Kasian Franks, Seeqpod

Friday, June 27, 2008 http://www.beet.tv/2008/06/---font-definit.html Multimedia Search Engine Created in Lawrence Berkeley Labs Shows Dramatic Growth LOS ANGELES--The multimedia "playable" search engine Seeqpod has attracted 5.5 million unique monthly users over the past year, according to internal numbers provided to Beet.TV. Through affiliates and an API, that number will likely double this year, a company spokesperson told us. The search engine technology was developed at the Lawrence Berkeley National Labs. It was initially created as a means to match genes and diseases. Researchers discovered that the they could use the system to match or search many different objects. Seeqpod CEO Kasian Franks recognized the need for a multimedia search engine and applied it to music and video. Seeqpod’s search results, or “discovery results,” can be watched, listened to, and read. The technology crawls and indexes videos and other multimedia in the “deep web,” including social networks. Check out this report in WIRED about the Seeqpod playable music festival guide. More about the company's functionality in music search in by Stacey Higginbotham at GigaOM. Andy interviewed Kasian at OnHollywood earlier this month. -- Kelsey Blodget, Associate Producer