11. A computer system, comprising: memory; one or more processors; one or more programs stored in the memory and configured for execution by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including: instructions for receiving user instructions to associate each of a first virtual channel and a second virtual channel with a first content provider, wherein the first virtual channel includes a first set of user-specified search criteria and the second virtual channel includes a second set of user-specified search criteria that is different from the first set of search criteria; instructions for continuously performing operations according to a predefined schedule, the operations including: receiving a first set of information items from the first content provider, wherein each information item includes a document title, a document summary, and a document link to a document at a respective remote location; retrieving the document identified by the corresponding document link from the respective remote location for each of the first set of information items; applying the first set of search criteria to each of the first set of information items and its associated document to generate a first set of search results, wherein the first set of search results includes a first set of chunks within a first document and a third set of chunks within a second document, and each of the first set and the third set of chunks satisfies the first set of search criteria; applying the second set of search criteria to each of the first set of information items and its associated document to generate a second set of search results, wherein the second set of search results includes a second set of chunks within the respective document, and each of the second set of chunks satisfies the second set of search criteria, wherein there is at least one difference between the first set of chunks and the second set of chunks; associating the first virtual channel with the first set of search results and the second virtual channel with the second set of search results, wherein there is at least one search result associated with both the first virtual channel and the second virtual channel; instructions for displaying the first virtual channel and the second virtual channel on the client computer; instructions for, in response to a user selection of the first virtual channel, displaying, at least partially, information items associated with the first set of search results and the first set of chunks within the first document and the third set of chunks within the second document to the user; and instructions for, in response to a user selection of one of the first set of chunks, displaying, at least partially, the first document including the user-selected chunk to the user adjacent to the display of the first set of chunks and the third set of chunks, wherein the user-selected chunk is visually distinguished from the rest of the document.
11. A computer system, comprising: memory; one or more processors; one or more programs stored in the memory and configured for execution by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including: instructions for receiving user instructions to associate each of a first virtual channel and a second virtual channel with a first content provider, wherein the first virtual channel includes a first set of user-specified search criteria and the second virtual channel includes a second set of user-specified search criteria that is different from the first set of search criteria; instructions for continuously performing operations according to a predefined schedule, the operations including: receiving a first set of information items from the first content provider, wherein each information item includes a document title, a document summary, and a document link to a document at a respective remote location; retrieving the document identified by the corresponding document link from the respective remote location for each of the first set of information items; applying the first set of search criteria to each of the first set of information items and its associated document to generate a first set of search results, wherein the first set of search results includes a first set of chunks within a first document and a third set of chunks within a second document, and each of the first set and the third set of chunks satisfies the first set of search criteria; applying the second set of search criteria to each of the first set of information items and its associated document to generate a second set of search results, wherein the second set of search results includes a second set of chunks within the respective document, and each of the second set of chunks satisfies the second set of search criteria, wherein there is at least one difference between the first set of chunks and the second set of chunks; associating the first virtual channel with the first set of search results and the second virtual channel with the second set of search results, wherein there is at least one search result associated with both the first virtual channel and the second virtual channel; instructions for displaying the first virtual channel and the second virtual channel on the client computer; instructions for, in response to a user selection of the first virtual channel, displaying, at least partially, information items associated with the first set of search results and the first set of chunks within the first document and the third set of chunks within the second document to the user; and instructions for, in response to a user selection of one of the first set of chunks, displaying, at least partially, the first document including the user-selected chunk to the user adjacent to the display of the first set of chunks and the third set of chunks, wherein the user-selected chunk is visually distinguished from the rest of the document. 15. The computer system of claim 11 , further comprising: instructions for continuously repeating the receiving, retrieving, and applying operations in accordance with the predefined schedule to update the first and second sets of search results.