The future of web search

A peek into the future – Google's Goggles

The way we search the web is set to be revolutionized by including methods such as image recognition in our search. The first steps seems to have been taken. Meet Google's new visual search engine, Goggles which lets you search by using a image captured by your phone camera.

Already a working app on the Andriod, it would soon reach the iPhone app store and other smartphones. Till now search has worked by matching tags that describe the webpage. The intelligent algorithms then would scourge and give you the best possible results for your search. Taking this a step further, voice search converts words (input as voice) into text and then searches the web.

Image recognition works by matching features and not words, which would be a huge leap in search technology. These matches are than used to give descriptions and even matching to tags. As this is just the beginning, the potential applications and implication would be immense. The first steps seems to be taken by google, but if others get onto this bandwagon and combine it with query based searches, we would see a new leader emerge. And that would have Mountain View on its toes.

Lets wait and watch.

For more information go to http://www.google.com/mobile/goggles/#landmark

Form Follows Technology

So, swaying away from controversial topics and maybe towards something I might have more knowledge about.

In 1896, American Architect Louis Sullivan coined the phrase "Form Follows Function". This phrase became closely associated with 20th century modernism and functionalism. The principle was that the shape of a building should be primarily based upon its intended function or purpose. "Form Follows Function" along with "Ornamentation is Crime" (Adolf Loos, Austrian, 1908) influenced the thoughts of a generation of architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, Alvar Aalto, Mies van der Rohe, etc,. It continues to influence architects and is considered a vital juncture in the history of architecture. It was the defining driving force of modernism until Robert Venturi's book "Complexities and Contradictions" gave rise to a new brand of thinking now labeled as 'Post-Modernism'.

Over a hundred years later a prodigious roommate of mine (Ruqun Uddin Bhuiya, Bangladeshi, 2008) put his twist on it and said "Form Follows Technology". While he said it in the most casual of tones, I instantly knew he was onto something there. The current generation of architects look to exploit computer technology and embrace the inconceivable/impossible. This upcoming generation of architects implement algorithmic, geometric and parametric functions to derive a CG form. One in which the designer establishes parameters and uses formulae to derive a multitude of design permutations and combinations. One in which the the architect can see a computer generate the design and the only control an architect can exercise is on its parameters.

The following videos and pictures are exmples of generative and parametric design in architecture and urban design. I would especially like to hear from Kunal and Wajid considering their expertise in CG & FX.