You want to watch a movie or television and are not sure what title to get?  Take a look at Jinni, a new site in private beta that finds programs based on your mood... and we've got invites for How-To Geek readers!

Jinni is a cool new site that really allows you to search for video entertainment in a very specific way.  You can choose from Movies, TV, Short Films, and online videos to find specific genre's or what you're in the mood to watch.  Jinni’s search and personal recommendations help users make sense of all the video out there with a one-stop service for choosing and getting linked to watch online or off.

Search Overview

Type in a general type mood you are in to pull up results.

You can also search more specifically for the mood you're in or the type of movie you're looking for.

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If there seem to be too many results for a general search, Jinni allows you to easily narrow down the results.

Squeeze Search

Hover over the individual results for more information and options to watch the movie, add to your Wish List or Favorites, or find similar programs.

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They let you create a custom profile where you can select what you like an dislike in entertainment to better the search results.

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Netflix Integration

You can easily integrate search and recommendations from Jinni with your Netflix account.

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Here is a comprehensive list of cool Netflix features.

  • Semantic search over the Netflix catalog from Jinni
  • Discovery just within the Netflix Watch Instantly catalog
  • Add titles to Netflix queue or start streaming with one click from Jinni
  • Import ratings and reviews from Netflix to jumpstart Jinni recommendations from the Movie Genome
  • Import Netflix rental history so Jinni only recommends what you haven’t seen

We sat down and talked with Yosi Glick, the Co-Founder of Jinni, to find out more about their service and what they have to offer. Here's what he had to say:

Let's start with your position or title at Jinni and how long have you been working with it?

I’m co-founder and CEO. I’ve been with Jinni since our founding in 2008, and in the year and more leading up to that when we were discussing and working out the ideas.

What is your vision for Jinni?  What do you see it as now and how would you like to see it in future years?

I see Jinni as a gateway for people to choose what to watch in a smart, intuitive way - whether over the internet, TV (VOD), or video selection in game consoles. We’re working to build a universal catalog that includes all the quality professional and semi-professional video out there, and links to wherever it can be watched.

In the longer term future, I envision Jinni as a discovery engine for all experienced-based products: one place that understands your tastes in videos, games, books and even travel.

Netflix users will really love the ability to integrate their searches on Jinni to their Netflix account. What kind of arrangement do you have with Netflix?

Netflix has a developer API that offers great opportunities for other services to link with them, for a richer user experience all around. Our use of the Netflix API followed on many user requests, and lets people easily integrate Jinni’s unique search and Movie-Genome-based recommendations with their Netflix accounts. From Jinni you can search semantically in the Netflix catalog, filter just by what’s on Watch Instantly, and add to your queue or start watching with a single click.

We plan to continue developing the Netflix API integration, with queue management, personalized alerts, and more. Aside from Netflix, we’ve also integrated with Hulu, and plan to integrate in the near future with other services like iTunes and Amazon Unbox.

What type of social networking aspects will be incorporated with the final version?

At Jinni, we’re not trying to be a new social network. We’re focused on helping people find new movies and TV shows. But video is a social experience, and social interactions are of course an important part of the picture - checking what new movies your friends are watching, determining which movie a whole group of friends will enjoy, seeing what someone whose taste you like thought of a certain movie…. Those types of connections and discussions around movies and TV shows are the guidelines for the social aspects we’re developing now for Jinni.

Is there anything else you would like to add or explain to our readers?

I’ll take the chance to say a few words about Jinni’s technology. The idea behind our Movie Genome is to reflect how people really think and talk about what they watch. Our Movie Genome is based on an ontology developed by film professionals, and new titles are indexed with an innovative Natural Language Processing technology for analyzing metadata and reviews. Our semantic approach of analyzing video metadata and reviews to determine the “genes” of each title combines human insight and multiple perspectives (from many reviews) with the consistency and efficiency of automation. I believe this leads to a more natural and satisfying process of choosing what to watch based on personal moods and taste.

Conclusion

Jinni.com recently opened in private beta and has 20,000 movie, TV and video titles and also offer APIs for Internet and TV content providers.  Jinni also will be adding social networking features soon.  For Netflix users, Jinni’s intuitive search and personal recommendations, powered by the Movie Genome, offer a groundbreaking new way of choosing what to watch without even visiting the Netflix site.  Overall this site is a lot of fun to use to find quality entertainment and with their search technology should become a popular place to find video.

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Click Here for the Free Private Beta of Jinni.com  (limited to 300 readers)