visual search
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Google Lens may add translation and restaurant 'filters'
As clever as Google Lens can be, it's still quite limited in what it can do before it points you to another app. You might not have to lean on those other apps quite so often n the near future. In the wake of an initial discovery earlier in April, the 9to5Google team has spotted evidence that Lens could soon include a host of "filters" aimed at fulfilling specific augmented reality tasks. A "translate" filter, for instance, might auto-detect one language and offer to convert it to another instead of simply copying text and asking to launch Google Translate.
Google Goggles Android update makes your vacation photos slightly more interesting
Google Googles' powers of perception have become a little more perspicacious, thanks to a new update for Android users. With version 1.6, tourists can use their smartphones to take a picture of a given area, while Google's visual search app works in the background to identify any notable landmarks, paintings or other objects. If it picks up on anything of interest, it'll automatically notify the user, instantly endowing him or her with gooey chunks of knowledge. It seems like a pretty user-friendly refresh, though things will really get interesting if faces ever get involved. Hit up the source link below to download the update for yourself.
Windows Phone 'Mango' search offers location-specific results, app integration (video)
Windows Phone's latest iteration (codename Mango) is all about keeping it in the hood. We had a chance to sit down with a Windows Phone rep before today's big reveal, and they let us in on a couple of new features that will most definitely set the OS apart -- at least when it comes to navigating the tangled web that is the internet. We did get a quick glimpse at IE9, but the new browser isn't much of a game changer -- it supports HTML5, but still won't deliver Flash or Silverlight compatibility. The real news here is in the Bing-powered search function, which lets users surf the vast expanses of the web four different ways, with a focus on the local. Clicking the dedicated search button from the Windows Phone home screen takes you to a familiar Bing page, offering the visual, audio, and voice options we heard rumored earlier this month, along with a city scape icon. That skyline represents Local Scout, a function that focuses your queries on the neighborhood you're in, providing location-specific results that highlight important information about establishments and events in your immediate area. Clicking through on any link brings up general information as well as reviews gleaned from popular user-generated sites. That's not all that's new, however, as Mango also offers some nifty tricks in its visual search. Instead of just snapping a barcode, you can actually use a shot of the product itself to bring up information about pricing, availability, and relevant apps. The demo we saw used the cover of The Girl Who Played With Fire, and supplied among the search results a link to the title in the Kindle app. This isn't exactly groundbreaking technology -- Google Goggles does much the same thing -- but what's truly different here is the tight integration of such functions in the operating system, as well as links to outside applications. Thus, the experience is a bit unlike any other in the OS atmosphere, upending our idea of what it means to search the internets without resorting to standalone programs. Whether it's something users will take to is anybody's guess, but we're certain it's enough to get folks talking. For a deeper (and very vertical) look at Local Scout, hop on past the break.
Google Goggles image recognition debuts on iPhone
Android users have been enjoying Google Goggles for a while; now, the image recognition feature has made it over to the iPhone. The first hints that GG would make the leap to iPhone came back in August, and we're glad to see it here now. Google Goggles delivers the kind of visual product search and recognition features found in SnapTell (now owned by Amazon) and Kooaba. While it's a separate app on the Android Market, on iPhone it's bundled in with the existing Google Mobile app. As the video shows, with Google Goggles (not to be confused with other, similar sounding technologies), you can use visual recognition to search for information with your iPhone's camera -- even translate text from other languages into English on demand. The service works best on copy, logos, book covers, landmarks, wine labels and other easily recognized images; it doesn't do so well with organic shapes like animals, people or food. Note that since it requires an auto-focusing camera, Goggles will only work on the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4. If you update your Google Mobile app, you'll see a new camera icon in the top bar. The first time you tap it, you'll have to clear several screenfuls of instructions and accept a new version of the Google mobile usage agreement. You can, at your option, have your image capture history saved to your Google account. More details are available on Google's blog. Get Goggling!
Google buys Plink, puts it to work on Google Goggles
Well, it looks like Google Goggles could soon be getting a few enhancements, as visual search company Plink has just announced that it's been acquired by Google, and that it will now focus all its future development efforts on Google's own visual search app. For those not familiar with it, Plink is the UK-based company behind the PlinkArt Android app, which lets you simply take a photo of a painting and then receive all the pertinent information about it. Of course, that's something that Google Goggles also does, but it seems that Plink will be working to make that functionality even better, and help out on other types visual search as well. Of course, that also means that the PlinkArt app itself will cease to be, but it will apparently remain functional in its current incarnation for the time being.
Google Goggles gets video demo on Sony Ericsson Xperia X10
There's little sense in resisting the obvious: Google is slowly but surely taking over your life, but rather than get indignant and discombobulated, we'd suggest letting go and appreciating how much easier things are with the folks in Mountain View squarely in control. Take Google Goggles, for instance, which aims to convert cameraphone images into useful search results on its own Android platform. Up until now, we've been shown stock demos and videos of it running on conventional handsets, but seeing the Goggles hard at work on Sony Ericsson's not-yet-released Xperia X10 is another thing entirely. Hop on past the break for the frames you're craving, but don't bank on this making the wait for said phone any simpler to stomach.
Google Goggles brings visual search to Android; Favorite Places brings QR codes to restaurant reviews
Looks like Google's been busy on the camera tip lately -- not only is it launching a new QR code-based Favorite Places mobile search product today, it's also demoing Google Goggles, a visual search app that generates local results from analyzing mobile phone images. Favorite Places isn't super-complicated, but it sounds like it'll be pretty useful: Google's sent QR code window decals to the 100,000 most researched local businesses on Google and Google Maps, and scanning the code with your phone will bring up reviews, coupons, and offer the ability to star the location for later. (It's not implemented yet, but you'll be able to leave your own reviews in the future.) Google hasn't built this into the Google Mobile app yet, so you'll need something to read QR codes with -- Android devices can use the free Barcode Scanner, and Google and QuickMark are offering 40,000 free downloads of QuickMark for the iPhone today. We just tried it out using QuickMark and it works pretty well -- although we'll wait to see how many QR codes we see in the wild before we call this one totally useful. Google Goggles is a little more interesting from a technology standpoint: it's an Android app that takes photos, tries to recognize what in them, and then generates search results about them. Goggles can recognize landmarks, books, contact info, artwork, places, wine, and logos at the moment, and Google says it's working on adding other types of objects, like plants. Pretty neat stuff -- but how about linking these two services together at some point, guys? Check some videos after the break.
Search By Camera! delivers product data from cellphone pics
Much like the Photo2Search project being developed by Microsoft Research Asia, a new cameraphone-based image recognition service called Search By Camera! is promising to help consumers acquire info on products by simply snapping a picture while shopping. Developed by Bandai Networks and D2 Communications, using technology from Evolution Robotics (which is also at the core of a similar service launched earlier this year, called Mobot Mobile Visual Search, as well as having been recently licensed by Robosapien manufacturer WowWee Robotics), Search By Camera! will currently only work for the handful of folks who happen to have imported a DoCoMo FOMA N902iS phone into the US. Further degrading its utility is the fact that Bandai and D2C must get permission for each and every product they want to include in their database, which has so far only come from a scant ten companies. Still, even if this particular initiative doesn't take off, it's pretty clear that image recognition will play a leading role in the future of mobile search, with many handsets already possessing the proper tools that make such a service feasible.
