Times Online has teamed up with search engine Blinkx to launch a co-branded search toolbar that users can download for free from the Times website. The new tool enables users to search for multimedia files on the internet as well as for files on the hard disk of their own computer.

Also featured are 'Smart Folders'. Users can designate folders for specific types of information, for example sport or entertainment news, and the folders will automatically be updated with the latest information on these subjects.

Peter Bale, director of Times Online, described the new product as follows: "Smart Search gives our readers a downloadable search service which can not only take them back to Times Online news -- in any category -- but also allows them to search the site, the internet as a whole, video, blogs, health services and in its advanced version their own PCs."

The Times website invites readers to comment on the new tool so it can be improved before a full launch.

The objectives of Times Online's new desktop search are to provide readers with a constant link to Times Online headlines, to get them the information they are looking for, and to save them time.

It is a similar business strategy to that of The Guardian and the Los Angeles Times who are launching branded RSS readers.

Sources: Journalism.co.uk, Digital Media Europe