Google has acquired Apture, a start-up that brings instantaneous search to content on the web.
Apture developed Apture Highlights, a browser extension that aims to plug what it calls the “search leak,” which occurs when a user is reading content, wants more information about a keyword or phrase and then opens another browser tab to search for the information on Google, Bing or Yahoo. For content publishers this isn’t ideal—it means the user has disengaged and left the page.
Apture Highlights enables you to highlight any word or phrase on a page and instantly bring up in a window search results from more than 60 sources including YouTube, Twitter, Wikipedia, Google and more for extra context around content. The browser add-on is available for Chrome, Firefox and Apple’s Safari browsers.
According to TechCrunch, Apture’s business model also offered publishers a white-label version of Apture Highlights which is being used by Scribd, The Financial Times, Reuters, Economist.com, ScientificAmerican, BleacherReport.com, and Times of India. Publishers simply insert a line of Javascript code, and readers can then access an HTML-based overlay that acts like a mini browser that lets readers find and explore related multimedia content without leaving the original page. With the plug-in consumers actually stay on a publisher page two to three times longer than without it.
The ten-person Apture team will be joining the Google Chrome team to improve user experience. Google says that Apture’s plug-ins and white-label technology will be shut down within next month or so.
Read more at TechCrunch.
