Even with Neven Vision, Google is “one step behind Riya”

August 16, 2006 | Matt Marshall | Comments | |

Updated

nevenvision.jpg

Google has acquired Neven Vision to help the search engine develop technology that recognizes objects within images, the company said yesterday.

Google said it will make its Picasa photo-organizing feature even better when you are searching for photos — it may make it easier to tag them and organize.

Google had looked at buying Silicon Valley start-up Riya many months ago, for this same function. But Riya’s leader, CEO Munjal Shah, apparently looked inside himself and found the guts for an even bigger play: shrugging off Google, and building up an image search engine that could rank as competitor to Google itself, at least when it comes to photos. Google does not do a search engine for images by appearance alone. “We have already moved on to Riya 2.0,” he wrote to us, in response to the Neven news. “Google is still one step behind Riya.”

(Update: We put the quotation marks in the headline, to indicate the one-step advantage claim is Munjal’s. Now, we have word from Bryan Quinn, the guy who runs photo site SpyMedia, and so knows something about photos. He disagrees. He says he has tested both technologies and says Neven’s is better than Riya’s.)

Next Story: Crescendo’s two strikes, and why it matters
Previous Story: MySpaces surpasses YouTube in video

Bookmark and Share

Photo of Matt Marshall

About the Author, Matt Marshall

Matt Marshall is editor and CEO of VentureBeat. Follow him on Twitter at @mmarshall, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.

  • I have used Riya's and Neven's technology, and there's no comparison. Neven's technology simply works better.
    As for search? Google already has millions of users, while Riya is a company that still do this day is only cool to the "techcrunch crowd." Until Riya is able to attractive mainstream users, I can't see them competing with this combo.
  • Cody
    Matt:
    Why does Google even need a PR outlet...you are it...there are so many great companies in the valley and yet you just happen to write about them on a day to day basis.
    Cody
  • cody
    Matt:
    Going forward just call Siliconbeat the following:

    Googlebeat

    Cody
  • pix expert
    Google is the kind of company that:
    1) does good due diligence on acquisitions
    2) can afford to buy the first best

    So where does that leave Riya, but out in the cold. I tried it and consider it a toy. Whomever funded this deal is in for a cold shock.
  • Cody, that is fair in some ways. But I'd be surprised if the proportion of Google stories to overall stories hasn't gone down significantly since 2005. Here's why. For much of 2004 and 2005, I did think that Google was driving much of the valley's innovation -- in part because it had rekindled imagination and hope, as Marc Pincus, the-CEO of Tribe, said at the time. In my own mind, I was quite conscious of it. Now, in 2006, I am quite conscious that Google is no longer driving it. You will continue to see the proportion of Google stories decline at SiliconBeat. That said, they will also keep floating in, on occasion, as we see fit.
  • DB
    What makes Neven better than Riya? the accuracy or the user interface?