One of the original electronic clipping services using intelligent agent technology, NewsHound was named Best Original Feature for an online newspaper in 1996 (Mercury Center) by Editor & Publisher Magazine.

Early NewsHound users have described NewsHound as an important tool to use in their daily work environment because of its ability to deliver relevant, timely and cost efficient information.

The newly enhanced product offers personalized information to subscribers through multiple delivery options, offers users the flexibility to customize their NewsHound profiles through an easy-to-use graphical interface on the web or via email commands. Subscribers can receive plain text or HTML format digests and stories on a personal web page or in their email box from an expanding search universe of award-winning domestic and international newspapers and news wire services.

"We were the leaders in delivering news information" says Bob Ingle, President of Knight-Ridder New Media, "but we know in the online arena being first doesn't mean a lot unless you are always working to be best. Our new version of NewsHound takes everything we've learned into account." Notably, NewsHound 's content databases include the full content of the San Jose Mercury News, the authoritative source of Silicon Valley technology news and information, and will soon include dozens of other newspaper sources.

NewsHound will combine a high-quality collection of Knight-Ridder and other content with an affordable flat-fee pricing of $7.95 of month for unlimited search and retrieval of relevant news stories by five hounds based on a user's description. Unlike other services, there are no per-story download charges or client-side software to install. Enabled by intelligent search expertise provided by Verity, Inc., of Sunnyvale, Calif., the service is a convenient and meaningful way for professionals and consumers to stay informed without wasting time with repetitive searches. Users create a "hound" once, and they never have to miss the timely and relevant information they need.

NewsHound used Verity's Search'97 Agent Server Toolkit to enable NewsHound's agents or "hounds" to continuously watch dynamic information sources, filter and relevance-rank results automatically according to a user's preferences. Documents are delivered automatically in the form of digests or full-length stories.

"We are extremely pleased that Knight-Ridder has selected Verity to be an integral part of a quality, high-value service," said Philippe Courtot, Chairman and CEO of Verity, Inc. "Verity's agent technology provides NewsHound subscribers with a high level of customization and puts them in control of the information that is most relevant to them."

NewsHound also makes use of the latest relational-database technology from Oracle Corp. and Netscape Communications Corp.'s Enterprise Server with LiveWire.

Throughout 1997 NewsHound will continue to expand its information databases by adding the full content databases of many major market newspapers, such as the Detroit Free Press, the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News, the Miami Herald, The St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer. Knight-Ridder also will add other marketing and content affiliates to its growing service.

Currently a 30-day free trial is available to subscribers at NewsHound website.

About Knight-Ridder

Knight-Ridder New Media, located in San Jose, Calif., is a division of Knight-Ridder Inc. Knight-Ridder is an international communications company engaged in newspaper publishing, business news and information services, electronic retrieval services, news, graphics and photo services and newsprint manufacturing. The company publishes 33 daily newspapers in the United States. Around the world, news, advertising and information from Knight-Ridder reach more than 100 million people in more than 150 countries.

About Verity

Verity Inc. was founded in April 1988 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. Verity develops and markets software tools and applications for searching, retrieving and filtering information across the Internet, enterprise and CD-ROMs. Verity's products have been licensed to corporations, government agencies, on-line service providers, Internet publishers and developers worldwide. Verity partners include: Adobe Systems, AT&T; WorldNet, Dow Jones, Hitachi, Individual Inc., Informix Software, Lotus Development Corp., Netscape Communications, PC DOCS, SAP, SCO, Sybase Inc., WavePhore and many others.

Contact:

Cynthia Mallen Funnell National Communications Manager (408) 938-6076 cfunnell@newmedia.kri.com