Google, Mars Food, and Innit have now teamed up to simplify meal planning. Now, you can simply point at Mars Food’s UNCLE BEN’S brand with Google Lens running and Innit will conjure up information and recommendations.
Innit is basically a smart kitchen app that recommends personalized meals based on the user’s dietary requirements. The recipes are customizable and the app is also integrated with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.
Planning meals can be a complicated task, especially if you are strapped for time. Thanks to the new collaboration, all you need now is Google’s image recognition technology to get recipes, ingredients lists, and nutritional information regarding UNCLE BEN’S rice products.
This Is Google Lens First Food Brand Collaboration
Google Lens was first introduced during the company’s I/O conference in 2017. It was initially exclusive to Pixel phones, but in 2018 the Mountain View company brought it to non-Pixel phones. Soon afterward, the iOS version of Google Photos also got support for it. Google’s visual search technology can recognize more than a billion products and provide related digital information.
Numerous UNCLE BEN’s products will be plastered with Google Lens stickers this month. This will encourage shoppers to try out the new solution. Along with ingredients list and nutritional advice, Innit will also show step-by-step videos to make the cooking process easier.
For the existing users of Innit, personalized recommendations will be provided based on their preferences and dietary needs. Moreover, the app will also display a personalized score for every product depending on its fit for the user. In short, this can be a very convenient way to plan meals right at the store.
If you are not sure about how this works, all you have to do is hold up your phone against a product. A dot will soon appear and then you can use the Explore panel to view helpful information. If you do not have the Lens app on your phone already, it’s available on the Google Play Store and iOS App Store.
Google’s Image Recognition Software Can Also Pull Neat Tricks At Restaurants
Speaking about the new partnership, Alan Joyce, Product Manager for Google Lens said that the company wants to help people accomplish things throughout the day. By teaming up with UNCLE BEN’s and Innit, the internet giant wants to provide important contextual information to help with dinnertime. According to research, meal planning can actually be a deterrent when it comes to cooking food as people think it takes a lot of time.
Of course, there are also plenty of other things that the image recognition tool can help with. For instance, this year, Google introduced improved support for Lens in restaurants. Just pointing your smartphone’s camera at a menu will highlight the popular dishes. Right now, menus in English are supported mostly but in the future, more languages will also be added. When you select a dish, you will be shown reviews from Google Maps. Finally, when the bill arrives, the visual search software will also help you split the bill and calculate the tip.