This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.
Name: yolink
Quick Pitch: Yolink is a next-generation technology that enhances search by extracting information from behind links and inside of documents.
Genius Idea: Yolink wants to be a researcher’s best friend. How? By searching not just a page, but also the links contained within that page. This makes finding contextually linked information super simple.
Yolink is available as a browser plugin (for Firefox, Internet Explorer and Google Chrome), a desktop search app or a widget you can integrate with your own blog. The service is also an add-on to Craigslist, Wikipedia and Google Patent Search.
The Yolink team has also created a yolink Labs project that showcases just how powerful the service really is. From the Labs projects, you can interact with Yolink in any browser.
This video shows off how useful Yolink can be when doing research from a Project Gutenberg text:
Yolink would be useful enough if it only searched behind links and showed you relevant data from within those links, but it takes it to the next level with its share and save options. You can save the data to a Google Doc for instance, or save each link as a bookmark. You can also take data and send it to people via e-mail, capture it with Evernote or save something directly to EasyBib, with the citation automatically formatted correctly and linked.
Yolink has also opened up its developer API so that it can be integrated with just about any site on the web. Yolink is like semantic search on steroids and with the right type of integration, this service could really start to turn heads.
As it stands right now, Yolink is one of the best ways to canvas through lots of dense text or to deep dive into heavily-linked sources.
Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark
BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.
Entrepreneurs can take advantage of the Azure Services platform for their website hosting and storage needs. Microsoft recently announced the “new CloudApp()” contest – use the Azure Services Platform for hosting your .NET or PHP app, and you could be the lucky winner of a USD 5000* (please see website for official rules and guidelines).”
Reviews: Craigslist, Evernote, Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, PHP, Wikipedia
More About: bizspark, Search, semantic search, semantic web, spark-of-genius, startup, yolink
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