Google Goggles, the popular scan-the-real-world mobile app, has updated to include some great improvements and a novel trick--the ability to solve Sudoku puzzles at a lightning pace.

The barcode scanner is now significantly faster. Just hold the barcode in view of the phone and it will vibrate when it has captured the barcode. No fussing with button pushing necessary. Goggles also rocks a print-to-web identification tool; snap a picture of an ad in a major newspaper or magazine published after August 2010 and you'll be linked to web results related to the product.

The most novel update, however, is the lightning fast Sudoku solver. Check out the demo video below:

The improved barcode scanning is only available for the Android version, the iPhone version (part of Google Mobile Apps on iPhone) still gets the print-ad recognition and Sudoku solver. Visit the link below for additional information or simply update your existing Google Goggles install to start using the new features.

Google Goggles Gets Faster, Smarter, and Solves Sudoku [The Official Google Blog]