Picture this: ViPR recognizes books, music, DVDs

I consume what an expert might call “way too much media,” but even I only have so much time. More often than not, I need to keep a list—a queue if you will—of all the books, movies, TV shows, music, video games, etc. that I want to check out. Sure, I could just keep a note in the iPhone Notes app, but sometimes typing the information in is just an exercise in frustration.

Besides, a picture = 1K words, right? Snapping a shot is easy, but it still means that you have to take the time to do the heavy lifting later. That’s where ViPR comes in. Designed by Evolution Robotics Inc., ViPR is a visual pattern recognition system: you can take a picture of an object like a book or movie, email it to the ViPR server, and have it send you back information about it, including links to iTunes (for music), YouTube (for video), and the web. The software even seems to be able to do its job if you take sloppy off-angle pictures, like me, snap an upside down shot, or have your hand covering part of the object.

The company’s also developing a native iPhone application, which they say is due out in June. I’m hoping for some robust list features so I can really keep track of all my extensive media habits. Hit the jump below for a demo video.

[via Gizmodo]

Category: Software

Posted by Dan Moren on Apr 18 2008, 1:45 PM ET

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iPhone illustration by Joe Zeff Design Inc. // Design by Jason Brightman