August 16, 2006 Comments
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Sometimes I look at the latest Google acquisition and shake my head wondering "why?" Other days, I find myself absolutely intrigued at the seemingly endless possibilities that such a pairing could bring. Today is one of the latter... Loren Baker has a pretty lengthy article over at Search Engine Journal that talks about Google's purchase of Neven Vision, a leading player in face and image recognition. From easier indexing and search capabilities for Picasa to mobile marketing, there are quite a few ways that Google could implement this technology.
Talk about stuff from sci-fi movies...
Imagine Google AdWords technology monitoring the profiles of users and the paths they generally take to the workplace, favorite lunchtime eatery, or commute home; and then optimizing the outdoor or subway advertising to show the most relevant ad to the most relevant group at the most relevant time.
Take a photo of that advertisement with your mobile phone and enter to win a contest, subscribe to a magazine or purchase that last minute gift for your spouse using Mobile Google Checkout. This is the (speculated) reality which Neven Vision brings to the Google Plex.
Better yet, what if there is not an advertisement to photograph? Neven Vision iScout can be used to simply take an image of an object, recognize that image and then possibly serve comparative shopping information via Froogle or normal Web Search or Image Search results.
Example, I’m walking through the woods and notice a tick has crawled up my leg and bitten me. I can use my phone (or wi-fi camera for that matter once wi-fi is widespread) to snap a picture of that rascally arachnid, its marks and its coloring to see if that tick is carrying Lymes Disease. The same method could be used to identify poisonous snakes or spiders and an anecdote or treatment and time constraints for finding nearby hospitals. The possibilities are endless.
Imagine the difference between going home and searching Google for the name of the person you just met at a party. Now, imagine going home and uploading the image you took of a stranger at that same party and figuring out who they are. Kinda freaky, eh?
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