Google acquires Plink to strengthen visual search capabilities.

SEARCH giant Google has bought UK start-up, Plink – its second acquisition this month.

The move is in keeping with CEO Eric Schmidt's assertion last year that the business was planning to resume its rapid rate of acquisitions.

Plink was launched four months ago offering an Android application called PlinkArt allowing users to identify photographed artwork via visual search technology. PlinkArt recognises artwork depending on whether the captured image can be matched to one of the thousands of famous paintings in the app's database.

Plink's founders Mark Cummins and James Philbin, will be working on visual search at Google. In a blog post they commented: "The visual search engines of today can do some pretty cool things, but they still have a long, long way to go. We're looking forward to helping the Goggles team build a visual search engine that works not just for paintings or book covers, but for everything you see around you."

Some of the functionality of PlinkArt duplicates Google Goggles – the technology that generates search queries from images of objects, such as landmarks, works of art, products, or bar codes.

Google's recent acquisitions include Gizmo5, Teracent, AppJet, Aardvark, reMail, Picnik, and DocVerse. Additionally, the AdMob acquisition is pending regulatory approval, though the leaves the business’ appetite undaunted.

Besides visual search technology Google has also been investing in voice recognition technology recently, as it seeks to broaden its search business beyond text ads that still represent the bulk of the company's revenue.

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