The rise of smart phone and tablet technology has seen creative companies pushing the boundaries and coming up with ingenious applications that seamlessly merge print with other media. A number of print businesses have already cashed in on this 'apportunity' splashing out relatively modest amounts of money (compared to some pieces of print hardware) to build their applications and generate new revenue streams, with many more likely to follow in the future.

But the good news is that Joe Bloggs print shop doesn't necessarily have to splash the cash themselves to take advantage of this trend. There are a number of options currently available free of charge that enable printers to add value to a bog-standard piece of print, ranging from Ricoh's 'iCandy' – a QR code authoring, scanning and tracking platform – through to Google's latest creation 'Goggles'.

Available on Android handsets, or on the iPhone, Google Goggles is a revolutionary visual search application. Until now the only way to search the internet has been to type a word into a search engine or submit a query using voice recognition software. With Google Goggles you simply download the free app onto your phone, open it, take a picture and then wait for the search results.

So for example if you're visiting an art gallery and you want to find out more about a particular painting, you snap a picture of it and Google's search engine provides a series of links about the painting in question. Alternatively you can take a picture of a business card and find out more about the person who gave you the card or about their business – you could just add their phone number to your contact list. The opportunities are endless and it presents a great opportunity for printers to get creative and sell Goggles' power into their clients.

A company could run a print campaign that uses a compelling image with no words on it other than perhaps the Google Goggles logo. Curious passer-bys would then snap a pic of the poster on the app and be taken to a website that contains information about the product, which opens up all kinds of data capture avenues.

At the moment Goggles works with barcodes, products and with brand names but in the future the company is hoping to open it up to animals and leafs among other things (the idea is that you can snap a picture of a leaf and you will find out what tree it belongs to).

If you're intrigued by the possibilities presented by this new app simply Google 'Goggles' to find out more. It could be the start of a lucrative adventure for your business – at the very least it's a interesting and thought-provoking diversion.