May 11, 2018 • 4 mins
An interview with David Lieb, Product Lead for Google Photos, about new features coming to the app, including:One-tap Actions, Color Pop and the ability to turn Black and White Photos into Color.Follow Rich on Social Media:Facebook: http://facebook.com/RichOnTechTwitter: http://twitter.com/richdemuroInstagram: http://instagram.com/richontechEasy ways to listen on your phone or smart speaker:"Hey Google, Play the Rich on Tech Podcast""Hey Siri, Play the Rich on Tech Podcast""Alexa, Enable the Rich on Tech Flash Briefing"
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Google Photos gets even more helpful features.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
What's going on. I'm Rich Damiro. This is Rich on
Tech Daily. Well, if you've.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Listened to me or watched me on TV at all,
you know that Google Photos is one of my favorite
apps on my phone. I love talking about this service
because to me, there's not a better free way to
back up and organize your pictures.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
You get unlimited storage.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
It works on both iOS and Android, and I always
tell folks you need your pictures backed up in two places,
a free app like Google Photos and somewhere else. That way,
if one of the backups goes out, you still have
the other one. Recently, I was up at Google Io,
their big developers conference, and I got to talk to
David Lieb. He's the product lead at Google Photos, and
(00:45):
I wanted to know all about the app, which is
getting some new.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Features, and if you can believe it, it's been around
for three years now.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
We launched Google Photos three years ago at Google Io,
and our approach was that it's gotten really hard to
deal with all your photos. You take some any photos
on your phone, on your camera, you've got all those
old photos from your hard drive. We wanted to build
one place that you could keep all your photos and
then make them as useful as possible to you.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
So one reason I love Google Photos is that it
gives you unlimited storage, so you can free up valuable
space on your phone.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
And like I said earlier, it works cross.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Platform iOS, Android, desktop, and anywhere else you might want
to access your pictures.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
One of the core tenets of Google Photos is one
place to keep all your photos that is accessible on
all the devices you have today and into the future.
So if you go get a new smartphone, you don't
have to deal with anything. Just sign into your Google
Photos account, all your photos are there accessible to you.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
One of the new features announced at Google Io is
called one Tap Actions. Basically, Google Photos is using AI
artificial intelligence to help you fix things in your photos
without doing a lot of work.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
One of the things we've noticed is that there's a
lot of work dealing with your photos, and so we
noticed that people don't want to do that work. So
one of the things we watch today is a feature
that lets you kind of take those actions on your
photos in a way that's really easy. So, for example,
if you're swiping through your photos and you happen upon
a photo that's too dark. Google Photos will understand that
(02:09):
and put a button right there for you to tap
once and brighten the image. If you have photos of
your friends that you've forgotten to share, Google will understand
that and give you one tap to share those photos
with those friends.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
I can't wait to use this new feature.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
You can finally take a photo of a document and
Google Photos will ask if you want to convert it
into a PDF.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
That's going to come in handy.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
We often take photos of documents that we need to
sign and then like scan and send back to someone,
but none of us has a scanner anymore, and so
we realize that we could apply AI to that problem
and take something that is really burden some and make.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
It really easy for you.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Another cool effect rolling out right now is called color pop,
and it's all thanks to artificial intelligence.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
We have the more creative side of AI for this
color pop feature, where we take a photo that you
have of your kid, your friends, and we can recognize
that the subject is different from the background of a
photo and then segment them, keep the subject in right color,
and then turn the background to black and white so
you get this fun artistic effect.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Those pictures will be perfect for Instagram, until, of course,
we're all doing that, and then we'll have to move
on to something else that's new. Finally, Google Photos is
working on a way to add color to your old
black and white pictures.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
The way we think about it is a human can
look at a black and white photo and guess at
what colors which parts of the photo are. You look
at the grass and you understand that would be green.
You look at the sky, you understand that would be blue.
What we've done is we've basically showed our AI systems
a bunch of photos, and they've learned over time what
things in photos are, what colors. So that's how we
do it. It's really amazing.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
One final question I had for David, is Google Photos
working on a way to filter out all the duplicates
of my collection?
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Now Google Photos.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Does roughly filter out duplicates if you try to upload
the same photo twice, but I find that the system
is pretty easily tricked if something about the file or
the picture is slightly different, So I do end up
having a bunch of the same pictures in my collection. Now,
he wouldn't give me a concrete answer, but he basically said,
I should not waste my time right now manually searching
(04:02):
into leading the duplicates in my Google Photos collection, so
that is a good sign.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Now, I'm sort of a neat freak.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
So even though these duplicates don't take up any extra
storage in my account, I would rather have everything perfectly
organized and arranged, and it sounds like Google is using
artificial intelligence to get me towards that goal.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Thanks so much for listening to the show.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
If you like what I'm doing here, leave a rating
and review on Apple Podcasts.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
That way more people discover the show. And as always,
you can.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Find links to everything I talk about here on the
podcast on my website. Just go to rich on tech
dot tv and be sure you're following me on Instagram.
These days, I'm doing a lot with Instagram stories having
some fun there, so I'll see you there.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Thanks so much for listening. I'm Rich Demiro rich on
tech dot tv. I'll talk to you real soon.
Google Photos gets even more helpful features.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
What's going on. I'm Rich Damiro. This is Rich on
Tech Daily. Well, if you've.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Listened to me or watched me on TV at all,
you know that Google Photos is one of my favorite
apps on my phone. I love talking about this service
because to me, there's not a better free way to
back up and organize your pictures.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
You get unlimited storage.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
It works on both iOS and Android, and I always
tell folks you need your pictures backed up in two places,
a free app like Google Photos and somewhere else. That way,
if one of the backups goes out, you still have
the other one. Recently, I was up at Google Io,
their big developers conference, and I got to talk to
David Lieb. He's the product lead at Google Photos, and
(00:45):
I wanted to know all about the app, which is
getting some new.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Features, and if you can believe it, it's been around
for three years now.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
We launched Google Photos three years ago at Google Io,
and our approach was that it's gotten really hard to
deal with all your photos. You take some any photos
on your phone, on your camera, you've got all those
old photos from your hard drive. We wanted to build
one place that you could keep all your photos and
then make them as useful as possible to you.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
So one reason I love Google Photos is that it
gives you unlimited storage, so you can free up valuable
space on your phone.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
And like I said earlier, it works cross.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Platform iOS, Android, desktop, and anywhere else you might want
to access your pictures.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
One of the core tenets of Google Photos is one
place to keep all your photos that is accessible on
all the devices you have today and into the future.
So if you go get a new smartphone, you don't
have to deal with anything. Just sign into your Google
Photos account, all your photos are there accessible to you.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
One of the new features announced at Google Io is
called one Tap Actions. Basically, Google Photos is using AI
artificial intelligence to help you fix things in your photos
without doing a lot of work.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
One of the things we've noticed is that there's a
lot of work dealing with your photos, and so we
noticed that people don't want to do that work. So
one of the things we watch today is a feature
that lets you kind of take those actions on your
photos in a way that's really easy. So, for example,
if you're swiping through your photos and you happen upon
a photo that's too dark. Google Photos will understand that
(02:09):
and put a button right there for you to tap
once and brighten the image. If you have photos of
your friends that you've forgotten to share, Google will understand
that and give you one tap to share those photos
with those friends.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
I can't wait to use this new feature.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
You can finally take a photo of a document and
Google Photos will ask if you want to convert it
into a PDF.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
That's going to come in handy.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
We often take photos of documents that we need to
sign and then like scan and send back to someone,
but none of us has a scanner anymore, and so
we realize that we could apply AI to that problem
and take something that is really burden some and make.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
It really easy for you.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Another cool effect rolling out right now is called color pop,
and it's all thanks to artificial intelligence.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
We have the more creative side of AI for this
color pop feature, where we take a photo that you
have of your kid, your friends, and we can recognize
that the subject is different from the background of a
photo and then segment them, keep the subject in right color,
and then turn the background to black and white so
you get this fun artistic effect.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Those pictures will be perfect for Instagram, until, of course,
we're all doing that, and then we'll have to move
on to something else that's new. Finally, Google Photos is
working on a way to add color to your old
black and white pictures.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
The way we think about it is a human can
look at a black and white photo and guess at
what colors which parts of the photo are. You look
at the grass and you understand that would be green.
You look at the sky, you understand that would be blue.
What we've done is we've basically showed our AI systems
a bunch of photos, and they've learned over time what
things in photos are, what colors. So that's how we
do it. It's really amazing.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
One final question I had for David, is Google Photos
working on a way to filter out all the duplicates
of my collection?
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Now Google Photos.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Does roughly filter out duplicates if you try to upload
the same photo twice, but I find that the system
is pretty easily tricked if something about the file or
the picture is slightly different, So I do end up
having a bunch of the same pictures in my collection. Now,
he wouldn't give me a concrete answer, but he basically said,
I should not waste my time right now manually searching
(04:02):
into leading the duplicates in my Google Photos collection, so
that is a good sign.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Now, I'm sort of a neat freak.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
So even though these duplicates don't take up any extra
storage in my account, I would rather have everything perfectly
organized and arranged, and it sounds like Google is using
artificial intelligence to get me towards that goal.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Thanks so much for listening to the show.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
If you like what I'm doing here, leave a rating
and review on Apple Podcasts.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
That way more people discover the show. And as always,
you can.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Find links to everything I talk about here on the
podcast on my website. Just go to rich on tech
dot tv and be sure you're following me on Instagram.
These days, I'm doing a lot with Instagram stories having
some fun there, so I'll see you there.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Thanks so much for listening. I'm Rich Demiro rich on
tech dot tv. I'll talk to you real soon.
Host
Rich DeMuro
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