Blinkx Links Video To iPod

Video and audio search engine Blinkx on Monday launched a service that can upload video to Apple Computer's iPod or other digital media player.

The service enables visitors to search the San Francisco-based company's database of professional and amateur video and podcasts. Content can then be uploaded with "one click" to an iPod or other player.

In addtion, users can choose to save the search as a "channel," which is automatically updated and fed to devices. Blinkx claims to handle all the formatting of file types to the device.

"We wanted to make the experience of finding compelling multimedia and making it portable, as efficient and easy as possible," Suranga Chandratillake, chief technology officer and founder of Blinkx, said in a statement.

Blinkx, which is about a year old, uses voice-recognition software to search multimedia files, delivering what it claims are more accurate results than the major portals, such as Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp.'s MSN and Google Inc.

The company, which added podcast search this year, focuses on TV video, which it offers through partnerships with content providers, such as CNN and Fox News. In order to gain access to content not available for free over the web, Blinkx, like other video search engines, has to negotiate agreements with the content providers.