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Google Announces "Lens" Augmented Reality Service

posted by n1 on Friday May 19 2017, @08:41AM   
from the believe-it-when-i-see-it dept.

takyon writes:

Google has announced an augmented reality service that overlays information on top of objects seen by a smartphone camera:

On Wednesday, the search giant announced a big push into augmented reality, which overlays digital images on what you'd normally see through a camera.

The new technology, announced at the company's I/O developer conference, is called Google Lens. It's a way to use your phone's camera to search for information. For example, point your camera at that flower and Google will tell you what kind it is. Point it at a book, and you get information on the author and see reviews. Ditto with restaurants: You'll be able to see reviews and pricing information on a little digital card that appears above the building on your phone's screen.

[...] Google Lens marks a big, ambitious attempt by a mainstream company to get into augmented reality in a way we haven't much seen yet. Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram (owned by Facebook) use AR for now to make you laugh and smile with filters like rainbow vomit or Iron Man masks. That stuff is important, but Google is taking a different approach when it comes to AR: utility.

Indeed, photo filters are very important.

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Original Submission

• How I read it How I read it (Score: 3, Informative) by LoRdTAW on Friday May 19 2017, @12:13PM (1 child)

  by LoRdTAW (3755) on Friday May 19 2017, @12:13PM (#512130) Journal

  On Wednesday, the search giant announced a big push into augmented advertising, which overlays digital ads on what you'd normally see through a camera.
  The new advertising technology, announced at the company's I/O developer conference, is called Google Lens. It's a way for google to use your phone's camera to gather information. For example, point your camera at that flower and Google will tell you what kind it is and a link to a special offer from Lowes to buy said flower. Point it at a book, and you get pricing and offers from select advertising partners such as amazon. Ditto with restaurants: You'll be able to see reviews and pricing information while a competitior who paid google gives you a better offer on a digital card that appears above the building on your phone's screen.
  [...] Google Lens marks a big, ambitious attempt by a mainstream marketing company to get into augmented advertising in a way we haven't much seen yet. Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram (owned by Facebook) use AR for now to make you laugh and smile with filters like rainbow vomit or Iron Man masks. That stuff is important, but Google is taking a different approach when it comes to AR: making shit loads of money.

  FTFY.

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• Re:How I read it (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 19 2017, @02:19PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 19 2017, @02:19PM (#512183)

  Won't be long before you point your phone camera at a car and it starts sending you car ads.

  I used to be really good at the kids travel game of guessing the make/model/year of different cars seen on a trip, but this probably spoils that fun.

  Parent