Google’s back with new innovations.  Let’s jump right into it.

Google Goggles: Up until now, if you wanted to search using Google you had two options: typing at Google.com or speaking using a Google mobile app.  Now Google is giving its Android users the ability to search by taking pictures.  Google Goggles takes a picture of an object and then displays additional information on that particular object for you.  For example, if you take a picture of a textbook, Goggles will provide you a summary of the book, places to purchase it, compare prices at various locations, reviews, and so on.  In another example, Goggles can analyze a business card and recognize the contact’s name, phone number, and email address and ask if you’d like to store this information appropriately on your phone.  You can even point Goggles at famous landmarks and paintings and it will display relevant information to you.  Also, for local business information, you are not required to take a picture; using Android’s built-in camera, GPS, and compass, it uses the augmented reality concept to display (say) restaurant information live to your phone’s screen as you simply point it in front of the destination.  It all seems like magic, right?  What if you point it at objects like plants or animals?  Google is quick to say that Goggle does not have the power to recognize everything.  For example, it cannot analyze food, cars, plants, or animals…yet!  Google claims they are “only scratching the surface of the visual search technology.”

Favorite Places:  Google has decided to help us make decisions when we leave our homes to shop, eat, and hang out in our towns, all across America.  Google is sending out over 100,000 window decals to local businesses in all 50 states that happen to be  popular search entries on Google and Google Maps.  The window decals each display a unique bar code called a QR code.  Here’s an example of favorite places in action: You are walking around town and you stumble upon two restaurants and you can’t decide which one to choose for dinner.  Simply whip out your phone, aim the camera at the QR code in the window, and viola–your phone will display results from Google that pertain to that specific restaurant.  Results include reviews, ratings, and more.  You can also mark a destination as a favorite so you can visit it again in the future.  Soon you’ll be able to add your own review to the mix after your meal to give fellow locals a hand when they need to make similar decisions.  So what do you need to make all this happen?  In short, you need a phone with a camera that can read QR codes.  To read a QR code, check out the following  apps: QuickMark (iPhone); Barcode Scanner (Android); for other phones like Blackberry and Palm, try searching “QR reader” in the app store to find one.  “This launch is part of our overall effort — online and offline — to provide you with the best local business results whenever you’re trying to figure out where to go…”  Google is still giving out window decals to local businesses.  Want one?  Go to Google’s Local Business Center and learn how to become one of Google’s Favorite Places.

Real time search:  This next addition brings “a dynamic stream of real-time content from across the web” to Google.  After you make a search in Google you will see pane of constantly updated news and information from other people on the Internet.  This stream of information comes from places like Twitter, FriendFeed, and news and blog posts that relate to your search keyword.  “Our real-time search enables you to discover breaking news the moment it’s happening, even if it’s not the popular news of the day, and even if you didn’t know about it beforehand.”  Here’s a couple examples: (1) You search the keyword “Pirate Radio film.”  As usual, Google will provide links to theaters, Wikipedia and IMDB information, and so on.  What’s new is a information pane located above all that; this window contains a constantly updated stream of the freshest information about the movie.  For example, you may find a number of Tweets that relay people’s reaction to the movie, or you may stumble upon a recent full length review of the movie by a film blog.  (2) You search the keyword “traffic on 101.”  In the pane you will find the most up-to-date traffic information about that particular highway.  For example, there might be Tweet with attached Twitpics visually showing the bumper-to-bumper traffic or news reports on accidents or alternative routes.  “Our real-time search features are based on more than a dozen new search technologies that enable us to monitor more than a billion documents and process hundreds of millions of real-time changes each day.”  Some of Google’s partners include Facebook, MySpace, FriendFeed, Jaiku and Identi.ca, and Twitter.  Google will also be implementing a “Hot Topics” panel akin to Twitter’s Trending Topics that will display the most popular stories people are talking about.  Real time search implementation is rolling out over the next few weeks.

In other Google news: (1) Google is coming out with a language translator that allows users to speak English into their cell phones and receive an instantaneous translation into Spanish.  Expect this tech to hit phones sometime next year.  (2) Google Chrome beta is now available for Mac users.  PC and Linux users, there are now over 300 extensions available for your versions of Google Chrome (Mac compatibility is coming).

Good to see Google innovating.  Keep it coming…

[Via GoogleBlog, here, here, & here]