216) A Visual Search Future

I got pretty excited when I watched this Google Goggles video this morning. Goggles and visual search in general has been in the works for awhile, but it's been flying under the radar thus far. To me, visual search is one of those things we imagine when we close our eyes and think about the future. Sure, we've had barcodes for what seems like forever, and QR squares that are popping up everywhere. But with visual search we are able to strip away all the codes and deal directly with objects themselves.

Visual search is something you want to get right. A friend of mine commented that the current version of Shazam identified her heater as a dead animal. A glitchy visual search is worthless. That's why this video gave me hope - when big brands and their advertising teams get into something, the development curve tends to accelerate.

There is increasing talk about the melding of our on and offline worlds (quick shout out to Bruin Ad Team '08. AOL was a fool to let us go). Geo-location allows us to not only know where we and our friends are, but also to receive information relevant to where we are (targeted ads, Foursquare badges and Facebook Places discounts, etc). Google Goggles is another huge step in the intertwining of our digital and analog lives. The ability to seamlessly transition between what we see in the real world and relevant online content creates a platform for creativity to run wild. I can't wait to see what artists, brands, advertisers, game developers, etc. do with this technology.