Google released an update(v1.3) to the Google Goggles app for iPhone and Android on Monday. The latest update brings us fully into the virtual reality world of the future via visual search capability. Just hold your phone up to an object and BAM.... online content and search options are at your fingertips. What are some of the things you can search visually with Goggles?
QR Codes/Bar Code Scanner: Google Goggles makes interpreting a QR code or product barcode even easier...and faster (claiming under 2 seconds to process). Codes in Entertainment Weekly movie trailer ads. Codes on major ads in print media. You no longer need to take a photo in a reader app to launch the embedded content. You don't even have to press a button! With Goggles, just hold up the camera phone to the object so Goggles can recognize it using it's nifty visual recognition and watch the magic happen. Read product reviews, check availability and search competitor pricing in an instant.
Ad Recognition: Goggles will recognize print ads and launch enhanced online content on any ad published in a major magazine or newspaper published since August 2010. Google tested the advertising image recognition ability with some big brands before launch - . Holy cow Batman...Is this the integration we've been talking about? A traditional print ad that launches digital content? Why... what will this mean for the traditional marketer vs online marketer war?
Now the goofy part is that Goggles can also solve a Sudoku puzzle. Of course the tech community is truly geeked about this one. Check out the Google Labs video to see the app beat Sudoku champion Tammy McLeod. It IS geeky cool, isn't it?
