Getting started.
- How does Vicito News work?
- How do I get an instant messaging account and software?
- How do I add a news bot to my buddy or contact list?
- Which instant messenger services are supported?
Talking to the news bot.
- How do I add and remove search phrases? (The add and del commands explained)
- How do I see what search phrases I'm watching the news for? (The list command explained)
- How do I set my news update rate? (The min command explained)
- How can I set the maximum stories I get in one update? (The stories command explained)
Miscellaneous.
Need help on something else? Ask us.
How does Vicito News work?
We make it easy to keep up with news relevant to you, no matter what source it comes from. We scan news from hundreds of unique sources all day. While doing this we check for stories that match your search phrases. When we find matching stories we IM you the links in batches as often as you choose. If you are signed out of your IM service, marked as away or do not disturb, we won't bother you with news updates. When you are available again, we'll send you stories we've found for you. It's an intuitive and powerful tool we hope you find useful!
How do I get an instant messaging account and software?
We support 3 popular instant messaging services: Google Talk, AIM, and Windows Live Messenger. The links below take you to instructions for getting started with each service. If you don't have a service preference, we recommend using either Google Talk or AIM. AIM has the best looking story links and Google Talk is clean and fast.
- Get started with Google Talk
- Get started with AIM
- Get started with Windows Live Messenger
If you're on a Mac you can also use iChat (beautiful interface by the way) with your Google
Talk or AIM account. Finally, Meebo
or eBuddy work great with Vicito
News too. If you use Vicito News on another IM client, let us know!.
Remember, you have to add our news bot once you get your IM service up and running. See the next section for detailed instructions.
How do I add a news bot to my buddy or contact list?
AIM
- Click the +/- button.
- Click Add Buddy (see picture).
- Type Vicito News in the Screen Name box.
- Click Save.
- Double click Vicito News in your buddy list.
- Type help in the message box and hit enter.
- Follow the instructions from the bot to get started!
Google Talk
- Click the +Add button (see picture).
- Type news@vicito.com in the text box.
- Click the Next button.
- Click the Finish button.
- You should get a welcome message, follow the instructions to get started!
- If you don't get a message from the bot, click news@vicito.com in your contact list.
- Type help in the message box and hit enter.
- Follow the instructions from the bot to get started!
Windows Live Messenger
- Click the Add a contact button (see picture).
- Type news@vicito.com in the Instant Messaging Address box.
- Click the Add Contact button.
- You should get a welcome message, follow the instructions to get started!
- If you don't get a message from the bot, double click Vicito News in your contact list.
- Type help in the message box and hit enter.
- Follow the instructions from the bot to get started!
Which instant messenger services are supported?
We support 3 popular instant messaging services:
Google Talk
,
AIM
, and
Windows Live Messenger
. If you don't have a
service preference, we recommend using either Google Talk or AIM. AIM has the best looking story links
and Google Talk is clean and fast.
How do I add and remove search phrases?
Search phrases tell us what kind of news you're looking for.
- To add search phrases, send a message like add baseball to the news bot.
This example would have us find stories about baseball. You can add any phrase you want, it doesn't have to be baseball! Once a search phrase is added, you don't have to do anything else. We'll constantly search the news and IM you stories matching your search phrases as we find them.
We also support more advanced search phrases using the -, &, and | operators:
- Use the - operator to exclude stories with the word following the dash. For example, add baseball -yankees would find baseball news except for stories about the Yankees.
- Use the | operator to match any word in the search phrase, rather than all words. For example, add cats | dogs would find news about cats OR dogs.
- Use the & operator to match all words in the search phrase. This is the default behavior of our search phrases so add baseball & yankees is the same as add baseball yankees.
Reminder: Phrase length is limited to 5 words. Also, a story's description or title must contain all words in the search phrase for a match.
Deleting search phrases has us stop looking for matching stories
- To delete search phrases, send a message like del baseball to the news bot.
This example would remove an existing search phrase called baseball from your list. To see your current phrase list, send the message list to the news bot.
How do I see what search phrases I'm watching the news for?
- Send the message list to the news bot.
In addition to all of your current search phrases, the bot will show your update rate and the maximum stories returned in an update
How do I set my news update rate?
The news update rate is how long we wait (measured in minutes) before sending you story links matching your search phrases.
- Send a message like min 10 to the news bot for a 10 minute update rate.
Adjust this setting to suit your tastes. If you want to see breaking news as quickly as possible, set the value low. If you want to get updates less frequently, set the value high. You can see your current setting by sending the message list to the news bot.
Reminder: Even if you set a frequent update rate, if no stories are found for any search phrase, no message is sent. Also, if you status is set to away, busy, do not disturb, or offline, we won't send you any messages.
How can I set the maximum stories I get in one update?
Sometimes a search phrase frequently matches many stories, or perhaps you set a long time between updates causing us to gather a lot of links for you. In cases like these it is useful to control how many stories you'll get in a single update.
- Send a message like stories 3 to the news bot for a maximum of 3 stories returned per update.
You can see your current setting by sending the message list to the news bot.
I set an update rate to every 5 mintes, why don't I see new stories every 5 minutes!?
Sometimes your search phrases will not match any new stories for a long time. In this case, we will not send you a message even if it is time to update you. If you aren't happy with how many stories your search phrases are matching, change your search phrases or make them more generalized.
For example, let's say you had a search phrase like global warming polar bear. This will only match stories containing all four words in the title or summary. Changing the phrase (delete it and add a new one) to just global warming would probably give you more stories.
