At its base, Evri offers a semantic discovery engine that delivers grouped search results around a topic. Like any search engine, you enter the term you’re looking for, and it delivers results, but it a more user friendly fashion than Google. Here’s a couple of screen shots on various search terms I made on the site (including a vanity search) to give you an idea:

The results aren’t bad, although like any service of this type, the results aren’t as strong as the results you’ll get out of Google. There’s also no site matching in some results, so for example although I have a page, it never links me to The Inquisitr or even my own personal blog. It is however better than some I’ve previously seen.

Top of the new features with the move into open beta is the Evri content recommendation widget. The widget shows how the people, places, and things in an article are connected to other things on the web and in the news. From there, users can drill down within specific relationships and focus on just what interests them. The code can be embedded at a bar at the end of a post with a pop-up, with options for a sidebar or even full box coming shortly. If it sounds familiar, it looks identical to the widgets offered by Sphere, although obviously with a different base for results.

Evri has also unveiled the Evri Garden, billed as Evri’s technology playground, allowing those interested to directly interact with the same back end system Evri scientists and engineers use.

These sorts of semantic/ networked search type services have been popping up regularly over the last two years, and normally I’d be dismissive of most of them unless they completely wowed me. Evri doesn’t wow me, but it’s not half bad either, and even at this early stage it is most definitely usable. The company is led by ex-Amazon VP of Technology, Neil Rosema and counts Paul Allen as a lead investor, so talent and smarts isn’t lacking here. It’s not the next Google, but the needle is slightly pointing to the winner side when considering its future.

Related posts:

1. Gays.com moves into open beta
2. FanSnap Live Event Search Exits Beta
3. ShareThis Launches New Enhanced Widget In Beta

According to their QBase entry, “Simplifying the management of sites and services that you already use like blogs and social networks, socialthing! synchronizes your personal information, content, and friendships so that you can post this information across the social web, as opposed to just having it contained in a single site.”

Socialthing can be added to a long list of AOL Acquisitions, including Truveo, Sphere, Bebo and Weblogs Inc. in the social space.

AOL may not be the most popular or most highly trafficked company on the web, but they’re like the little engine that could, they keep on trying, and they aren’t afraid to spend money to buy in destinations and tools to help them achieve their goals. Their success rate with acquisitions may not be perfect, and we’ve covered issues at Weblogs Inc previously, but they always seem to try their best with acquisitions, as opposed to Google who has a track record of letting acquisitions die off while completely ignoring existing user bases.

The question then becomes, who would you rather be acquired by? On their track record with acquisitions, and a company that is trying its hardest to deliver the best from acquired products, the answer for me at least would be AOL and I’m betting that I’m not alone in thinking that way either.

Related posts:

1. Internet Brands acquired four sites for $2.8 million in Qtr 4, and why you should care
2. PaidContent acquired for $30 million
3. Sociable Acquired By Startups.com