Search Tool Looks Ahead

A new search utility "pre-searches" for what you are interested in by reading what you are reading. The free "Pico" download from Video search engine company Blinkx looks at the words onscreen in any application and automatically generates matching search results. Pico is a mini-toolbar that lights up when it finds matching content from blogs, video the web, Wikipedia or news sites. Blinkx founder Suranga Chandratillake says that by always having search results available, people will search more often. 'We are trying to unshackle users from search as destination... It almost makes search invisible," according to Chandratillake. Blinkx generates revenue from ads search results pages generated by partner Miva. Chandratillake says the company protects privacy because its over-the-shoulder watching is session based, so each time you switch applications, the data is deleted. All of the data that is temporarily stored on the company's servers is encrypted, and users can turn off the tool whenever they don't want Pico to tag along. Having an omnipresent search tool may save you a few keystrokes when you need/want to search, but if the results are good, it may also be a distraction to always have related content at your disposal. Blinkx, which has largely been flying under the radar, has deals with all three TV networks and several other publishers to make content accessible through its video search engine. I bet Google is starting to pay attention now.