Search engine puts the human touch back into Internet: Mahalo employs guides to bring best sites to customers' attention.

MAHOLO.COM Inc., a human-powered search engine, was launched last week with investors including CBS Corp., News Corp. and Sequoia Capital.

Behind the site are about 30 researchers called guides who vet the best Web sites on the Internet. They pick what they believe are the best sites from reputable sources and free of spam. The sites are grouped under a dozen headers, such as "News," "Sports" and "Travel."

For example, a user who wants to know more about Robert Zoellick, the new nominee to head the World Bank, could click on his name under "News" and find a list of sites about him.

Although the Web site is operating, the company, which is in a 10,000-square-foot warehouse in Santa Monica, is in its alpha stage at month five of a five-year project. It plans to expand with more guides and more pages.

"The goal of Maholo is one of service to the user," said Jason Calacanis, founder of Maholo. "Everyone in the Internet business expects the users to do all the work, like social networks and social news sites. We want to do the work for the users and save them time."

Calacanis previously headed Weblogs Inc., purchased by Time Warner Inc. He had served as chief executive of Silicon Alley Reporter and Venture Reporter, purchased by Dow Jones.

Jeremy Philips, News Corp.'s executive vice president and Maholo's board member, put it plainly. "Human editing can improve search. The promise here is to aggregate that process at scale."

Mahalo has already received two rounds of venture funding, but Calacanis declined to disclose the amount. Mahalo, which means "thank you" in Hawaiian, has about 4,000 results pages completed. The company plans to have another 10,000 completed by year end.

Staff reporter Booyeon Lee can be reached at [phone], ext. 230, or at [e-mail]