This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.
Name: Meshin
Quick Pitch: Meshin is an Outlook sidebar that organizes information contextually so that you can work faster and smarter.
Genius Idea: Using semantic technology and natural language processing, Meshin can take information from your inbox and connect it with related information on the web and conversations on social networks.
Meshin is a Xerox-funded project incubated at the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), where the Meshin team has worked on developing semantic technologies to create what they call “context-aware information services.” In other words, this is technology that can go beyond keyword matching and create actual meaning.
For example, when I’m doing research for an article, I often end up gathering pieces of information from a wide array of social channels. A conversation might start by e-mail, but I might also have messages sent back and forth on Facebook or Twitter. Instead of having to search separate inboxes and social streams to collect all of my material, Meshin promises to make all of that data accessible from my inbox.
Why the inbox? Because for better or for worse, that’s still the central communication hub for many users, especially business users. Meshin is a plugin for Microsoft Outlook 2007, with support for Outlook 2010 promised shortly. Meshin is also actively looking to the community for guidance on what other platforms and services to add support for.
So what makes Meshin different from say, Xobni, Gist or Rapportive? Well, really it’s all about scope.
Xobni, as an example, does a really great job of helping people find contacts and get information about those individuals from headers, vCards and so on.
Meshin’s goal is to go beyond contacts and also link to information that is linked by your own social graph, available through public timelines or websites, via information sources like Wikipedia, LinkedIn and Google.
One of the cool things that Meshin has planned is the ability to index content behind hyperlinks, similar to what Yolink is doing. This would be useful when you are trying to find a link to a certain site in your e-mail that doesn’t contain any helpful keywords to identify it.
Get Your Invite
Meshin is still in the invite-only stage of its beta, but has extended access to the plugin to 500 Mashable readers. Please be aware that as of right now, this works in Outlook 2007 only.
To get your invite, just follow @meshin on Twitter and RT this post. Meshin will DM you to give you access to the beta.
The semantic web promises to make finding information by context rather than by keyword a reality. Until we get there, what tools do you use to better manage your various information streams?
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.
Reviews: Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Mashable, Microsoft Outlook, Twitter, Wikipedia, Xobni
More About: email, meshin, Outlook, semantic search, semantic web, xobni
For more Tech coverage:
- Follow Mashable Tech on Twitter
- Become a Fan on Facebook
- Subscribe to the Tech channel
- Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad