Google Now Takes on Passbook, Adds QR Code

Google Now, the predictive search available to users of the latest versions of Android, received a significant upgrade today, with new features focused on making travel easier. On your way to the airport for a holiday visit to a relative? Google Now will tell you the weather at your destination. Once you arrive at the airport, Google Now will pull up your boarding pass - as long as you're flying on United Airlines, anyway.

Google points out that these new "cards," as it calls components of the Now service, come in addition to some earlier travel - friendly features: currency conversion, translation, and flight status among them. Voice search also got an update; you can ask "What's this song?" and Google will attempt to identify it, or say "Scan this barcode" and have Google look up product information using the camera on your phone or tablet. You can also post an update to Google+ with your voice.