hi there~

a quick and dirty search for someone.  just a few links or some text
about the background of the ananova news site.  who is ananova, where
they in other media before going online as a web news source?  why do
i get the feeling that it is some russian woman feeding me news?

anyway, thank you very very much in advance for whatever comes of this
question.  i look forward to it.  :D

Dear banchan, 

Ananova is definitely not a Russian woman. Far from it: 

(1) She is supposed to be British born "Ananova, the world's first
virtual newscaster, made her debut on the Internet on April 19, 2000
with the words "Hello World! Here is the news and this time it's
personal!"; It was the first time anyone outside her UK headquarters
in Leeds, West Yorkshire had ever seen her, but behind the scenes we
had been working on her design for almost a year." (Source: "Designing
Ananova" <http://www.ananova.com/about/story/sm_128668.html>).

"she has the profile of a single 28-year-old "girl about town" who
loves Oasis and The Simpsons and is 5ft 8in (1.73m) tall." (Source:
BBC News "Cyberbabe to read the news ",
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/606855.stm>). "Ananova is
fully-animated using the latest in 3D computer graphics and is
programmed to deliver the news in a "pleasant, quietly intelligent
manner" But behind the pretty face there is a super-fast computer
system that can create a news bulletin faster than any human
equivalent, any minute of the day." (ibid.).

In other words, Ananova used to be a virtual female broadcaster, born
in UK labs of Britain's Press Association news agency. (See
<http://www.ananova.com/about/story/sm_136391.html?menu=>).

(2) Why "used to be?" Because Ananova nowadays spends most of her days
working for Orange ("Ananova Ltd was bought by Orange in July 2000",
Press release "Why have some of the Ananova services changed?",
<http://www.ananova.com/about/story/sm_589079.html>), a cellular phone
company, which is owned by Vodaphone, a German communication/media
conglomerate. Ananova *might* have changed her nationality and plays
for the Germans, consequently (it should be mentioned that there had
been a serious anti-trust problem here). You can read more about the
Germanification of Orange (and therefore - of Ananova) - here
<http://www.orange.com/English/investorrelations/history.asp?UID=000000000121020021715050&UAT=>.

In other words, the history of the news site Ananova is a development
by Press Association for the sole purpose of selling the site/woman;
selling it after few months to Orange. The source of the news is the
PA News. Ananova is today owned by Orange, the mobile phone division
of France Telecom, but its share holder today is no other than VIAG.

For a more recent history, it seems that the fad around the lady is
gone. There used to be fan sites as well as a Usenet discussion list
dedicated to Ananova fans. None is left of this (ClubAnanova.com, for
example, was described in Google's directory as "Club Ananova -
http://www.clubananova.co.uk
Ananova, the virtual newscaster and her army of fans: New technology,
cyberpeople and the future are here." but the page leads to nothing -
Ebay); the ĞAnanova Fan Siteğ leads to a GeoCities/Yahoo dead end
(casi.simplenet.com/j/ananova). The discussion group also no longer
exists <alt.fan.ananova>.

You can check a bit of what is left and not updated: 
http://www.cybervox.org/j/ananova/ J's World 
http://www.krautscast.com/anaindex.html - a German fan site 

Yes, Ananova fans are *so* 2000. 

(3) She might also be Japanese, or Korean (or at least influenced by
those cultures). The BBC claims that "Ananova was possibly inspired by
Diki, otherwise known as DK-96, a Japanese/Korean virtual singer who
vies for the title of the first ever cyberbabe. She released a pop
song, Love Communication, in 1996, and still has her own website where
you can watch her videos. She is currently in Korea promoting Japanese
culture, which has been banned since Japan occupied the country during
WWII." (Source: "Cyberbabes: A babe new world"
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/651984.stm>).

(4) Do you know Russian women with green hair?
<http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&scoring=d&q=%22russian+woman%22+>
and <http://images.google.com/images?q=%22green+hair%22+&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&scoring=d>.

I hope that answered your question. The Ananova site's "about Ananova"
might supply more information. My search strategy included terms that
might appear in pages about Ananova (not written by the site's robot)
- "ananova was", "ananova is" "ananova is owned". If you need any
clarifications on the answer, I'd be pleased to provide some before
you rate the answer.

"ananova is" and "ananova was"...

COOL!  it never occurred to me to search that way.   :)  anyways, i
almost feel bad, guilty for paying a measly $4 for such a quick and
wonderfully informative answer.  i havent even looked at all the links
yet (i did check out pictures of ananova.  heh, that green hair!). 
you guys are AWESOME!

thak you very much mr political guru!