Shhh... Its A Secret.

So while we're talking about people selling out and Google taking everything over, look at this. Neven Vision was a company that, I'm assuming, did something cool. Although now I have no idea what that may have been. As you can see if you visit their site, they've been snapped shut like most of Google's acquisitions. Writely stopped accepting registration, but at least they still told you what the company used to do. (Incidently you can get into Writely if you're already in, or know someone, like most of Google's pre-beta make-you-feel-special exclusiveness. See also blogger beta.) Anyway Neven directs you to the Google Blog which makes some semi-vague connotations that they're an image recognition system. Which may be a way to tag your photos with anything from objects (bikes, trucks, buildings) to people (dad, mike, strange Hawaiian guy). Although I'm naturally wary of any claims of artificial intelligence recognition, voice or otherwise. It'd be nice if it worked, but really, I don't think its there yet. So I spose we'll see if Picasa gets facial recognition as the next upgrade, which would make searching for that certain picture a lot easier. I just know I'm not going to go through and tag all those photos by hand.

• Official Google Blog: A better way to organize photos?

Update
Here's a nice speculative about the additives Neven may provide to Google in the future. I have to admit, being able to Google someone whose name I can't remember in the morning does sound cool. But take that a step further and we're solidly in creepy territory.

For example, I take a photo of a cute girl, or group of people at a bar. And what does Google now know about these people?

* Which bars or restaurants they frequent?
* Where is the location of that bar?
* Whether they prefer beer, wine or liquor.
* What kind of clothing they purchase & wear?
* Whether or not they smoke.
* Do they wear eye glasses or not?
* Who are they connected to in the real world and what is that connection?

Databases of connections, recognizing who is in pictures together, where the are, and what they're doing. Now that's the kind of surveillance I haven't been scared of since carnivore. Which, incidentally, now seems like kid stuff.

• Search Engine Journal » Google, Neven Vision & Image Recognition