Brand Thunder and Surf Canyon Partner to Bring Personalized Search to Custom Browsers

COLUMBUS, OH (May 19, 2009) – Surf Canyon Incorporated and Brand Thunder LLC announced today an agreement to integrate Surf Canyon’s highly praised personalized search application into Brand Thunder’s custom browser Booms!.  Given the complementary nature of the two products, the partnership will focus on improving the search experience for users of Brand Thunder’s Booms!.

Surf Canyon enhances major search engines by improving relevancy and accelerating discovery of appropriate search results.  The improved relevancy comes from the connection between Surf Canyon and the Brand Thunder Boom!.  For example, a query for “King James” from a Cleveland Cavaliers Boom! could favor results for LeBron James over results for the 16th Century’s King James VI & I.  Additionally, Surf Canyon uses clicks within the search results page to quickly refine suggestions and speed the time it takes a user to find the desired results.

“This is the first bundling partnership for Surf Canyon,” said Mark Cramer, CEO of Surf Canyon.  “We’re excited about working with Brand Thunder as they offer an excellent showcase of how much better search can be when an audience’s interests are factored into their search queries.”

“Search is so core to a user’s Internet experience,” said Patrick Murphy, founder and CEO of Brand Thunder. “Surf Canyon has received such a positive response, we felt it was a natural extension to our goal of providing a better and more personal browsing experience.”

Brand Thunder’s browser Booms! are free, lightweight active customizations that can include themes, toolbars, sidebars and other content or functionality. Users can switch real-time between any installed Booms!, or change from a full Boom! view to a small Boom! (toolbar only), all without restarting the browser.

About Surf Canyon: Surf Canyon develops real-time implicit personalization technology for Internet search. Its patent-pending Discovery Engine for Search™ transforms result pages from lists of static links into dynamic knowledge resources, enabling users to more quickly and easily find pertinent information buried among all the irrelevant results, significantly accelerating the search process. The company is headquartered in Oakland, CA and was founded in 2006. For more information please visit www.SurfCanyon.com.

About Brand Thunder: Formed in April 2007, Brand Thunder creates custom-browser experiences.  Brands enjoy a more persistent connection to their Internet consumer through the custom browser Boom!, which increases website visits and revenue.  Through a software installation, end users change the look and feel of their Internet browser into an immersive experience from their favorite sports team, entertainment franchise or Internet site.  The custom browser Booms! feature official logos, colors, content and functionality, but can also extend capabilities including video, music players or other Internet widgets. Current business partners and clients include the Huffington Post, Major League Soccer, NASCAR, NBA, NCAA, NHL, Universal Music and Yahoo!. Samples found at http://brandthunder.com/gallery/.

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The press release was also posted on Brand Thunder’s blog.