Providing item specific functionality via service-assisted applications

A method comprising:

• receiving, by a computing device from a user, a selection of at least one of a plurality of content items displayed by a first application, said selected content item belonging to a category;
• defining a description of the selected content item, said description distinguishing the selected content item from other content items in the same category;
• selecting at least one of a plurality of second applications based on a comparison between the defined description and application data, said application data being associated with the plurality of second applications;
• providing, for display to the user by the computing device, the selected content item, at least a portion of the defined description, and one or more actions associated with the selected second application;
• receiving a request from the user to perform at least one of the actions associated with the selected second application;
• in response to the received request, executing, by the computing device, the selected second application to perform said at least one of the actions using the selected content item as input to the selected second application to produce output data;
• and
• providing the output data to the user for display within the context of the first application.

One or more computer readable storage media embodying computer-executable components, said components comprising:

• a user interface component that when executed causes at least one processor to receive, from a user, a selection of at least one of a plurality of content items displayed by a first application, said selected content item associated with a category;
• a comparison component that when executed causes at least one processor to select a plurality of second applications by matching a description of the selected content item to application data associated with the second applications, said description distinguishing the selected content item from other content items associated with the same category, each of the selected plurality of second applications providing functionality different than that provided by other selected second applications,
• wherein the user interface component further:
• displays to the user the selected content item and the plurality of second applications selected by the comparison component;
• receives a request from the user to execute one or more of the selected second applications;
• a launch component that when executed causes at least one processor to execute, in response to the request received by the user interface component, said one or more of the selected second applications using the selected content item as input to produce output data,
• wherein the user interface component displays to the user, within the context of the first application, the output data produced by the launch component.