The Google top manager wants to make the group’s search smarter.
san francisco His faucet was dripping and one part was broken, Prabhakar Raghavan explains. The head of the search engine division at the digital group Google does not tell about it at the annual developer conference I/O in Mountain View, California, to complain about his suffering. Rather, it is about an example of the use of a search function apart from classic research using keywords.
He just didn’t know the name of the broken pipe, Raghavan said. But he took a picture of it and did a Google search for similar products from nearby retailers. “I still don’t know what that part is called,” Raghavan said. But he has.
Google dominates global web search. In Germany, the group accounts for more than 90 percent of search business on the Internet. And search dominates at Google: in the first quarter of this year alone, the group made sales of almost 40 billion dollars with search and related advertising. Top managers like Raghavan and his development team play a key role within the group.
Now they want to implement the next upgrade in the successful web search. “Searching the web shouldn’t be limited to typing keywords into a search window,” Raghavan said. In the future it will be possible to search in every imaginable form, whether with images, sounds or other sensory impressions.
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Raghavan used another example to show what the function can already do today. Photos could be combined with the addition “near me” (in German: “at my place”) to search for comparable objects in the area. This could also be a photo of a special meal, so that restaurants nearby that offer exactly this dish can be displayed.
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With the “scene exploration” function, the direct environment can be explored. To illustrate this, Raghavan demonstrated a smartphone camera filming a display shelf of chocolate bars. The new search function made it possible to select the one bar that did not contain nuts.
The function is to be implemented this year first in English and then in other languages. A date for the start of a German-language version did not initially exist.
The expansion of Google search is important, judged analyst Mark Mahaney from the investment bank Evercore ISI. “This technology could help you select a top-rated, gluten-free, locally produced, organic soymilk chocolate bar by pointing your camera at your local grocer’s chocolate aisle — no doubt an important skill for modern life,” Mahaney wrote. The approach prepares a whole world of services that can only be used properly with smart glasses.
Google Glass was a flop
About a decade ago, Google was one of the first tech companies to bring such glasses onto the market. But Google Glass became a flop. The $1,500 gadget suffered from technical problems, was not well received by several buyers and was discontinued for consumers.
Company boss Sundar Pichai now dares to try again. Augmented Reality, i.e. digital augmented reality, is the next big step for Google. “The magic only comes to life when these techniques can be used in reality without technology getting in the way,” said Sundar Pichai. With these words he introduced the presentation for the prototype of a new pair of smart glasses.
Pichai did not give any information about the price, market launch, not even the name of the device. Analyst Mark Mahaney said: “We wonder if Google Glass is coming back anytime soon.”
Pichai also used the two-day conference to announce numerous new hardware devices. This includes, for example, a smart wristwatch, the Pixel Watch. It is scheduled to hit the market in the fall. Google did not give an exact date or price.
There is also an improved Pro model of the Pixel Buds earphones coming, and next year there will be a new Pixel tablet. The Android mobile operating system has been revised and a new generation of Pixel smartphones has also been announced.
More: Google wants to pay more than 300 publishers money for news.