Google obviously sees great strength and leverage in going for inorganic growth. Gone are the days when Google got in a team and have them work feverishly at creating something—from scratch. 
Today it’s all about assembling the latest Google product through a patchwork of acquisitions. Reports are that Google+ has officially thrown its hat in the face recognition ring with the acquisition of Pittsburgh start-up PittPatt. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but what’s obvious is that Google is literally trying to create its own version of Facebook. How can anyone say this isn’t the case? Face recognition technology, groups, pages, event planning—all these elements underpin the way Facebook works. But I digress.
PittPatt began originally as Carnegie Mellon University project and the technology works by allowing for the tracking of faces in videos and photos. These types of technologies are not new, but are the bane of people who think privacy is being sacrificed in the new age of social networking. Indeed, Facebook’s own use of face recognition technology has not gone down too well with many users and privacy advocates.
The question is, why has Google decided to use this technology despite assertions that it wouldn’t? The answer perhaps lies in the fact that Google+ cannot really compete with Facebook unless it first clones it, then bolts on a few features unique to Google+.
Google+ has a few pieces to add yet before it fully clones Facebook, so we can all expect more acquisitions in the near future.
Watch the video below to see more on face recognition technology in the news.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoiTGm7--Q0
Google utilizes computer vision technology in some of its products such as Image Search, Picasa, YouTube, and Goggles. PittPatt said that the search giant will benefit from its technology and research and would bring it to a wider audience.
