Saturday, March 26, 2011

Google acquires video quality specialist Green Parrot Pictures, will improve YouTube's cute cat videos

Maru the cat
Google has acquired Green Parrot Pictures, a company that specializes in video quality improvement technology.

It sounds like Google (and its massive YouTube wing) want to do something about the low-quality video that comes from smartphones and webcams -- and judging by the demonstrations of its technologies on the Green Parrot Pictures site (embedded after the break), it looks like Google has made a very sound acquisition indeed.

Green Parrot Pictures has technology that can effectively remove camera shake and flicker, and restore detail lost to noise and blotches. It also has two 'enhancement' technologies: Slo Motion can interpolate frames to create fake slow motion, and Color Transfer can improve faded color, or make something look more vivid than it really is.

It isn't immediately clear how Green Parrot Pictures' technology will be used -- it will require lots of computational power, that's for sure -- but if Google can work it into the standard YouTube video uploader, the overall quality of content on YouTube could increase significantly. Speaking from personal experience, Lee's constant stream of shaking-with-laughter cute cat videos make me nauseous -- if Green Parrot Pictures can remove camera shake, day-to-day life in the Download Squad bunker would be a lot more pleasant.

[The cat shown above is Maru; he's the most awesomest cat in the world.]

Continue reading Google acquires video quality specialist Green Parrot Pictures, will improve YouTube's cute cat videos

Google acquires video quality specialist Green Parrot Pictures, will improve YouTube's cute cat videos originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 16 Mar 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/16/google-acquires-video-quality-specialist-green-parrot-pictures/

Jennifer Aniston Jennifer Gareis Jennifer Garner Jennifer Gimenez Jennifer Love Hewitt Jennifer Morrison Jennifer ODell