Posts Tagged ‘search’
Google: “Faces are objects that can be recognized”
December 7th, 2009
Now that you can point your cameraphone at an object and get Google search results back about that image, what about photographing a stranger and getting Google results back for his or her name? With facial recognition in Picasa and Picasa Web Albums, that doesn't seem far-fetched. Today Google confirmed that the search engine could recognize faces based on photos, but they decided not to enable that functionality until they "work through issues of user privacy." (These quotes may not be exact; pulled from Danny Sullivan's liveblog of Google’s Web Search “Evolution” Event today.)
December 7th, 2009, 1 comment
Today Google releases a new search-by-picture Android application called Google Goggles. You point your cameraphone at a product, landmark, logo, book or DVD, business card, or storefront, take a photo, and Goggles returns search results related to that photo. While I love the idea of the app, in practice Goggles is pretty slow to analyze a photo and return results, at least on my G1--and the results are hit-or-miss. I snapped photos of an Xbox 360 controller, a copy of Moby Dick, a bottle of Mucinex and a box of Sudafed (hey, I'm sick today). Goggles turned up information about Moby Dick and Sudafed instantly, but choked on the Xbox controller and the Mucinex. Download Goggles for free by searching for it in the Android Market, or check out the explainer video about Goggles here.
October 15th, 2009, 13 comments
After only a few weeks of Wave usage, my inbox is been teeming with activity, full of waves from strangers who have added me and 17 other strangers to items I don't particularly care about. Rather than shoot for inbox zero in Wave and spend the time archiving everything in sight, I'm going with the flow--with the help of a few saved searches. Besides the previously-mentioned with:public search, three other saved searches are making drilling down to my most important waves much easier.
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August 4th, 2009, 1 comment
My favorite way to find photos (especially for publication in blog posts and use in presentations) saw a big upgrade today: Flickr's search results page is now a whole lot easier to browse.
When you search for photos by keyword on Flickr, you get a grid of thumbnails, each of which pops up full-sized versions in-page. (No more having to click to a new page to see what the image looks like close up and other stats.) You can set how big the thumbnails should be, and also sort results by Flickr's magical (and very useful) "Interestingness" rank.
To find Creative Commons-licensed photos only you still have to click on the "Advanced Search" link; but you can bypass that step with a little URL hacking. Append &l=cc to your search keyword shortcut to limit Flickr results to re-publishable images. Firefox keyword bookmark users: the full Flickr CC image search bookmark URL should be http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=%s&l=cc. (Use &l=commderiv for images licensed for commercial use and derivative works.)
When I need to find quality photos that are licensed for reuse in my own work, I hit up EveryStockPhoto (which includes Flickr photos) and Flickr itself--and almost always find what I need without even touching Google Images.
New Flickr Search [Flickr Blog]
May 4th, 2009, 5 comments
People who don't live their lives online like I do often ask me: How can I make it easy for people to find me on the web? While before I might have suggested Facebook, LinkedIn, or just a straight-up personal nameplate site, now I'd advise 'em to set up their Google Profile.
Unless you have a well-linked web site you maintain with your full name all over it, Google search results for your name can vary in quality, and include lots of stuff that's out of date. So it makes sense that Google's trying to make people search results better by including Google Profiles in them. Your Google Profile is a pre-fab nameplate with your identifying vitals: name, location, title, company, and interests. Here's what mine looks like right now.
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