Peter Gabriel hails online filtering service as digital 'life jockey'

The Filter, which launches fully today, initially asks users to set up a basic profile by rating different genres and artists in music and film, and uses a series of algorithms to make relevant recommendations.

Users can integrate their profiles from the music recommendation service Last.fm and the film review site Flixster to build up the data in their account.

A social networking element allows users to follow recommendations from their friends. The service is free to use.

"We're doing something different to the others - trying to integrate the machine approach and human beings," said Gabriel.

Click here to read the complete Jemima Kiss story via The Guardian.