Word Lens + Google Goggles = A useful augmented reality app
Earlier this year, Google gave us its Goggles app, which used an Android phone’s camera to snap a photo of text, send it to Google’s remote servers and send back a translation of the text in a chosen language.
The idea was tantalizing enough, but the service depended on finicky data networks and, when those networks were working, could take 20 seconds or so to send back a translation. It was useful enough for translations that were instant, but it was hardly real-time, and almost certainly not the ideal service Google has in mind.
Now a startup called Quest Visual has come out of nowhere to one-up Google with an iPhone app called Word Lens. Unlike Goggles, it’s readily available for iPhones. And no data needs to be sent to a remote server. You can use an iPhone in Airplane Mode and it still works, or at least the free trial version does.
That free trial is itself ingeniously designed. It doesn’t translate words from one language to another but it does reverse their order. Word Lens has some features that are less attractive than Google Goggles’ translation: It’s only available for translating Spanish to English and English to Spanish, and each option costs $4.99. Google offers more languages, and all translations are free. Also, Word Lens’ translations often change if you don’t hold your hand still enough.
One can’t help think that the stronger features from both apps would make for an ideal instant translation service, provided Word Lens’ technology could be integrated into Google’s own.
Such an app would deliver on the promise of augmented reality, which has been discussed much but unable to deliver apps that fit into most smartphone owners’ daily lives.
Did Apple buy mapping company Placebase?
Although the company isn’t saying anything, it appears as if Apple has purchased a small Web mapping service called Placebase.
The loose ends were tied together Wednesday in a Computerworld blog post. When asked to confirm whether it had indeed purchased the company, an Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.
Word of the buy cropped up briefly back in July but failed to attract much notice. But Computerworld noted that the LinkedIn pages for both the founder and the CTO of Placebase now show them as Apple employees.
Placebase, which was said to have generated a few million dollars in revenue, designed a platform called PushPin that allowed users to build maps and customize them by adding layers and other data. It’s product was a competitor to services such as Google Maps.
Given all the drama lately between Apple and Google, many in the blogosphere are speculating that Apple wants to use Placebase to supply mapping technology for the iPhone, a move that would supplant Google, which currently provides the technology.
Great news, I have a iphone and the current mapping software is not advanced enough for the technology.
Wave: Who gets Google’s ticket to ride?
It may be the hottest ticket in cyberspace.
On Wednesday, Google will invite more than 100,000 people to begin using Wave, its new hybrid messaging-social networking-online collaboration tool.
The version that will be available on Wednesday is a preview version that Google acknowledges is still not ready for prime time.
But scarcity is a powerful marketing tool (remember the prized Gmail invitations a few years ago?)
Google Wave was the third most popular topic of discussion on Twitter on Tuesday, with many Twitter users pleading for an invitation to become a Wave tester.
The initial 100,000 invites will go to developers, “select” paying customers of Google Apps and individuals who signed up early to test Wave.
But each Wave preview user will also get the privilege of “nominating” 8 other people to use Wave, since like any network-based service, Wave’s value and usefulness increases the more friends, family and colleagues are on-board.
very good news, i am waiting for my invite from Google Wave
Google Voice app rejected for iPhone
Apple has rejected Google’s application to place its nifty Google Voice phone call and voice mail app on the iPhone, the latest twist in the closely-watched relationship between the Silicon Valley giants.
In a statement, Google said it submitted its App Store application six weeks ago, but that Apple failed to approve it. Apple declined to comment.
In addition, GV Mobile — a third-party Google Voice iPhone app — has been removed from the App Store, accordingto developer Sean Kovacs. He said Apple informed him that his app duplicates iPhone features.
Google Voice was rolled out in March to the applause of many reviewers. Utilizing speech-recognition technology, Google Voice has a number of cool features, allowing users to store transcripts of voicemail messages in their email inbox and find a specific information within a phone message.
It can also be used to make low-priced international calls, and offers a single phone number that can route incoming calls to home, office and cell phones. Given that this might pose a threat to exclusive U.S. iPhone carrier AT&T, some say the telecom giant is behind the rejection. Others are laying the blame elsewhere.
There is a similar app on cydia that allows the use of Google Voice…
Google’s Gmail says bye-bye beta
The test is finally over.
Five years after Google released Gmail, its Web email product, the company said the product is officially out of beta.
The change is part of a broader move that Google announced on Tuesday involving Google Apps, the company’s suite of online software products that includes Google Docs and Google Calendar, among others.
While many people are familiar with the free, consumer version of Gmail, Google also sells an enterprise-grade version of Gmail and the other applications to businesses for $50 per user.
The beta label, which tech companies typically use to denote a prototype of a product in the public testing stage, was something of a turn-off to certain potential customers, said Google Senior Product Manager Rajen Sheth.
“They would look at it, see it’s a beta product and stop considering it as a result of that,” Sheth said.
So what’s changed in Gmail and other apps to make them finally ready for prime time?
its only a matter of time before google tries to buy it, which i hope they do. Will mean free translations for us and probably a large cheque for the company.