If you haven't checked out Sphere yet, you need to.

Sphere is a mathematical search and semantic algorithm applied to the blogosphere. Sphere analyzes what any web page is talking about and then finds similar blog content.

They have been out for only two weeks and the success is pouring in.

Time magazine has already added Sphere to their website. For an example, check out this article on last night's speech by the President.

But it is Sphere's real time applications that are really amazing. Sphere gives you a tool for quickly finding out how much people are saying about a given topic right now.

If you are a Hedge Fund manager, if you are any kind of equity or credit manager, you need to start using Sphere NOW!

Check out this example of Sphere's range engine on a search for General Motors:

For fund managers, the point is the spike. If you check GM daily, you can see there was a spike around 4/10. Maybe that's around an earnings release, so it's not a big deal. However, if that's not the reason, something else is going on. Maybe something that will impact the stock price.

With bloggers, you do not have hundreds of journalists; you have tens of millions. The chance that bloggers will break any piece of news is increasing. And we all know that news impacts financial markets.

Sphere has an API. I am sure it won't be long before there are all sorts of live content mashups available that show you want people are suddenly starting to talk about.

Sphere has a bunch of other cool tools, including a related media and featured blogs.

The founders are Martin Remy, Steve Nieker and Tony Conrad.

BTW, a few posts ago, in response to my article on How to start a good business blog, Easton Ellsworth asked about how people track what's being said about their blogs. He also provided some great tips. My guess is that Sphere is going to be a valuable addition to the list.