Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Thing 3: Looking Through Google Goggles

When I looked at the selected apps for Thing 3, I wasn't sure which to try.  I didn't think any of them sounded all that useful to me, but I want to learn more about my phone's capabilities, so I chose Google Goggles.  It is a very intriguing concept, this "visual search technology."  Essentially, you snap a picture in the app (instead of entering keywords in a google search box), and Google returns a list of search results.  My first attempt was the cover of the book, "Yoga for Kids," and my search results included the Amazon listing for the book as well as sites about doing yoga with kids.  Pretty cool.  
I tried a few other items (a humidifier, a toy, a box of candy) and got limited useful results.  The app only read the text on a "Lego" toy and on the humidifier.  I am not sure exactly how this would be useful to me personally, but I see its biggest value in the translate feature.    Say you are outside the country and trying to read a sign in a language you don't know - just open the app and snap a pic of the sign and click "translate;" MAGIC!  
Maybe someday I will be in France and need to read the train schedule - I will turn to Google Goggles for sure.  Until then I will stick to my old spectacles.

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