ReadWriteWeb

What do you get when you combine an image recognition app with voice search, local content, and a touch-screen advertising service called "hot-spotting?" Apparently you get the next generation of mobile search from a company named Getfugu. This mishmash of services will be launching next month with one goal in mind: keep mobile users from having to type in their mobile searches using the keyboard.

Zcapes is a new "augmented reality" application that lets you instantly transform any object or event into a mini blog using your mobile phone. But this is no ordinary blogging platform. Instead of focusing on publishing, Zcapes focuses on integrating streams from the "Live Web" into whatever blog you create. The end result is a Zcape page that taps into the real-time conversations surrounding an event, activity, thing, or group.

European researchers working on the MOBVIS project have developed a new system that will allow camera phone users to hyperlink the real world. After taking a picture of a streetscape in an urban area, the MOBVIS technology identifies objects like buildings, infrastructure, monuments, cars, and even logos and banners. It then renders relevant information on the screen using icons that deliver text-based details about the object when clicked.