in Ontario, Startups, Toronto

Idée, who we have covered a few times, is slowly going public with their skunkworks project, called TinEye.

TinEye is a major undertaking, and it is going to bring Idée out of the shadows of the Enterprise product space and right in to your livingroom with a tool that is the equivalent of a Google for images. In fact, I bet Google wishes they had an image search as great as TinEye. I have had a chance to play with it over the last few months and it is hard to describe just how awesome this image search is.

TineEye, which allows anyone to search the internet for images the are similar to an original image, is a consumer-focused site that offers many of the core image matching capabilities of Idée’s enterprise product PixID, but does not offer the enterprise-level monitoring capabilities.

In talking about TinEye, Idee has been very explicit in saying “TinEye literally does for images what Google does for text.” That can be hard to believe right until you actually use the tool. The speed and accuracy of TinEye can only be described at uncanny. It is totally refreshing to play with a tool and a technology that is exciting and inspiring to use. In the last few weeks I have played with some competing tools, and none can match TinEye. Idée’s CEO Leila Boujnane, who spoke at the latest StartupCamp here in Toronto, has said that they will begin looking for about $10-million to $12-million in capital funding for a small stake in the company.

To celebrate the upcoming launch of TinEye, and to spread the word on how great this tool is, we are giving away 20 beta invitations to TinEye.com. To get one, all you have to do is leave a comment below and make sure you fill in your email address. I will send invitations to the first 20 people to leave a comment.

Idée on StartupIndex.ca

85 Comments

  1. Hm, it’ll be interesting to see how this differs from Google image search in usefulness, usability and comprehensiveness. If it somehow analyzes the images themselves rather than just associated keywords, that sounds like it’ll blow Google’s offering out of the water!

    Does anyone smell a potential Google acqisition?

  2. Hm, it’ll be interesting to see how this differs from Google image search in usefulness, usability and comprehensiveness. If it somehow analyzes the images themselves rather than just associated keywords, that sounds like it’ll blow Google’s offering out of the water!

    Does anyone smell a potential Google acqisition?

  3. Have heard from my Irish friend that this has tremendous promise! Looking forward to it!

  4. Have heard from my Irish friend that this has tremendous promise! Looking forward to it!

  5. Go on Leila and Team! Can’t wait to take it for a spin.

  6. Go on Leila and Team! Can’t wait to take it for a spin.

  7. Neat. Where can I get a beta pass? The Mona Lisa demo was a bit lame, why would an average joe want to search for websites that has a copy of an image he already has? Maybe good for photo publishers, but for the average joe? I am not interested in an image look up. If TinEye’s technology can determine what is in my pictures, I’m sold…

  8. Neat. Where can I get a beta pass? The Mona Lisa demo was a bit lame, why would an average joe want to search for websites that has a copy of an image he already has? Maybe good for photo publishers, but for the average joe? I am not interested in an image look up. If TinEye’s technology can determine what is in my pictures, I’m sold…

  9. I’ve been interesting in such a search since solving Da Vinci quiz on Google. Lets see how well it works.

  10. I’ve been interesting in such a search since solving Da Vinci quiz on Google. Lets see how well it works.

  11. Looks really interesting to see if it can make my image searches quicker!

  12. Looks really interesting to see if it can make my image searches quicker!

  13. I am intrigued and thank you for the update!

  14. I am intrigued and thank you for the update!

  15. A Google challenger from the great white north…thank you to Idee for further putting Canada on the map – innovation at its best, and made in Canada.

  16. A Google challenger from the great white north…thank you to Idee for further putting Canada on the map – innovation at its best, and made in Canada.

  17. I was hoping for a free life size ironman figure but a tineye will work as well….please…

  18. I was hoping for a free life size ironman figure but a tineye will work as well….please…

  19. Leila Boujnane gives a great demo looking forward to trying the beta out myself,

  20. Leila Boujnane gives a great demo looking forward to trying the beta out myself,

  21. Paul showed me the demo a couple months back… can’t wait to see it now!
    This is great technology!

  22. Paul showed me the demo a couple months back… can’t wait to see it now!
    This is great technology!

  23. Fantastic!! I cannot wait to put this into action. I adore the concept, and the company.

  24. Fantastic!! I cannot wait to put this into action. I adore the concept, and the company.

  25. As a search engine marketer, I’m interesting in trying this out to understand exactly how it works

  26. As a search engine marketer, I’m interesting in trying this out to understand exactly how it works

  27. I have been watching this company for over a year waiting for a release of a compelling product. I am really looking forward to seeing this!

  28. I have been watching this company for over a year waiting for a release of a compelling product. I am really looking forward to seeing this!

  29. Huh. 27 of you got here before I did. Ah well.

  30. Huh. 27 of you got here before I did. Ah well.

  31. On the chance that the nice people at Idee see fit to release more beta invites…

  32. On the chance that the nice people at Idee see fit to release more beta invites…

  33. Sounds interesting – would love to try it out, and also explore if they will license the technology for internal corporate use…

    Rob

  34. Sounds interesting – would love to try it out, and also explore if they will license the technology for internal corporate use…

    Rob

  35. Hi,
    I am a photography teacher. I hope this tool will revolutionize my profession.

  36. Hi,
    I am a photography teacher. I hope this tool will revolutionize my profession.

  37. This is exactly what I was looking for. Love to try it.

  38. This is exactly what I was looking for. Love to try it.

  39. This is exactly what I was looking for. Love to try it.

Comments are closed.

Webmentions

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