InkSeine is a new project from Microsoft Research, designed to enable users to perform searches directly from ink. If this description sounds a tad confusing, than simply watch the video fragment embedded at the bottom in order to get an idea of what InkSeine really is. Essentially, the Microsoft Research will permit users to search from ink rather than moving to a search box by transcribing queries. Microsoft emphasized the fact that InkSeine is not a product in any way. At this point in time, the prototype is available exclusively inhouse over at Microsoft as a research demonstration.

"InkSeine is basically a future tablet PC application that allows richer interaction with the web and desktop applications and your tablet PC. Gestures - things like Pen Flicks are one of the main ways that InkSeine works, from the video it seems like a very natural way of working with a tablet. The way you can search direct from a highlighted inking is particularly cool, picking where you want the search to take place, for instance, the web or documents," revealed James Senior, Microsoft UK Partner Technical Specialist.

InkSeine takes both the file system and an additional application out of the searching equation, delivering a new experience via its in-place search capability. And in this context, InkSeine is focused on allowing users to continue using pen-and-ink along with the adjacent gestures in order to search for a variety of content on their devices. In Microsoft's vision, InkSeine will evolve the sandbox that is the Tablet PC when it comes down to a creative design approach via ideation and sketching.

"InkSeine is only available to Microsoft full-time employees. InkSeine is a research demonstration only, and is not a Microsoft product, nor is it intended to become a product. It is just something we built as a pure research project to explore novel pen and ink functionality. There are no plans to make InkSeine available for download external to Microsoft at this time, but we hope to make it available relatively soon for people to play with as we are interested to see what kinds of things people find it useful for on their tablets," Microsoft informed.