Google Buys Jetpac To Top-Ten Everything You Do

In the wake of Tumblr working with Ditto to scan your social pics, we learn that Google has acquired Jetpac. The small startup scans pics from social websites, and uses them to offer up suggestions about where to visit while you're vacationing. Though the Jetpac vision is travel, Google may have a more straightforward approach for us.

Jetpac is like Tumblr's new scanning agenda, just on a larger scale. Jetpac scans images for hot-button topics to create a locally based Buzzfeed of sorts, like top ten spots you'd go for a really good martini. When you're looking to do some thing specific on vacation, Jetpac likely has you covered.

Google hasn't yet said how they'd fit Jetpac into the mix at Mountain View, but it's worth considering the team may end up staying put in the bay area. San Francisco-based Niantic Labs houses Field Trip, which Google recently worked into Google Now. Showing card-based recommendations on stuff Google learns you're into via search might be a boon for users.

It might also be another serious blow to Yelp. If Google were to use Jetpac as a preemptive engine to offer suggestion, Yelp's crowdsourced review system might be in trouble. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, and Jetpac said their Jetpac City Guides app would be removed from the App Store soon. They'll also stop supporting existing software as they migrate to Google.

Source: Jetpac