Three years after Vincent Schiavone started buying domain names that began with the number four, he has launched his community
Web portal , with the goal of becoming a sort of anti-Yahoo. Schiavone was able to buy the rights to 2,000 domain names on just about every topic news, wine, day care, shopping, insurance, baseball, and travel, by prefacing them each with the number 4. He then hired full-time Net editors to locate and prioritize selected Web sites related to the topics. Hence, an Internet user who goes to
will find links to everything from Greyhound bus information to Priceline.com to the U.S. Customs Service. The 4anything portal differs from other search engines like Yahoo and Altavista because of its refined selection, Schiavone told Newsbytes in an interview from his office outside Philadelphia. "We want to be the best of the Web, not all of the Web," he said. The company has venture capital funding from Safeguard Scientifics and will get its revenue from advertising and local directories, Schiavone said. 4anything.com has already invested in coveted and pricey advertising slots during the season finales of "Home Improvement," "Friends," "E/R" and "Dharma & Greg." 4anything.com is hoping to establish loyalty among its visitors by weeding out sites that are only marginally related to the topics in their searches. In turn, it hopes to attract advertisers that want the opportunity to reach consumers who are likely to be receptive their message. Schiavone also snapped up seasonal domain names, like 4memorialday.com, 4independenceday.com and 4mothersday.com.