blinkx Turns One

blinkx Turns One

Search Upstart Celebrates a Year of Firsts

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Already considered the leading innovator in search technology, and credited with numerous world firsts, blinkx, the smartest thing on your computer, and on the Web, today celebrated its first anniversary. In the past twelve months, blinkx has taken the industry by storm and revolutionized the way that millions of consumers find what they are looking for online. Since its inception, this dynamic start-up has consistently pre-empted more established search players with an impressive stream of innovations and new functionality. Along the way, blinkx has been recognized as one of the 50 coolest Web sites by Time Magazine.

"While I'm delighted with the reputation for innovation we have earned, I'm most proud of the feedback we've received from our users over the past year," said blink co-founder Suranga Chandratillake. "We would never have been able to break as much new ground as we have without the input and encouragement we've received from our community of content partners and users."

In just 12 months, blinkx has been first to market with a series of pioneering new technologies, including:

-- Desktop Search: In a move which changed the dynamics of search, blinkx
launched the blinkx toolbar in July 2004. This technology enables
individuals to break down the silos between their data, and search
across the Web, email and their desktop, via a single interface.
-- Implicit Query: blinkx has introduced the search industry to the
power of Implicit Query. Implicit Query (IQ) technology signalled a
new, user-centric search philosophy. Unlike more traditional methods,
which rely on users inputting keywords, blinkx implicitly understands
information on a user's screen and delivers related links.
-- Smart Folders: The launch of Smart Folders in October 2004 firmly
established blinkx's reputation for changing the rules of search
technology. Smart Folders allow users to create persistent search
queries on any subject of their choosing, right on their desktop. The
searches are conducted across the Web and the desktop, and can retrieve
all varieties of document formats, including audio, video and text.
One of the first commercial applications of the Smart Folder was for
Touchstone Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment's recent film, "The
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." The "Hitchhiker's" Smart Folder
was the first content partnership to showcase blinkx's latest
innovation by keeping fans of the book up to date with developments
around the movie release.
-- Video Search: After tackling the Web and the desktop with the blinkx
toolbar and Smart Folders, blinkx turned its attention to next-
generation Web content and launched the first search engine for TV,
www.blinkx.tv. This site allows users to search for, locate, and play
video content from around the world.
-- PodCast and Video Blog (vlog) Search: Continuing along its trajectory
of innovation, blinkx recently became the first search engine to make
podcasts and vlogs fully searchable. Thousands of hours of commercial
and independent podcast and vlog content have been made available for
search for the first time via blinkx.
-- RSS: blinkx also recently announced SmartFeed. SmartFeed allows users
to receive highly personalized audio and video content, from a wealth
of news and entertainment sources, via RSS.

Based on its reputation for technical innovation and vision, blinkx has been able to partner with some of the Web's leading content sites. This includes entertainment sites such as iFilm, Live365, MovieLink, TotalVid, Transmission Films and more; as well as editorial content from leading sources such as BusinessWeek, Forbes, The New York Times, and more.

How To blinkx

blinkx thinks while it links. Because blinkx is not constrained by the limits of keyword-based technologies, it is able to extract the main ideas contained within any document and thus derive its meaning. blinkx's advanced search technology truly understands the ideas and context behind the words, which in turn makes the search experience faster, more accurate and more relevant. blinkx does not second-guess a user's needs, but seamlessly provides the automated guidance required to enrich the overall experience. In addition, blinkx TV combines advanced speech recognition, transcription techniques and a patented context prediction and synchronization technology to analyze and understand the actual content (spoken words) of an audio/video file, delivering unparalleled automation, accuracy and access to multimedia content from the web. The output of these analytical sub-processes are stored as further metadata tracks, alongside the digitally encoded content itself; not only does blinkx know what was said, blinkx knows exactly when it was said.

About blinkx

blinkx, the smartest thing on your computer and on the Web, is changing the way that people think about search. Only blinkx can harness the desktop, Web and TV -- unifying content with a one stop search tool. Available to users on the Web at www.blinkx.com and www.blinkx.tv, as well as free to download, blinkx automatically and intelligently links to content anywhere and in any format, on the Web, on the desktop and even on TV. blinkx's conceptual toolbar means users are no longer limited to keyword search; instead, blinkx assesses all the information that the user is actively viewing, and automatically recommends and retrieves relevant content, from local, Web and TV searches, based on context. In addition, www.blinkx.tv makes thousands of hours of TV content fully searchable and available on demand for the first time. blinkx is a privately-held company based in San Francisco and London. More information is available at www.blinkx.com.

Source: blinkx

CONTACT: Julia Blystone of OutCast Communications, +1-415-392-8282, or
julia@outcastpr.com, for blinkx

Web site: http://www.blinkx.com/

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