WebProNews

Sure it's just rumor and speculation from sources not associated with Google or nascent photo facial recognition firm Riya, but Google could toss $40 million at Riya soon.

Riya is still an alpha product, its technology focused on automatically tagging people in photos through the use of face recognition. When it goes to beta, it could be with a big friendly Google logo attached.

Om Malik reported on his always-excellent blog that whispers have reached him about the possibility of Riya going from startup to Google product without enduring that pesky phase of operating successfully in the marketplace first.

The Riya technology must be very impressive to have the Googleplex possibly reaching deep into the cashpile for $40 million dollars already, a figure Niall Kennedy thinks Google has already paid for the company.

No one from Google or Riya has commented yet on the deal, and Riya's web site is currently free of the Google logo. But the day is just starting, and the rumors seem likely to be addressed when Riya has its launch party in Atherton, CA on Friday, at TechCrunch's BBQ.

(You know what the surprising development would be? Someone explaining why Web 2.0/Software as a Service isn't simply a rehash of client/server technology dating back a few decades.)

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.