Is the way we search about to change?

14 July 2004 20:55 GMT / By Stuart Miles

According to Blinkx the way we search the web is about to change as its new web searching service launches on Thursday. Rather than approach the service in the same way as every other search engine, the interesting angle here is that you don't have to work out the correct keywords to start searching. Instead, the search engine does it for you.

The system works by downloading a small application to your PC. What this then does is constantly monitor your screen for changes and depending on what information is captures will depend on the results it throws back at you. From here you can see other pages that reference the same content, blogs that are talking about it and whether or not the BBC has a news video about it.

The aim is to make searching easier and if you are a keen user of GoogleScout or the “More of the same” feature in current search engines where you can see related stories with the click of a button then this will suit your web surfing style.

Off the web and the blinkx has made the application act as a search tool for your computer. The software once an initial scan has been carried out will allow you to search the contents of your drive, and like the search engines it is trying to defeat you will have to result back to using keywords, however as Kathy Rittweger, co founder of Blinkx states “you have to start your search somewhere.”

Rittweger conceded that it's early days for this search engine admitting that Blinkx's search capabilities are no way near the billions of pages that Google parses through each day, in fact Pocket-lint.co.uk doesn't feature in search results even when we typed in the web address.

Blinkx are also hoping to develop the service further adding Mac support later in the year as well as shopping and auction features through key partners. As an idea it will be interesting to see how it takes off and whether it becomes the niche search engine the founders are hoping for.

Full tags

Software, Online, Search engines, Blinkx