Thing 3: Utilities

The utility I tested was Google Goggles. At the beginning, I was quite meh about it. I had taken a photo of my calendar, and the app only searched for the text "2016," which is written on the front cover. This calendar is a personal planner I bought at Barnes & Noble. Let's say a friend liked it and wanted one for herself, but I couldn't remember where I bought it. I would have expected Google Goggles to be able to search the entire calendar online and find it listed on Barnes & Noble's website, and then my friend would know where she could get one. Alas, this was not the case!

I tried taking a few other photos, one of which turned out much better. I took a photo of Gail's birthday card, adorned with the creepy baby face (by yours truly):

and it magically pulled up the original image, sans creepy baby:

This sneaky corgi with his creepy disguise couldn't fool Google!

I was hoping to have better luck taking a photo of a YA book (thinking this could be used as a shortcut if I want to look up a book online), but each photo I took of the book picked up different portion of the title/author and I couldn't get it to recognize the correct book.

Because Google Goggles can identify QR codes, I tried that component out. I'm interested in having a poster with a QR code in the YA area. When I took a photo of the QR code on the page I recently submitted for next month's Viking Vessel issue, I was unhappy with the results. I was supposed to be taken to the Library's website, but instead, Google asked if I meant www.gold.org and the results listed under that included a link to Geneva 304's November Viking Vessel issue and another one to view GPLD's online survey responses as a PDF. I tried scanning the QR code with a QR code app I already had on my phone, and it took me right to the Library's homepage.

Google Goggles has some neat features and can be fun to use, but based on the small trial I just did, it doesn't seem very reliable. I'm sure taking a photo of something really famous gives better results, but other than uncovering the corgi's true identity, I wasn't all that amazed.