Search the Web with Photographs Using Google Goggles

Google announced a pretty awesome new product today called Google Goggles that has the potential to completely change the way we think about search. It’s basically an application that will tell you all sorts of information based on photographs you take with your camera phone.

Snap a photographs of the Golden Gate Bridge, and the application will provide you with search results for the Golden Gate Bridge. Want to learn what others are saying about a particular book in the store? Simply snap a photograph of the cover and Google Goggles will tell you.

The application is most useful in situations where you know know the name of what you’re trying to search for. For example, if you’re staring at a painting that you love but don’t know the name of, Google Goggles can quickly tell you all about it:

This is a great glimpse into the exciting technologies that we’ll be enjoying in the coming years, and is definitely only the tip of the iceberg. There will probably come a day when this type of search is fast enough and powerful enough to be displayed instantly on the screen while using the video feature of camera phones. This concept is being pursued by numerous tech companies (likely Google as well), and is called augmented reality.

For Google’s explanation of Google Goggle’s, check out this video they have on the official page: