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Facebook picks up retail computer vision outfit GrokStyle

If you’ve ever seen a lamp or chair that you liked and wished you could just take a picture and find it online, well, GrokStyle let you do that and now the company has been snatched up by Facebook to augment its own growing computer vision department.

The basic idea is simple: matching a piece of furniture in an image to visually similar ones in stock at stores.

But Bala and Bell made it work, and it was impressive enough in action that Ikea on first sight demanded it be in the next release of its app.

Facebook’s acquisition of the company makes sense on a couple of fronts: First, the company is investing heavily in computer vision and AI, so GrokStyle and its founders are naturally potential targets. Second, Facebook is also trying to invest in its marketplace, and using the camera as an interface for it fits right into the company’s philosophy.

One can imagine how useful it would be to be able to pull up the Facebook camera app, point it at a lamp you like at a hotel and see who’s selling it or something like it on the site.

There’s an “exciting journey” message on GrokStyle’s webpage, so the old site and service is gone for good.

Original article
Author: Devin Coldewey

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