Tuesday 16 September 2014

Google Acquires Smart Travel Guide Startup Jetpac

Google Acquires Smart Travel Guide Startup Jetpac
Google is buying the travel app startup JetPac for an undisclosed amount of money, JetPac announced on its website Monday.
"We look forward to working on exciting projects with our colleagues at Google," the announcement read. Jetpac added that it will be removing its apps from the App Store in the coming days, and will cease support for Apple on September 15.
JetPac ,which started in 2011, gained $2.4 million in funding in 2012 before launching in 2013. The app creates visual city guides by analyzing photos from social media to infer key information about the places they were taken.
"We can spot lipstick, blue sky views, hipster mustaches and more, through advanced image processing on billions of photos," JetPac's website says.
The process JetPac uses to analyze the photos is called neural network technology, The Guardian reported. The technology is a system of algorithms that can be trained to recognize different elements within photos. For example, the app can recognize things like makeup, accessories or facial hair in photos and determine the vibe of a restaurant or bar. JetPac can also crawl Facebook photos, using an algorithm to gauge where your friends had the most fun. The app has created more than 6,000 city guides so far using this advanced technology.
It is still not known what exactly Google will do with the acquisition, and if it will integrate the app's artificial intelligence technology into its image search and map services. Google previously acquired robotics-design company Boston Dynamics and artificial intelligence firm DeepMind, fueling chatter that it is seeking to grow its robotics and artificial intelligence capabilities.
Posted by : Gizmeon

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