Another interesting Google Buy?
There are rumors that Google may be acquiring Riya. Riya makes software that aims at recognizing faces in images and pulling text out of images (recognizing text on signs in a picture for instance.) ( facial recognition searching )
I don’t know if this is true, it sounds like it’s coming from “good sources”, it would seem to fit into Google’s core strength of being search oriented and I suspect Google might be able to afford it… (Of course, I think Google could afford to purchase Mars at this point…)
It looks very interesting as a search tool, at the moment it’s in alpha and only IE 6 users may search, they hope to support Firefox by the beta release (which if I read the articles right will be within days.)… from the online source of the rumor…
Riya, as a company hasn’t even launched, and is supposed to have a coming out event at Tech Crunch’s BBQ this friday! Riya’s technology could be used to extend Google’s reach in the picture domain, where they are completely overshadowed by Yahoo. If this company ends up in the hands of Yahoo, well as far as photos go, its end game! I wonder if Microsoft made a play for the company? Of course, Riya is just the kind of technology that could help tag the photos of the big GigaPixel project.
The “official” launch of Riya is supposed to be at a Friday (November 18th) BBQ, so more information on this may be coming tomorrow.