• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, December 1, 2005

Video search start-up blinkx today is expected to debut its first co-branded toolbar, Times Online Smart Search, in partnership with the online arm of Britain's Times and Sunday Times newspapers. The partnership marks blinkx's first major distribution deal.

Users who download the toolbar will gain access to blinkx's Contextual News service, or news that relates specifically to content that a user is viewing on their screen. In other words, the technology automatically links users to news stories that relate to the information they are interacting with on their desktop in real-time.

"News is only news as it's happening and so other systems, such as RSS which require users to subscribe to specific feeds which interest them, cannot automatically link readers to new breaking stories unless the subject matches their predefined interests," Suranga Chandratillake, blinkx founder and chief technology officer, said in a statement.

blinkx and Times Online are also offering customized Smart Folders--or what Chandratillake described as intelligent folders that automatically update themselves with content based on the focus of the folder as soon as it becomes available. For example, users who download the dedicated Smart Folder for "Today's Headlines" automatically receive links to the top stories each day from Times Online.