News 'forecaster' makes headlines at prizegiving

Published on Tuesday 22 January 2008 09:46

AN online news forecaster that allows people to follow their favourite news stories has been judged the best business idea in Edinburgh and the Lothians.

A team from Edinburgh University won the Business Gateway prize for Hubdub, which tracks major news stories and allows users to predict how they will turn out.

The website allows users to identify the news stories that interest them and then it scans the web to unearth the most relevant articles. Users can also compete with each other in predicting how the story will turn out and connect with other users with similar or opposing viewpoints.

Nigel Eccles, 33, Tom Griffiths, 26, Rob Jones, 26, and Chris Stafford, 32 scooped the 1000 regional prize in the competition, backed by curry king Charan Gill, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Biggart Baillie.

Mr Eccles said: "I was extremely surprised to win the competition, which has given us the confidence to take the next step."

Mr Gill said: "It sounds like the Hubdub team are going all out to pursue their objectives."