TinEye is the first image search engine on the web in beta to use image identification technology to find photos and pictures on the web. Given an image to search for, TinEye tells you where and how that image appears all over the web, even if it has been modified. Just as you enter text in a regular search engine such as Google to find web pages that contain the specified text, TinEye lets you submit an image to find web pages that contain the exact image.

Using sophisticated pattern recognition algorithms, TinEye creates a unique and compact digital signature or ‘fingerprint’ for each image and adds it to its index. When you want to find out where an image is being used on the web, you need to submit it to TinEye. The attributes of the image are analyzed instantly, and its fingerprint is compared to the fingerprint of every single image in the TinEye search index.

Some of the uses of TinEye include:

+ Find out where and how an image appears online
+ Research products using a product photo
+ Find modified versions of unmodified images or vice versa
+ Research the usage of editorial or stock images
+ Get international, multilingual websites in your search results
+ Research corporate imagery or brand usage online
+ Use a webcam to digitize any image and search for it on the web
+ Search for your images to see where they are being used

View examples of some cool searches on TinEye here. Visit www.tineye.com to sign up for an invite.