovery experience: is actually quite interesting. Genieo obviously does not simply serve sites you have visited but related sites as well. Interestingly, the content presented includes a lot of forums and the like with some vital, new content, which I like.
  • Makes it ‘relatively’ easy to manage content being served: you can click on a little ‘x’ in the corner of each post and manage that content source right then and there.

genio screenshot3

  • Geneio default search and homepage is OPT OUT: the option, in the installer, has to be actively checked/opted in for Geneio to do this inside your browser. At a time when most installers will have you jump through hoops to opt out, this is refreshing.

CONS:

  • At times seems to be taking over your PC: it installs services that start with Windows and serve you notifications near the system tray area, and the ‘Personal Magazine’ option wants to post on your Facebook. Admittedly, this is not unusual these days as every app seems bent on doing it. On the positive side, the desktop notifications can be easily turned off in the settings. In fact I imagine a lot of people might quite like the desktop notifications, which are not unattractive (see below).

genio screenshot2

  • Few options to customize the look and feel: I can live with the ads in the sidebar, but a huge chunk of screen real estate is taken up at the top of the page with a Genieo search box, which I will never use and which apparently cannot be removed.
  • The ‘Personal Magazine’ option does not work: or at least it did not work for me. It is rather off-putting to grant an app access to your Facebook only to have the whole thing crash and not work (‘Server Error’).

The verdict:

I write this up for a single reason: we all know and like the concept of ‘music discovery’; the notion of ‘content discovery’ is similarly very appealing. Most startup pages will aggregate RSS feeds and update them, but these lack the serendipity and the sense of the unexpected that Genieo delivers quite successfully.

If you’re worried about your privacy this sort of thing may not be for you, even as I see no reason to doubt that none of your behavioral information is actually being sent outside of your desktop. The main drawback for me is the feeling that Genieo is a little invasive and over the top, but you can invest some of your time setting it up exactly the way you want it. You could even stop or prevent it from being your browser start page altogether, and only visit via a bookmark to peruse some interesting, custom content that you will probably like.

If you try it .. let me know what you think in the comment section below.

Get Genieo here (Windows, Mac. Compatible with most modern browsers). Note that you will need to register and confirm your registration before the download is enabled.


 
 
 
Samer Kurdi

Samer Kurdi

Has been reviewing software since 2006 when he started Freewaregenius.com
Samer Kurdi

@freewaregenius

February 16, 2013
Samer Kurdi
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  • kelltic

    From your first sentence I thought you were talking about Google. :)

    In answer to your question: No thanks. Google does quite enough of that (so does Bing), and they do it badly. Most of my internet use is ancient history research. I’m also software junkie so I dig around there, too. NEVER do I get prompted to try history websites or even software sites. Lots travel ads, though. On the other hand, once I search for so something to buy, like a pair of shoes, I am bombarded with shoe offers. EVERY page I visit there’s an ad for a shoe for months and months.

    • Samer Kurdi

      @ kelltic: I see your point, kind of. But just think: if you weren’t being shown ads about shoes, you would be shown ads on some other random stuff you didn’t care at all about. Which would you prefer?

  • Panzer
  • http://carbonize.co.uk Carbonize

    So Samer after reading Panzer’s link what were you experiences of trying to remove it?

  • Samer Kurdi

    I just uninstalled it without any problem whatsoever. I used the default uninstaller, of course, and it asked if I wanted to return my search and my startpage back to default. Moreover, Genieo was running as a process in my system tray and I didn’t even have to shut it down; the uninstaller did it on it’s own. At the end of it it indicated that a reboot is required, and now that I restarted the computer there does not seem to be a single trace of it.

    For those people complaining of Genieo search: my experience was that it was OPT-IN, not opt-out to change their default search. Aside from that, the big search box on top of the Genieo startpage was always going to be their own custom Genieo search. I am guessing that perhaps people thought that by using that box, they were searching Google.

    But let me just say this: if you search the internet you will find forum entries with users reporting that my site got their computer infested with malware, for example, which is ridiculous. Which is why I am not too sympathetic with the forum entry linked above. But all I can speak about is my own experience, and I can confirm that the Genieo uninstaller in fact works extremely well.

    I ALWAYS think twice before posting something like this, that scans your cookies to see what kind of things you’ve been reading. I try to outline exactly what it does and what to expect, and people can choose whether it’s their cup of tea. My philosophy is that you can build a wall around your house high enough to give you complete privacy, but it can also block a perfectly spectacular view. So, there’s a tradeoff and people are free to choose.

    But here’s a telling piece of information: now that I tested the uninstaller, I am going to re-install the thing, because I am still interested in it.

  • Grant

    The problem with all the recommendation systems (google, flipboard, etc) is that they fail to separate the different aspects of one’s life. At work I scan many sites related to my job but I don’t want to see any of it when I am at home checking on family, friends and hobbies.

    Is there a recommendation / home page tool that lets you have different profiles based on time of day, location etc? Or do I need to use 2 different browsers?

    • Samer Kurdi

      @ Grant: using 2 browsers seems like a good solution. It may also be the path of least resistance, as creating profiles, even if it were supported, seems like it would take a bit of work setting it up ;)

      • Grant

        2 browsers is a manual solution but there is an obvious market opportunity for “intelligent” recommendation systems