Specialty Search: Farecast is a Descendant of Hamlet
The other day we mentioned John Battelle’s intro to Farecast, a new (early, closed) beta that claims to help users decide the right time to purchase an airplane ticket. When we posted that item we were reminded of Hamlet, a 2003 research project, from Dr. Oren Etizioni at the University of Washington. Today, thanks to some sleuthing and eagle-eye reading by ResourceShelf’s Dan Giancaterino, we learn that Farecast is based on Etizioni’s Hamlet research. From the Farecast site, “Farecast.com evolved from a University of Washington research project, led by computer science professor and internet search expert Oren
Etzioni, into the online travel site you see today. We’ve spent several
years developing state-of-the-art data-mining and predictive technologies with the objective of accurately predicting airfare pricing.” Back in 2003/2004 lots was written and reported about Hamlet. Here are links to a few of those items:
+ Algorithms Key to Cheap Air Fare
Comments from Etizioni on Hamlet’s development and travel industry professionals who were skeptical of this kind of technology.
+ Dr. Etizioni’s Research Paper: To Buy or Not to Buy: Mining Airline Fare Data to Minimize Ticket Purchase Price (Direct to Paper: PDF; 10 pages)
+ An 2003 NBC News Segment About Hamlet and Dr. Etzioni (WMV File)
+ How to Rumble the Airlines (via BusinessWeek 4/21/2003)
Postscript: Why was it called Hamlet? “To Buy or Not to Buy” was their motto. 
UPDATE: ResourceShelf’s Dan Giancaterino has been using Farecast for the past couple of days and will be monitoring the service moving forward. Some of his early thoughts are posted on ResourceShelfPLUS.
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