blekko Launches izik: Search Imagined for a Tablet-Friendly World

izik Leverages blekko Search Technology With A Sleek, Visually Powerful Design That Extends Far Beyond The Traditional 10-Blue-Link Model

REDWOOD SHORES, CA (PRWEB) January 04, 2013

blekko, the search engine that uses human-curation to eliminate spam from search results, announced today the launch of izik, a new search experience that is uniquely designed for the tablet. izik capitalizes on the form and image rich functionality of the tablet and delivers visual, touch screen friendly search results that are organized by specific category and easy to scan with the flip of a finger.

With an estimated 80 million tablets shipping in North America alone in 2013 according to NDP Display Search, tablets are the fastest growing personal computer of all time. This device represents an environmental shift in the manner in which content is consumed.

“Because of the limitations on typing on a tablet, combined with the search-and-explore mentality of tablet searchers, tablet queries tend to be short and the paradigm of 10 blue links as search results doesn't make sense on these devices,” said Rich Skrenta, CEO of blekko. “With izik, we can use our state of the art technology to dynamically create context for any query in the results themselves, and use a tablet-friendly design to surface them in a fun and easily-digestible manner.“

izik leverages blekko's unique Dynamic Inference Graph, the most sophisticated categorization engine ever built, to deliver a dynamically created set of categories for every query. The Dynamic Inference Graph is an enormous semantic database that algorithmically maps queries into thousands of categories. For example, a search for “Kate Middleton” offers users the ability to directly access a quick answer as well as results from gossip, fashion, latest and images, while a search for “Lincoln” offers movie times, direct access to the official Lincoln car site, as well as results from reviews, car part sites, colleges, news and more.

Users can swipe their way through results in any one category, scroll to see results from other categories and pinch to zoom to easily share a result through the social network directly from the search experience. izik is available as both an iOS and Android app as well as through the website izik.com.

Blekko investor and advisor Ashton Kutcher said, “It's really exciting to see Izik come to life. A year ago, I remember brainstorming with the blekko team and talking about the unique opportunities for optimizing search for the mobile and tablet experience. I think Izik is a really powerful innovation in search that can be the epic tablet search experience.”

For more information, visit: http://www.izik.com

Available in Google Play and the Apple App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/izik-search/id579421263

About blekko
Founded in 2007, blekko has pursued innovations that would eliminate spam in search results. blekko believes that search should be open, transparent and collaborative. blekko combines traditional algorithmic search with human curation to eliminate spam and deliver results from only the most reputable sites. For more information, visit: http://blekko.com/

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