Chiswick Developer Celebrates Google Deal

Internet giant acquires mobile application PlinkArt

Chiswick resident James Philbin has great cause to celebrate this week after Google bought the visual search firm PlinkArt he set-up with fellow Oxford graduate Mark.

PlinkArt is an application which enables you to identify paintings and artworks with just a snap from your phone’s camera. Once recognized, you can read information on the artwork and artist, share your favourite pieces with friends or even order a print to hang on your wall.

On their website, James and Mark say, "We started Plink to bring the power of visual search to everyone, and we’re delighted to be taking a big step towards that goal today. Google has already shown that it’s serious about investing in this space with Google Goggles, and for the Plink team the opportunity to take our algorithms to Google-scale was just too exciting to pass up."

The company has already acquired more than 50,000 users in just four short weeks, and continue to get great feedback.

For all current users PlinkArt will continue to be available for download and work as it currently does however, they won’t be updating the app and will instead focus their development efforts on Google Goggles.

April 15, 2010