Back in 2016, stock photo service Getty Images sued Google, alleging that its Images search engine promoted piracy. Rather than going to trial, the two parties announced a licensing partnership today that will result in several changes to Google Images.
For the past several months, Google Search has been A/B testing several new designs. An update to Image Search is now rolling out on the mobile web (via Android Police) and features a brighter interface and rounded buttons.
Google is testing a new feature on its Image Search page that adds badges and labels to search results for better discovery. Rolling out some time today on the Google app and on mobile web (though I haven’t had any luck yet on my devices), images will begin displaying icons in the bottom-left corner representing linked videos, shopping results, GIFs, and more.
Google plays with its apps’ UIs continuously, which is why new and unexpected things pop up almost on a daily basis. This time the focus is on search suggestions, which the company is tweaking in both the Play Store and in its image search engine…
Google seems to be under fire lately. Less than a week from the European Union’s charges against the Mountain View company regarding supposedly unfair practices towards its hardware partners, TIME is reporting that the famous stock photo agency Getty Images is now accusing the technology giant of “promoting piracy” with its Images search engine…
Last year, Google added a Pinterest-like photo saving and tagging feature to Image search. It was first available on the mobile web for Android and iOS, but starting today Google is rolling out the feature to desktop search.
Google today has added the ability to save and organize the photos you find through Image search. The Pinterest-like feature currently only works on a mobile browser, but will be welcomed by those who often browse via Google Image search.
While Google has been working hard to become a more diverse company, you don’t necessarily see much diversity in image searches. Carry out a neutral search on Google Images for terms like man, woman, face or hand, and the vast majority of search results show white people.
The World White Web project aims to change that, by the simple mechanism of asking people to share images of people of color, which boosts their search rankings in Google, increasing the racial diversity of search results …
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There’s a commonly-held myth that any image found in Google images is fair game for anyone who wants to use it. In reality, most images are copyrighted by default and usage generally requires permission – especially for commercial use.
Google’s Matt Cutts has tweeted that you can now filter images by usage rights. If you want to find images you can use commercially, for example, just do your search, click Search Tools and then select ‘labelled for commercial use’ from the pull-down.
It’s not immediately apparent how Google identifies the permissions associated with an image. We’ve reached out to Google and will update when we have a response.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t99BfDnBZcI]
Google launched Search by Image last year, and then updated algorithms for it almost every week since, but now the search engine will use its Knowledge Graph to power the popular feature.
Search by Image allows users input an image, and then Google offers images and search results related to that image. Users select an image through the ‘ole drag-and-drop, and then uploading, or even inputting a URL. Meanwhile, the Knowledge Graph is new technology that allows Google to provide search results for concepts linked between words, rather than showing results for just the query term.
Software Engineer Sean O’Malley explained the inclusion on Google’s Inside Search blog today:
With the recent launch of the Knowledge Graph, Google is starting to understand the world the way people do. Instead of treating webpages as strings of letters like “dog” or “kitten,” we can understand the concepts behind these words. Search by Image now uses the Knowledge Graph: if you search with an image that we’re able to recognize, you may see an extra panel of information along with your normal search results so you can learn more. This could be a biography of a famous person, information about a plant or animal, or much more.
Google wants to improve its image search. When a user uploads an image of a specific type of flower, for instance, Google would previously give general flower search results. Now, Google will try to guess the exact type of flower. Google will also show the most recent content in search results, which is helpful for news images.
Google updated its Google Search iPhone app to version 2.0.0 today, which introduced a completely redesigned app that focuses on improvements to speed and full screen browsing features. Among the new features are an auto full screen mode that hides controls when scrolling down and reveals when scrolling up, and a new full-screen image search view.
The updated app also includes “major speed improvements,” a built-in text finder for webpages, and quick links to Gmail, Calendar, Docs, and search options such as images, places, and news. The iPad did not receive the same update, but both the iPhone and iPad will now be able to save images to the iOS camera roll.
A full list of features is below, while the updated app is available on the App Store now.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uwap6qTfauM]
Works now for both Android and iPad.
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