Google I/O Roundup: Search-by-picture Google Lens & other Google Assistant features announced

The ability to search-by-picture or translate-by-picture gives Google Assistant a powerful advantage against other digital assistants.

Danny Sullivan on May 17, 2017 at 12:45 pm

Today at its Google I/O 2017 developers’ conference, Google announced Google Lens, a new way to search for information via pictures, which is integrated into Google Assistant. Google Assistant is also getting the ability to type queries into it, plus it is coming to iOS.

Google Home is getting a notification feature called Proactive Assistance, hands-free calling in the next few months, and Visual Responses that allow for answers to be cast from the device to phones or TVs.

Google also formally announced Google for Jobs, a job search engine that we reported being spotted in April.

Below are stories from us with more information on these announcements:

Google also said it is working on a standalone VR device, an all-in-one device that doesn’t require a phone or being hooked to a computer to work. You can read more about that from Google here.

There were also announcements relating to Gmail, Google Photos and Android. Google covers them in its blog post here. You can also watch the Google I/O opening keynote where these were made or read our live blog of the keynote below:

About The Author

Danny Sullivan

Danny Sullivan was a journalist and analyst who covered the digital and search marketing space from 1996 through 2017. He was also a cofounder of Third Door Media, which publishes Search Engine Land, Marketing Land, MarTech Today and produces the SMX: Search Marketing Expo and MarTech events. He retired from journalism and Third Door Media in June 2017. You can learn more about him on his personal site & blog He can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.