Blinkx hosts, searches home video
Company launches a service that lets people upload and store their video files and search other peoples' video.
update Search company Blinkx launched on Monday a service that lets people upload and store their video files and search other peoples' video. The new service also lets people create customized "channels," based on topics or keyword searches, that automatically show video clips when opened and can be downloaded to PCs. "My Blinkx.tv," currently free to use, features user-generated video from 3,500 to 4,000 sources, mostly from grassroots groups and individuals, said Suranga Chandratillake, Blinkx founder.
The company is considering expanding the service with video from traditional media partners that now let Blinkx crawl their video databases, he said. In addition, Blinkx may eventually charge people to view premium content, or it may try to make money from ads on the site, he said. Blinkx competes with video search services from Google, Yahoo, America Online and Microsoft's MSN, but those services do not feature automatic, continuous streaming video like My Blinkx.tv, Chandratillake said.