LAMORINDA WEEKLY | THE APP RAP


Alex Pawlakos enjoys biking, weightlifting, and tutoring in his spare time. He is a reporter on Express Yourself!(tm) Teen Radio.

App: Google Goggles, by

Google Inc.

For: All smartphones

Price: $1.99

Google Goggles is a clever vision recognition app that can analyze pictures taken with your phone to give you some very useful information. For example, travelers use Google Goggles to take pictures of anything written in a foreign language and have it instantly translated. This is very useful if you are in a foreign country trying to decipher a menu, read a street sign, or understand information in a museum or store. Just take a picture and read the translation. You can also take pictures of any landmarks that interest you. This app will not only identify the landmark, it will give you details and historical facts. This feature is terrific for art lovers because Google Goggles will identify the piece of art and tell you all about the piece. Of course, you don't have to be an art lover or a traveler to find a use for this app. For example, if you take a picture of someone's business card, a contact profile will be automatically created in your phone's database. You can then add the information on the card to your contacts. When shopping, you can take a picture of a bar code and instantly access a product search on the web. Google's vision recognition technology makes this app very useful for a wide variety of users and innumerable circumstances.