Google has added another company to its shopping cart--this time it's U.K.-based Plink, a visual-search provider. In a blog post Monday, Plink co-founders Mark Cummins and James Philbin announced the deal as "exciting news," especially for a company that only went public four months ago. Plink apparently caught Google's eye by developing an Android app called PlinkArt, which lets you photograph and upload a snapshot of a painting that Plink then identifies to provide details about the artwork and its artist. You can then share that artwork with other people via your smartphone. PlinkArt seemed to hit it big with Android users, with Plink claiming more than 50,000 downloads of the app in just four weeks. Though Plink's co-founders stressed that PlinkArt will still be available, they won't be updating it further and will instead switch gears to focus on Google Googles, an Android app from Google that also attempts to identify images. With Google Goggles available but still undergoing development, Google is hop ing to employ the talents of Cummins and Philbin to add new features and functionality. "The visual search engines of today can do some pretty cool things, but they still have a long long way to go," they wrote in the blog. "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."for further: news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20002254-93.html
