Google Goggles for Android

Google has done some interesting things with mobile search in the past year, introducing voice search and local search using the location awareness capabilities of today’s smartphones. Today, they are introducing visual search called Google Goggles.

Google Goggles let’s you take a picture of something, and Google will do a quick search that tells you more whatever you were looking at. Obviously, it won’t work for everything, but it does have fairly broad application. They provide examples of how you can use it for looking up information about a landmark, artwork, bottle of wine, brand, book, contact info (i.e. a business card) or place.

How Google Goggles Works

In a nutshell, Goggles lets users search for objects using images rather than words. Simply take a picture with your phone’s camera, and if we recognize the item, Goggles returns relevant search results. Right now Goggles identifies landmarks, works of art, and products (among other things), and in all cases its ability to “see further” is rooted in powerful computing, pervasive connectivity, and the cloud:

• First they send the user’s image to Google’s datacenters
• Next they create signatures of objects in the image using computer vision algorithms
• They then compare signatures against all other known items in our image recognition databases; and
• They figure out how many matches exist; and
• Return one or more search results, based on available meta data and ranking signals; and
• Google does all of this in just a few seconds

Google Goggles Explained

This video provides a great introduction to Google Goggles.

It’s a clever idea, but it’s currently only available on phones running Android 1.6+. Of course there’s no reason they couldn’t do the same for the iPhone or other smartphones, and I suspect versions for those will pop up soon.

If you’re running an Android phone, head over to the Android Market on your phone and search for “Google Goggles.” Let us know how it works for you!

Nimbuzz Launches on Android

Nimbuzz has launched an Android version of their “mobile social messaging” application.  Like it’s iPhone sibling, the Nimbuzz Android app lets you connect to multiple IM and social networks, including Google Talk, Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, Skype, Facebook and others.

The interface is compact and efficient, complete with avatar display, online awareness (to determine if your contact is available) and an icon to show what network they are on.

The Android version has some unique features:

• Time Sensitive User Interface – Touch a contact’s icon lightly to see their profile. A stronger touch starts a new chat.
• Auto-reconnect – Keeps you connected using whatever signal is available. If you leave the range of your WiFi, Nimbuzz will automatically reconnect using your data connection.
• Support for some location-specific networks. Not a big selling point for me personally, but Nimbuzz even supports social networks such as Hyves from the Netherlands, StudiVZ from Germany, Gadu-Gadu from Poland, and Giovani from Italy.

I like the UI for the contact list. If you’re running Android, you’ll want to give Nimbuzz a try.

Palringo Launches Multi-protocol IM for Google Android

Popular multi-protocol mobile instant messenger Palringo is now available on the Android Market.  This free Palringo instant messenger connects with a range of IM networks, including AIM, ICQ, WLM (MSN), Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk and Facebook. And unlike Palringo on the iPhone, this runs in the background on Google Android phones, allowing you to stay connected and get notified of new messages as they are received. 

“By integrating the messaging capabilities of popular IM applications and social networks into a single application, Palringo has created a messaging community that runs to hundreds and hundreds of millions of users” said Martin Rosinski, Palringo’s CTO.

Palringo for Android is also location aware, as you can see from the screenshots below — allowing you to see where your friends are (assuming they are also running Palringo, and have location aware phones. 

  

This version also provides the ability to share pictures, allowing you to snap a pic with your phone’s camera and send it to your buddies, regardless of their platform (they could be on AIM sitting at their desktop, for example). 

Useful Links

• Palringo – official site
• Palringo launches its multi-service IM application on Android Market – press release
• Palringo for Android Released: All Your IM In One Place – jkOnTheRun