Mubi's Blog

The R Project for Statistical Computing

2011-11-28T04:33:00.001-08:00

The R Project for Statistical Computing

R is a language and environment for statistical computing and graphics. It is a GNU project which is similar to the S language and environment which was developed at Bell Laboratories (formerly AT&T, now Lucent Technologies) by John Chambers and colleagues. R can be considered as a different implementation of S. There are some important differences, but much code written for S runs unaltered under R.

R provides a wide variety of statistical (linear and nonlinear modelling, classical statistical tests, time-series analysis, classification, clustering, ...) and graphical techniques, and is highly extensible. The S language is often the vehicle of choice for research in statistical methodology, and R provides an Open Source route to participation in that activity.

One of R's strengths is the ease with which well-designed publication-quality plots can be produced, including mathematical symbols and formulae where needed. Great care has been taken over the defaults for the minor design choices in graphics, but the user retains full control.

R is available as Free Software under the terms of the Free Software Foundation's GNU General Public License in source code form. It compiles and runs on a wide variety of UNIX platforms and similar systems (including FreeBSD and Linux), Windows and MacOS.

The R environment

R is an integrated suite of software facilities for data manipulation, calculation and graphical display. It includes

an effective data handling and storage facility,
a suite of operators for calculations on arrays, in particular matrices,
a large, coherent, integrated collection of intermediate tools for data analysis,
graphical facilities for data analysis and display either on-screen or on hardcopy, and
a well-developed, simple and effective programming language which includes conditionals, loops, user-defined recursive functions and input and output facilities.

The term "environment" is intended to characterize it as a fully planned and coherent system, rather than an incremental accretion of very specific and inflexible tools, as is frequently the case with other data analysis software.

R, like S, is designed around a true computer language, and it allows users to add additional functionality by defining new functions. Much of the system is itself written in the R dialect of S, which makes it easy for users to follow the algorithmic choices made. For computationally-intensive tasks, C, C++ and Fortran code can be linked and called at run time. Advanced users can write C code to manipulate R objects directly.

Many users think of R as a statistics system. We prefer to think of it of an environment within which statistical techniques are implemented. R can be extended (easily) viapackages. There are about eight packages supplied with the R distribution and many more are available through the CRAN family of Internet sites covering a very wide range of modern statistics.

R has its own LaTeX-like documentation format, which is used to supply comprehensive documentation, both on-line in a number of formats and in hardcopy. Learn more about (R)...

After Spirit and Opportunity, Curiosity is ready to Go!

2011-11-21T13:31:00.001-08:00

Spirit and Opportunity, Curiosity is powered with radioisotope thermal generators, and is thus not limited by the availability of solar power. However, it will still need to reduce activity during the coldest winter months, when more of its power will be required to keep its instruments warm. It also carries a more sophisticated analytical instrument package than Spirit and Opportunity. Curiosity will assess past habitability by searching for and identifying organic compounds, possible metabolic products of ancient organisms, and studying the rocks for details about the past climate in which they formed. Curiosity carries ten science instruments. What makes the science instrument suite of Curiosity unique are the analytical tools located within the body of the rover, which will perform detailed chemical analyses of about 70 samples of rock and soil delivered to them by the robotic arm. Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) includes a gas chromatograph, mass spectrometer, and tunable laser spectrometer, and is intended to identify organic compounds and also to measure the isotopic ratios of chemical elements important to life. CheMin is an X-ray diffraction X-ray fluorescence instrument, which directly measures the bulk elemental composition of rocks and soils, allowing scientists to infer mineral composition. read more (planetary.org)

Pocket Projector for iPhone

2011-11-12T14:45:00.001-08:00

Pocket Projector for iPhone is available at a price of $230 only, though it is more worthy than its price tag. Just put your order to company’s site and the projector-case- box will be shipped to you within a week.

That 50-inch image projected buy this magical case would require about 8 feet of empty space to get benefit, as noted by Macworld’s Dan Frakes, who have spent sometime with this cute and remarkable iPhone case.

Frakes notes that the images created by the built-in projector are truly quite excellent, although a dark room is als required to make the best use of this absolutely mini DLP Pico chip.

If you are desirous to pick this Pocket Projector right now, you can put your order through Brookstone official site.

11:11:11 - 11.11.11

2011-11-11T11:11:00.000-08:00

A great date, we only see once in a century.

Have a a good century ahead!

Mubi

Cordon Multi-Target Photo-Radar System

2011-11-01T05:47:00.001-07:00

Go easy on the gas, Speed Racer, because Cordon is on its way. Developed by Simicon, this new speed sensor promises to take highway surveillance to new heights of precision. Unlike most photo radar systems, which track only one violator at a time, Simicon's device can simultaneously identify and follow up to 32 vehicles across four lanes. Whenever a car enters its range, the Cordon will automatically generate two images: one from wide-angle view and one closeup shot of the vehicle's license plate. It's also capable of instantly measuring a car's speed and mapping its position, and can easily be synced with other databases via WiFi, 3G or WiMAX. Plus, this device is compact and durable enough to be mounted upon a tripod or atop a road sign, making it even harder for drivers to spot. Fortunately, though, you still have time to change your dragster ways, as distributor Peak Gain Systems won't be bringing the Cordon to North America until the first quarter of 2012. Cruise past the break to see some footage of a field trial that's currently underway -- cars tagged with a green dot are traveling below the speed limit, those with a yellow marking are chugging along within an acceptable range above the limit, while vehicles with a red tab are just asking for trouble.

OmniTouch Projection - Microsoft Research

2011-10-18T07:42:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you just want to make notes on your forearm. Put that permanent marker down though, because PhD student Chris Harrison et al at Microsoft Research have created a new system that allows touchscreen interaction on hairy and uneven surfaces. It uses a short-range depth camera instead of the infrared sensor we've seen on similar devices, which allows it to gauge the viewing angle and other characteristics of surfaces being used -- and it can even handle pinch-to-zoom. There's a video after the break, if you fancy a bit of wall-based digital finger painting.

Facebook new interface

2011-10-18T07:41:00.001-07:00

Geiger Counter Kit

2011-10-14T09:33:00.000-07:00

Introducing the Geiger Counter Kit from the Maker Shed. This kit costs a fraction of a commercial unit and it works just like you it should, blinking and clicking in the presence of radiation. It takes about an hour to build and even has a serial output for tracking radioactivity over time.

Is Grandma’s pottery or glass collection radioactive? Do bananas give off radiation? Is that granite table given to you by your mother-in-law slightly “hot?” (In my case, yes!) With this Geiger Counter Kit these questions are yours to answer. While this is a functional Geiger counter it is for educational purposes only. Please do not use it for anything important.

Bill vs Steve

2011-10-08T14:07:00.001-07:00

If you want to see the original post, please go toWebDesignShock.

Good bye Mr.Steve

2011-10-06T07:49:00.000-07:00

"Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."

Submarine cable system connecting the world

2011-10-03T07:19:00.000-07:00

TeleGeography’s free interactive submarine cable map is based on our authoritative Global Bandwidth research, and depicts 188 active and planned submarine cable systems and their landing stations. Selecting a cable route on the map provides access to data about the cable, including the cable’s name, ready-for-service (RFS) date, length, owners, website, and landing points. Selecting a landing point provides a list of all submarine cables landing at that station. more

Google Maps Feature Lets You 'Helicopter' Preview Routes

2011-10-02T04:07:00.000-07:00

Google Maps now includes a cool new feature that lets you preview a route with a 3D bird's eye animation, whether you’re driving, walking, biking, or using mass transit.

To use it, go to Google Maps, click "Get directions," and input your start and end points—just like you would normally. Starting Friday Google has added a small "3D" button next to "Driving directions to (your destination)."

Click on it and your once two-dimensional route comes to life in Google’s Web-based version of Google Earth. Now views allow you to see 3D rendering of elevations such as buildings, hills and mountains as Google flies you along your recommended route.

You can pause the flight by clicking anywhere in the 3D view or on the pause button in the lower left of the map. While the flight is paused, you can explore the surrounding area in 3D by clicking and dragging the map.

For instance, you could take a break from your helicopter ride and click on photos, YouTube videos or Wikipedia pages that are geo-linked to locations along your route.

To resume the flight, you just click on the play button in the lower left of your map.

If you’re not sure which leg of the trip you’re seeing, just look to the left panel where it is highlighted in the directions. You can also use this pane to fast forward or reverse your virtual trip by clicking on a different step.

If the images here -- captured from a virtual trip from Atlanta to Washington, D.C. -- don’t impress you, check out the blog post from Google’s Earth and Maps team where they show photos from a picturesque drive from Carmel, California to Big Sur.

Either that, or play around with it yourself -- maybe taking a pretend trip from London to Paris, or Beijing to Shanghai. read more

The Greatest Speech Ever Made

2011-09-20T15:03:00.000-07:00

How to fix any computer!

2011-09-08T14:09:00.000-07:00

Raspberry Pi - the £15 computer

2011-08-31T15:48:00.000-07:00

David Braben explains the raspberry PI scheme designed to give a £15 computer on a stick to every child. He is talking to the BBC's Rory Cellan-Jones

2011-08-15T21:37:00.000-07:00

For all Gadgets+.Net Micro fans .Net Gadgeteer is now available...
http://www.ghielectronics.com/catalog/product/297

Description

FEZ Spider Starter Kit is the first commercially available .NET Gadgeteer-compatible kit. it includes everything necessary for educators, hobbyists and even professionals. Embedded development is fast & easy (FEZ) thanks to .NET Micro Framework, .NET Gadgeteer and the numerous GHI value added features such as WiFi and USB Host.

The kit includes:

FEZ Spider Mainboard
Display T35 Module (3.5" with touchscreen)
USB Client DP Module (with USB cable)
Camera Module
2x Multicolor LED Module (DaisyLink)
2x Button Module
Ethernet J11D Module
SD Card Module
USB Host Module
Extender Module
JoystickModule
10cm IDC cables (included with modules).
Additional cables:

FEZ Spider Mainboard is a .NET Gadgeteer-compatible mainboard based on GHI Electronics' EMX module. This makes FEZ Spider Mainboard the most feature-full .NET Gadgeteer compatible device in the market. It contains all of .NET Micro Framework core features and adds many exclusive features, such as USB host, WiFi and RLP (loading native code). All these features combine to provide a rapid prototyping platform.

Key Features:

14 .NET Gadgeteer compatible sockets
Configurable on-board LED
Configuration switches.
Based on GHI Electronics EMX module

72MHz 32-bit ARM7 processor
4.5 MB Flash
16 MB RAM
LCD controller
Full TCP/IP Stack with SSL, HTTP, TCP, UDP, DHCP
Ethernet, WiFi driver and PPP ( GPRS/ 3G modems) and DPWS
USB host
USB Device with specialized libraries to emulate devices like thumb-drive, virtual COM (CDC), mouse, keyboard
76 GPIO Pin
2 SPI (8/16bit)
I2C
4 UART
2 CAN Channels
7 10-bit Analog Inputs
10-bit Analog Output (capable of WAV audio playback)
4-bit SD/MMC Memory card interface
6 PWM
OneWire interface (available on any IO)
Built-in Real Time Clock (RTC) with the suitable crystal
Processor register access
OutputCompare for generating waveforms with high accuracy
RLP allowing users to load native code (C/Assembly) for real-time requirements
Extended double-precision math class
FAT File System
Cryptography (AES and XTEA)
Low power and hibernate support
In-field update (from SD, network or other)

Dimensions: W 2.25" x L 2.05" x H 0.5"

Power

Supply voltages are regulated 3.3Volt and 5.0Volt DC.

Low power and hibernate modes

Active power consumption 160 mA

Idle power consumption 120 mA

Hibernate power consumption 40 mA

Enviromental:

Operating temperature: -20 to 65°C
RoHS compliant /Lead-free compliant

Most EMX software features are GHI exclusive, see software documentation for details.

For more information about .NET Gadgeteer visit:
http://www.netmf.com/gadgeteer/

Breathalyser using Aurdino @ Science Gallery Dublin

2011-08-14T06:51:00.000-07:00

Today we had workshop in Dublin Science Gallery @1300. Which was held by Irish robotic society, David taught us how to make breathalyser using Aurdino. It was a good fun.

Games in Google+

2011-08-12T22:40:00.000-07:00

The launch of games on Google+ is no surprise. Back in June, a reference to “Google+ Games” appeared in Google+ code. Google has been taking its time to make sure Google+ is fully functional before wide release and before it starts accepting branded profiles, but gaming is clearly a big step toward building a viable competitor to Facebook.

Mobile Market

2011-08-08T22:10:00.000-07:00

Hackers break into Subaru Outback via text message

2011-08-07T04:47:00.000-07:00

We've already seen SCADA systems controlled by Google Search, and now the Black Hat Technical Security Conference is offering up yet another slice of cringe-inducing hacker pie. A pair of pros from iSec Partners security firm was able to unlock and start the engine of aSubaru Outback using an Android phone and a process they call war texting. By setting up their own GSM network, they were able to snatch up password authentication messages being sent from server to car, allowing them the option to ride off in a brand new crossover. Apparently, your car isn't the only thing in danger of a war-texting takeover, however, as the team says there are a slew of devices and systems, accessible over telephone networks, that are vulnerable to similar attacks, including A-GPS tracking devices, 3G security cameras, SCADA sensors -- and thus the power grid and water supply -- home automation, and urban traffic control systems. Somehow this group of otherwise innocent looking New York textersappears a whole lot more sinister now.
more

memory usage test using C#.Net

2011-07-31T14:24:00.000-07:00

Places to see in Co.Donegal Ireland

2011-07-31T12:29:00.000-07:00

View Donegal Things to do! in a larger map

Download : KML · See full details!

put header on your facebook profile page

2011-07-31T11:40:00.001-07:00

Ever wonder how to have your own facebook header, visit http://coolheader.tk/

my first SaaS application running on Azur cloud :)

2011-07-31T08:49:00.000-07:00

I know its not a rocket science, but the tough part was to get account activated from someone in microsoft helpdesk india :)

Web Image:

Configuration Console:

Azur Db Console:

Circuit Bee

2011-07-30T05:25:00.001-07:00

Instructables is great, don't get us wrong, but if you're just looking for a sweet new Arduino project or a super-charged Atari Punk Console, wading through the piles of Lego swords and wreath-making tips can be frustrating. Enter CircuitBee, a document sharing site dedicated to one thing, and one thing only -- schematics. It's kind of like Scribd but, instead of being loaded with court documents and shoddy how-to books, it features user-uploaded circuit diagrams to get you started on your next soldering and etching project. The selection at the site is rather sparse at the moment, but since it's only in alpha we'll cut it some slack. Check out the site at the source link, and don't be surprised if a few submissions from your favorite Engadget writers start popping up. more

Microsoft Project Code Named “Velocity”

2011-07-29T08:02:00.000-07:00

"Velocity" is a distributed in-memory application cache platform for developing scalable, high-performance applications. "Velocity" can be used to cache any common language runtime (CLR) object and provides access through simple APIs. The key aspects of "Velocity" are distributed cache performance, scalability, and availability.

Overview:

Microsoft project code named "Velocity" provides a highly scalable in-memory application cache for all kinds of data. By using cache, you can significantly improve application performance by avoiding unnecessary calls to the data source. Distributed cache enables your application to match increasing demand with increasing throughput by using a cache cluster that automatically manages the complexities of load balancing. When you use "Velocity," you can retrieve data by using keys or other identifiers, named "tags." "Velocity" supports optimistic and pessimistic concurrency models, high availability, and a variety of cache configurations. “Velocity” includes an ASP.NET session provider object that enables you to store ASP.NET session objects in the distributed cache without having to write to databases, which increases the performance and scalability of ASP.NET applications.

For community technology preview 3 (CTP3), Microsoft project code named "Velocity" offers several enhancements and a new API. The enhancements include a cache notifications feature, performance improvements, security enhancements, and new cluster management options. There are also updates to the installation program. Perhaps the most material change for the "Velocity" administrator is that your options for editing the cluster configuration settings have been decoupled from your options for storing the cluster configuration settings. For more information, see the What’s New for CTP3 topic in the product documentation.

Nesting PC Virtual Tablet' Concept

2011-07-18T13:26:00.000-07:00

'nesting pc virtual tablet' by sono mocci

a concept by japanese-born, italy-based designer sono mocci, 'nesting pc virtual tablet' is a combination tablet and data visualization
interface with automatic battery charging and data syncing. phones, memory cards, CDs, USB ports, and I/O cables can be plugged
directly into the device, where they will show up as images on the touchscreen for easy manipulation and access. the design was shortlisted
from over 1000 concepts in our recent designboom competition 'a life with future computing', organized in collaboration with FUJITSU.

the 13-inch concept tablet features a dedicated dock for mobile phones. when inserted, a visualization of the phone onscreen
works in the same manner as would the device itself, permitting dialing, calling, texting, and other use. the loading of disk media
or flash drives offers a similar intuitive functionality. integrated charging eliminates the need for AC or outlet-specific adapters
for these kinds of devices.

closer view of the phone, which can be used normally when docked in the tablet

view of the tablet's dedicated ports

closer view of the hybrid virtual-physical machine in use

white version

more

FEZ Ultimate Kit

2011-06-29T14:00:00.000-07:00

This is a great product for .Net Micro framework developers.

Description

GHI also provides a complete and free project ebook for the kit.

Already own a FEZ Panda or FEZ Domino? Or want to use the internet with Arduino or its derivatives?

Consider the FEZ Internet of Things Kit.

The FEZ Ultimate Kit Includes:

Internet of Things Kit

38Khz Infrared Receiver E- Block
IRLED Transmitter E- Block
Light Sensor E- Block
Thermometer E- Block
Piezo (Speaker) E- Block
Variable Resistor (POT) Horizontal E- Block
Button E- Block
LED- Green E- Block
LED- Red E- Block
LED- Yellow E- Block
Serial-to-USB E- Block
Remote Control
Ethernet Cable

FEZ Panda II
FEZ Touch

This is a library provided by the community to add controls to FEZ Touch (watch the video) http://code.tinyclr.com/project/328/fez-touch-ui-controls/

Google Plus

2011-06-29T00:53:00.000-07:00

Visit https://plus.google.com/

A quick look at the first pieces of the project.

Sharing is a huge part of the web, a part that we think could be a lot simpler. That's why we've been working on adding a few new things to Google: To make connecting with people on the web more like connecting with them in the real world. We hope that you like what we've cooked up so far. And stay tuned, because there's more to come.

Circles

You share different things with different people. But sharing the right things with the right people shouldn't be a hassle. Circles makes it easy to put your friends from Saturday night in one circle, your parents in another and your boss in a circle all on his own – just like in real life.

Sparks

Remember when your Grandpa used to cut articles out of the paper and send them to you? That was nice. That's kind of what Sparks does: It looks for videos and articles that it thinks you'll like, so that when you're free there's always something to watch, read and share. Grandpa would approve.

Hangouts

Bumping into friends while you're out and about is one of the best parts of going out and about. With Hangouts, the unplanned meet-up comes to the web for the first time. Let your mates know that you're hanging out and see who drops by for a face-to-face-to-face chat. Until we perfect teleportation, it's the next best thing.

Solar Sinter Solar-powered 3D Printer

2011-06-26T14:56:00.000-07:00

Where would we be without the world's graduate art projects? In the case of Markus Kayser's Solar Sinter, we might never have seen the day when a solar-powered 3D printer would turn Saharan sand into a perfectly suitable glass bowl. Well, lucky for us (we suppose) we live in a world overflowing with MA students, and awash in their often confusing, sometimes inspiring projects. Solar Sinter, now on display at the Royal College of Art, falls into the latter category, taking the Earth's natural elements, and turning them into functioning pieces of a burgeoning technology. Solar Sinter uses the sun's rays in place of a laser and sand in place of resin, in a process that is perhaps more visually stunning than the results. See for yourself in the video after the break.

Source: Engadgets

Withings Blood Pressure Monitor for iOS

2011-06-20T11:17:00.000-07:00

Withings users not satisfied with only being able to share their weight with the world can now add blood pressure and heart rate to the mix. This iPhone-connected blood pressure monitor made its first appearance at CES, but you'll finally be able to order one of your own today. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, the $129 accessory costs three to four times as much as off-the-shelf blood pressure monitors, but integrates well if you're looking to pair it with your Withings scale for a complete vitals management solution. Results can be sent to health sites like Google Health and Microsoft HealthVault, or directly to your doctor. Care to see how it works? Join us past the break for a hands-on look at the monitor, including a video comparison with the in-store vitals machine at our neighborhood Kmart.

Update: Withings wrote in to let us know that the blood pressure readings in the video below were likely inflated because we were talking, though we do appreciate the concern you've already expressed in the comments.

Source: Engadgets

Comcast Cable Show Features 1Gbps Cable Modem Speed

2011-06-16T23:29:00.000-07:00

As promised, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts treated Cable Show 2011 attendees to a quick demo of the company's latest and greatest tech earlier today. The presentation consisted of the new Xfinity TV platform with all its cloud processing and internet content from Facebook and others, as well as a speed test running on a Comcast cable modem that broke through the 1Gbps speed barrier on the production network. There's no word on when home users might see such speeds but the company promised to "keep up the pace as the internet continues to evolve" -- let's hope that extends to the increasingly restrictive 250GB bandwidth cap. The demo of new DVR software also went off without a hitch, appearing to run smoothly and showing off a vision of "cloud processing" that speeds up search, personalization and recommendations in the program guide by handling them at the head end instead of on the box itself. We're still waiting to get our hands on the RF remote and see if the experience is just as smooth ourselves, but for now you can get a taste in the 17 minute video embedded above.
Source: Enadgets

Kinect for Windows SDK Beta

2011-06-16T05:30:00.000-07:00

Microsoft's been talking up its forthcoming Kinect for Windows SDK for quite a while now, and it looks like developers might soon finally be able to get their hands on it. According to WinRumors, Microsoft will roll out the beta version of the SDK during a special event on Channel 9 at 9:30 AM Pacific time (12:30 Eastern) tomorrow -- something that's now been backed up somewhat by the Channel 9 website itself, which is simply promising a "special Kinect focused event tomorrow." WinRumors is also reporting that the President of Microsoft Spain said during an appearance at a conference today that the beta SDK would be available "this week." So, it certainly seems like things are lining up for a release -- it's just a shame that "Kinect applications" doesn't have the same ring as Kinect hacks.

Soruce: Engadgets

Father's Day

2011-06-15T16:21:00.000-07:00

A Dad is a person
who is loving and kind,
And often he knows
what you have on your mind.
He’s someone who listens,
suggests, and defends.
A dad can be one
of your very best friends!
He’s proud of your triumphs,
but when things go wrong,
A dad can be patient
and helpful and strong
In all that you do,
a dad’s love plays a part.
There’s always a place for him
deep in your heart.
And each year that passes,
you’re even more glad,
More grateful and proud
just to call him your dad!
Thank you, Dad…
for listening and caring,
for giving and sharing,
but, especially, for just being you!

Happy Father's Day 2011

Knocking down barriers to knowledge - Google Search by Image and Voice

2011-06-14T13:35:00.000-07:00

As much as technology has advanced, there are still many barriers between you and the answers you’re looking for—whether you’re juggling a clunky mobile keyboard or waiting for a website to load. Today we held a media event in San Francisco where we talked about some of the latest things we’re doing to tackle these barriers on mobile, announced that we’re bringing our speech recognition and computer vision technology to the desktop, and took the next step for Google Instant—Instant Pages.

The thirst for knowledge doesn’t stop when you step away from your computer, it continues on your mobile device. In the past two years, mobile search traffic has grown five-fold. Mobile search today is growing at a comparable pace to Google in the early years.

Here you can see that mobile search traffic growth over the past three years (the red line) is comparable to overall Google search traffic growth over the same duration (the blue line) but earlier in our history.

One of the technologies driving this growth is speech recognition. With Voice Search, you don’t have to type on a tiny touchscreen. You can just speak your query and the answer is on the way. We’ve invested tremendous energy into improving the quality of our recognition technology—for example, today we teach our English Voice Search system using 230 billion words from real queries so that we can accurately recognize the phrases people are likely to say. As the quality has increased, so has usage: in the past year alone, Voice Search traffic has grown six-fold, and every single day people speak more than two years worth of voice to our system.

We first offered speech recognition on mobile search, but you should have that power no matter where you are. You should never have to stop and ask yourself, “Can I speak for this?”—it should be ubiquitous and intuitive. So we've added speech recognition into search on desktop for Chrome users. If you’re using Chrome, you’ll start to see a little microphone in every Google search box. Simply click the microphone, and you can speak your search. This can be particularly useful for hard-to-spell searches like [bolognese sauce] or complex searches like [translate to spanish where can I buy a hamburger]. Voice Search on desktop is rolling out now on google.com in English, but in the meantime you can check it out in our video:

Searching with speech recognition started first on mobile, and so did searching with computer vision. Google Goggles has enabled you to search by snapping a photo on your mobile phone since 2009, and today we’re introducing Search by Image on desktop. Next to the microphone on images.google.com, you’ll also see a little camera for the new Search by Image feature. If you click the camera, you can upload any picture or plug in an image URL from the web and ask Google to figure out what it is. Try it out when digging through old vacation photos and trying to identify landmarks—the search [mountain path] probably isn’t going to tell you where you were, but computer vision may just do the trick. Search by Image is rolling out now globally in 40 languages. We’re also releasing Chrome and Firefox extensions that enable you to search any image on the web by right-clicking.

Whether you type, speak or upload a photo, once you’ve indicated what you’re looking for the next step in your search is to sift through the results and pick one. To make this faster, last year we introduced Google Instant, which gives you search results while you type. We estimated Google Instant saves you between two and five seconds on typical searches. But once you’ve picked a result, you click, and then wait again for the page to load—for an average of about five seconds.

We want to help you save some of that time as well, so today we took the next step for Google Instant: Instant Pages. Instant Pages can get the top search result ready in the background while you’re choosing which link to click, saving you yet another two to five seconds on typical searches. Let’s say you’re searching for information about the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, so you search for [dc folklife festival]. As you scan the results deciding which one to choose, Google is already prerendering the top search result for you. That way when you click, the page loads instantly.

Instant Pages will prerender results when we’re confident you’re going to click them. The good news is that we’ve been working for years to develop our relevance technology, and we can fairly accurately predict when to prerender. To use Instant Pages, you’ll want to get our next beta release of Chrome, which includes prerendering (for the adventurous, you can try Instant Pages today with the developer version). It’s one more step towards an even faster web.

To learn more about today’s news, visit our new Inside Search website atwww.google.com/insidesearch. There you’ll find a recording of the event (when it’s ready), answers to common questions and links to other blog posts about today’s news on the Mobile blog and Inside Search blog. The Inside Search website is our new one-stop shop for Google search tips, games, features and an under-the-hood look at our technology, so there’s plenty for you to explore.

We’re far from the dream of truly instantaneous access to knowledge, but we’re on our way to help you realize that dream.

Source: Google Blog

SQL Source Control 2.1

2011-06-14T13:21:00.000-07:00

SQL Server developers and DBAs use SQL Source Control to:

Source control schemas and data within SSMS
Connect their databases to TFS, SVN, SourceGear Vault, Vault Pro, Mercurial, Perforce, Git,
Bazaar, and any source control system with a capable command line
Work with shared development databases, or individual copies
Track changes to follow who changed what, when, and why
Keep teams in sync with easy access to the latest database version
View database development history for easy retrieval of specific versions

SQL Source Control makes database version control seamless. It links your databases to your existing source control system straight from SSMS, so you can enjoy the benefits of source control without having to disrupt your workflow.

It doesn't matter whether your development team works with a central database or individual, local copies – SQL Source Control supports both development models. Just pick the one you work with and carry on as normal.

You can keep track of who changed what, when, and why, improve change management and auditing, and easily share or revert changes. SQL Source Control also stores a complete history of your updates to simplify database versioning, and provides a sandbox for risk–free experimenting.

Because SQL Source Control is powered by our SQL Compare technology, you can even combine it with SQL Compare Pro and SQL Data Compare Pro, to automate deployment and migration of your source controlled database.

HTC Invades Belgian Train Stations With Miniature Android Army

2011-06-12T04:03:00.001-07:00

The master of bizarre marketing ploys, HTC, has employed a more militant approach to its latest PR stunt. In a move apparently aimed at promoting the launch of a bunch of new Android phones (specifically the Flyer, Sensation, Incredible S, Desire S, and Wildfire S), the outfit meticulously filled railway stations in Antwerp, Brussels, and Namur with varied configurations of the little green monsters. While the stunt's grabbed our attention, we're happy the bantam buggers weren't there to greet us at the outset of our morning commute. More pictures await you at the source link below.

Microsoft Amalga

2011-06-09T13:00:00.001-07:00

Advancing understanding of your organization’s performance drivers.

Microsoft Amalga brings historically disparate data together and makes it easy to identify and act on insights into clinical, financial, or operational performance.

Overview:

Microsoft Amalga centralizes digital information of all types into a single, continually updated repository that is available for analysis and data sharing.

Microsoft Amalga helps answer questions like these:

How can we use one centralized system to improve operational performance across our enterprise?

How can we get usable reports faster?

How can we create a simpler process for managing CMS quality measures that helps minimize abstraction time and redundant reviews?

How can we help ensure our organization is properly reimbursed for patients admitted from the Emergency Department?

With extensive data readily available, you are empowered to:

Drive information exchange. Amalga, an enterprise health intelligence platform, enables information sharing and adoption across the organization supporting meaningful use and promoting better outcomes. Amalga provides the strategic foundation that not only supports today’s requirements but also provides you the flexibility and confidence for meeting tomorrow’s demands.

Proactively manage care. With the ability to analyze across patient populations in context, you can gain a better understanding of cause and effect, dependencies, and ramifications across a system. This triggers more actionable intelligence and helps more effectively identify the linkages between care, costs, and outcomes so you can more proactively manage chronic disease and other "at risk" patients.

Get a more complete view of every patient. By aggregating ambulatory and inpatient medical records in a common data store, Amalga delivers a single view of a patient’s medical history across the care continuum. The data can then be viewed from different perspectives—from an individual to a cohort, from the micro level to the macro level—in a single view.

Empower your people. Amalga empowers your staff to test new concepts and unlock potentially new approaches for delivering better care. No matter where the source of data is located—whether it’s encapsulated in existing systems or newly generated via the tools in Amalga—users can find, combine, and analyze data on demand. And the customizable interface enables your staff to view information in new ways now and in the future.

2011-06-09T10:30:00.000-07:00

This is our first clock kit design, made with a retro Russian display tube!

Cool glowing blue tube with 8 digits, PM dot and alarm on/off indicator
Adjustable brightness
Alarm with volume adjust
Precision watch crystal keeps time with under 20ppm (0.0002%) error (< 2 seconds a day)
Clear acrylic enclosure protects clock from you and you from clock
Battery backup will let the clock keep the time for up to 2 weeks without power
Selectable 12h or 24h display
Displays day and date on button press
10 minute snooze
Integrated boost converter so it can run off of standard DC wall adapters, works in any country regardless of mains power
Great for desk or night table use, the clock measures 4.9" x 2.9" x 1.3" (12.5cm x 7.4cm x 3.3cm)
Completely open source hardware and software, ready to be hacked and modded!

Complete kit comes with a 110/220V 9VDC power supply (a $1 plug adapter from your local hardware store will allow it to be used worldwide), all components including PCB, vacuum fluorescent tube, backup battery and a clear acrylic enclosure. Assembly is required! This kit is made of through-hole components but is best built by someone with previous soldering experience as there are many parts and steps.

For assembly

X-Ray Art

2011-06-09T04:51:00.000-07:00

If you have nothing to hide... or if you did not had to go through airport security screenings too often in the recent past, then you will be really thrilled to see a bunch of X-ray photos, creatively transformed into art.

Here are a few examples of this newly burgeoning stylistic - with a morbid predominance of bones and skeletons (for an obvious reason) and some unexpectedly flowery designs wrought on a dark x-ray film medium:

(left image credit: Bert Myers, right - Nick Veasey)

Exploring unusual media of X-rays (ideally suited for his dark, H. R. Giger-inspired compositions), Yury Shpakovski creates stunningly intricate, sophisticated works. See hissite for more examples and to order prints.

(images credit: Yury Shpakovski)

X-Ray Nature Photography

When used as art, X-rays seem to reveal the hidden beauty of natural forms, structures and symmetry not visible to the human eye, the world of ephemeral and eerie shapes - of which we are largely unaware...

Judith McMillan's flowers & plants:

(images credit: Judith McMillan)

George Green's various seashells:

(images credit: George Green)

(images credit: Steven Meyers)

Flowers "Kiss":

(image credit: Nick Veasey)

And then there is... a human kiss:

(images credit: Wim Delvoye)

Wim's site is full of creative projects; one can get lost there for hours... Here is a gothic combination of X-ray shots and stained glass (there is something spiritual in this...)

(images credit: Wim Delvoye)

X-Ray Stingray looks even more radical than a live one

Not only is this a mesmerizing and wonderful picture, but the whole new species - Amazon Freshwater "Pancake" Stingray - has been just discovered, more info. "It tells us is that there are quite likely to be other large fishes in the Amazon yet to be discovered and described":

(X-ray of Heliotrygon gomesi, preadult male. Credit: Ken Jones, via)

See-through Technology

An ordinary thing, such as a laptop keyboard, can be imbued with ethereal beauty, thanks to X-ray photography (try to tell it to the Airport Security, these guys are largely immune to such sentiments):

(image credit: Nick Veasey)

Photographer Nick Veasey has a lot more technological X-ray marvels on this site (some of them can even reveal how things work):

(images credit: Nick Veasey)

See more at this National Geographic's gallery.

Enhancing X-Ray Reality...

... with his own drawings: Dutch artist Ben Kruisdijk is adding flowers to X-ray photos, making human bones bloom from inside out -

(images credit: Ben Kruisdijk)

Thinking of teddy bears -

(image credit: Ben Kruisdijk)

I see what you ate here

Here is a picture of some poor cat swallowed whole by a python - more info:

(image via)

What have you listened to recently? (The Big Brother knows):

(images credit: Nick Veasey)

This last image reminds me of a strange fact in the history of underground rock music in Soviet Russia. During the "stagnation decades" of the 1970s and 80s there were very few official rock music records, so rock-hungry fans had to invent another way to get their musical fix. Photography studios at the time had the technology to etch sound grooves into photographic prints. These round photographs were called "Memories from the Beach", or "Musical Postcard". Soon communists noticed unnaturally long line-ups to photo studios and a huge demand for a glossy photographic paper.

Eventually, when the photographic paper disappeared from Soviet stores, ever-so-creative music fans started using x-ray prints from local clinics (there were plenty of used prints available)... And so the story of Russian rock music was literally written on the "skulls and bones" of X-ray prints.

Perhaps this little story will inspire modern artists to use this dark and glossy medium with renewed enthusiasm.

read more...

Spy Shots: Dell’s 7-Inch Tablet Has a Slide-Out Split Keyboard

2011-06-09T04:42:00.001-07:00

What the tablet world needs is innovation, and from these newly uncovered spy pics, it looks like Dell is the one stepping up with a design that’s unlike any other.
Rather than copying the look and feel of the iPad as so many other tablet manufacturers have done, Dell has apparently pinpointed one of the iPad’s weakest characteristics and improved upon it: its keyboard.
In these pictures (somehow obtained by Engadget), notice the split keyboard that’s not on this little 7-inch tablet’s touchscreen, but it’s part of a slide-out keypad that gives each of its users’ thumbs an easy shot at quick typing.

We’re getting a feeling of déjà vu here. Isn’t this design getting precariously close to those failed tablets of five years ago that Microsoft and Intel codenamed “Project Origami?” Some of those Ultra-Mobile PCs’ split keyboards were arranged on either side of the screen, and some even had slide-out keyboards.
Maybe Dell figures the reason those Origami PCs didn’t succeed was because they were underpowered, their touchscreens didn’t work well, they were too big, heavy and overpriced — not because their keyboards weren’t good.
Back to the present, Dell presented this prototype in both black and white finishes, and each had a rear camera which we hope has better quality than the iPad’s. Beyond those specs, there’s precious little info about when we might see this tablet design hit the marketplace, if ever.
Still, perhaps copycat manufacturers might want to take a look at this design rather than creating yet another Apple-esque slab. What do you think, commenters? Is this throwback to the past an improvement on the iPad and all the other tablets that look just like it?

Google Maps Tells You Just How Late Your Bus Is

2011-06-09T04:38:00.001-07:00

Waiting for your bus can sometimes seem like slowly dying in a desert as you watch vehicle-shaped mirages glimmer on the horizon. As a remedy for that transit-parched feel, Google is integrating live transit updates into Maps for mobile and desktop.

Before you get all excited, the update is only available in four U.S. cities (Boston, Portland, San Diego and San Francisco) and two European cities (Madrid and Turin), and for Google Maps for mobile on Android devices (although it will work on mobile browsers, and it doesn’t require any downloads to access).

Residents of those cities will be able to see delays and alerts when clicking on transit stations or planning routes, as well as “live departure times.”

DSPL: Dataset Publishing Language

2011-06-09T04:07:00.001-07:00

DSPL stands for Dataset Publishing Language. Datasets described in DSPL can be imported into the Google Public Data Explorer, a tool that allows for rich, visual exploration of the data.

This tutorial provides a step-by-step example of how to prepare a basic DSPL dataset.

A DSPL dataset is a bundle that contains an XML file and a set of CSV files. The CSV files are simple tables containing the data of the dataset. The XML file describes the metadata of the dataset, including informational metadata like descriptions of measures, as well as structural metadata like references between tables. The metadata lets non-expert users explore and visualize your data.

The only prerequisite for understanding this tutorial is a good level of understanding of XML. Some understanding of simple database concepts (e.g., tables, primary keys) may help, but it's not required. For reference, the completed XML file and complete dataset bundle associated with this tutorial are also available for review.

Before starting to create our dataset, here is a high-level overview of what a DSPL dataset contains:
General information: About the dataset
Concepts: Definitions of "things" that appear in the dataset (e.g., countries, unemployment rate, gender, etc.)
Slices: Combinations of concepts for which there are data
Tables: Data for concepts and slices. Concept tables hold enumerations and slice tables hold statistical data
Topics: Used to organize the concepts of the dataset in a meaningful hierarchy through labeling

To illustrate these rather abstract notions, consider the dataset (with dummy data) used throughout this tutorial: statistical time series for unemployment and population by country, and population by gender for US states.

This example dataset defines the following concepts:
country
gender
population
state
unemployment rate
year

Concepts that are categorical, such as state, are associated with concept tables, which enumerate all their possible values (California, Arizona, etc.). Concepts may have additional columns for properties such as the name or the country of a state.

Slices define each combination of concepts for which there is statistical data in the dataset. A slice contains dimensions and metrics. In the above picture, the dimensions are blue and the metrics are orange. In this example, the slice gender_country_slice has data for the metric population and the dimensionscountry, year and gender. Another slice, called country_slice, gives total yearly population numbers (metric) for countries.

In addition to dimensions and metrics, slices also reference tables, which contain the actual data.

Let's now walk step-by-step through the creation of such a dataset in DSPL.
To get started, we need to create an XML file for our dataset. Here is the beginning of a DSPL description for our example dataset:The dataset description starts with a top-level element. The targetNamespace attribute contains a URI that uniquely identifies this dataset. The dataset's namespace is especially important when publishing the dataset, as it will be the global identifier of your dataset, and the means for others to refer to it.

Note that the targetNamespace attribute may be omitted. In this case a unique namespace is automatically generated when the dataset is imported. read more...

Offline Google Maps

2011-06-08T12:40:00.000-07:00

Dutch tech site All About Phones claims that Google Maps Navigation will get a true offline mode later this summer. In December the Android app received an update that cached routesand the surrounding areas, but without a data connection you still couldn't enter a new destination. A source inside the Dutch telco industry said that Goog would removing the requirement for coverage -- an obvious next step for the nav tool, especially with Ovi Maps bringing its turn-by-turn prowess to WP7. The move is also bound to be another thorn in the side of standalone GPS makers like Garmin and TomTom. After all, it's tough to compete with free

Apple's New Spaceship Campus

2011-06-08T06:11:00.000-07:00

Shortly after taking the stage at WWDC, Steve Jobs made an appearance before the Cupertino City Council to pitch the local governing body on Apple's ambition to build a new campus. The site for the curvaceous, four-story, "human-scale" building to house 13,000 employees is the original home of HP's computer systems division, land that was recently sold to Apple. The property is currently covered by a series of big asphalt parking lots. Apple's plan would increase the landscape coverage from 20 to 80 percent with the help of a senior arborist from Stanford who will help restore some of the indigenous plant life to the property, including the apricot orchards. Apple plans to make the campus' energy center the facility's primary power generator using natural gas and other "clean energy" sources -- the city would simply provide backup power when needed. Of course, what would a Jobs presentation be without a few choice superlatives? In this case, Jobs claims that the new curved-glass facility will be the "best office building in the world," luring in students of architecture anxious for a peek. Apple plans to break ground in 2012 with a 2015 move-in date.

As an aside, it's fascinating (and yes, troubling) to observe Gilbert Wong, Mayor of Cupertino, guffaw at Steve's "jokes" like a smitten schoolgirl, going so far as to fawn over his own iPad 2 in front of the assembly. For his part, Jobs seems to bite his tongue during several exchanges particularly when one city council member tries to extort free WiFi from Apple in an apparent quid pro quo. Click through to see what we mean. read more...

Cupertino

The Windows 8 demo

2011-06-06T07:33:00.000-07:00

The video below was released on Wednesday evening to coincide with Windows President Steven Sinofsky offering the first public demo of Windows 8 at the All Things Digital conference (a.k.a. D9). In this video, Jensen Harris, director of program management for the Windows User Experience, provides a quick walk-through and promises that more video demos will be coming soon.

Google Wallet Product Launch

2011-05-27T13:41:00.000-07:00

Payments, offers, loyalty, and so much more

Google Wallet has been designed for an open commerce ecosystem. It will eventually hold many if not all of the cards you keep in your leather wallet today. And because Google Wallet is a mobile app, it will be able to do more than a regular wallet ever could, like storing thousands of payment cards and Google Offers but without the bulk. Eventually your loyalty cards, gift cards, receipts, boarding passes, tickets, even your keys will be seamlessly synced to your Google Wallet. And every offer and loyalty point will be redeemed automatically with a single tap via NFC.

Sony Flexible Color e-Paper 3D LCD

2011-05-20T08:13:00.000-07:00

We saw some fancy panels and flashy lights on the show floor at SID this week, but Sony decided to keep its latest display offerings tucked away in an academic meeting. We're getting word today from Tech-On! that the outfit unveiled a 13.3-inch sheet of flexible color e-paper as well as two new glasses-free 3D panels in a separate session at the conference. New e-paper solutions loomed large at SID, but we were surprised by the lack of flexible screens. Sony's managed to deliver both on a display that weighs only 20 grams and measures a mere 150-microns thick, a feat made possible by the use of a plastic substrate. The sheet boasts a 13-percent color gamut, 10:1 contrast ratio, and 150dpi resolution.

As for the 3D LCD displays, Sony joined a slew of other manufacturers in showing off its special brand of the panels. These new displays, ranging from 10-inches to 23-inches, apparently employ a new method for delivering 3D to the naked eye. This particular method uses a backlight positioned between an LCD panel and another backlight for 2D images, and can be easily be switched off for 2D viewing. Of course we would have liked to see these screens in the flesh, but alas, Sony decided to play coy. Hop on past the break for a shot of the new 3D panel.

Are you ready for Super Hi-Vision after HDTV ?

2011-05-19T08:19:00.000-07:00

Sharp and NHK are showing off the world’s first Super Hi-Vision display, pointing the way to a future where high definition TV will be many times sharper than the HDTV we’re familiar with today.

This 85-inch prototype screen was jointly developed by Sharp Corporation and Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK), finally creating a monitor that can display the jaw-dropping ultra-high definition of the Super Hi-Vision format NHK has been working on since 1995.

How high is this Super Hi-Vision’s definition? To give you an idea, today’s HDTV resolution lets you recognize faces in the crowd, where Super Hi-Vision will allow you to determine whether the pupils in the eyes of one of those faces are dilated. I’ve seen a screen with just half this resolution, and even that is astonishing.

By the numbers, according to Sharp, the TV’s resolution is 16 times higher than a conventional HDTV, with a 33-megapixel screen made up of 7,680 x 4,320 pixels. Compare that with the relatively measly 1,920 x 1,080 pixels of the HDTV we are all so fond of, and you’ll agree that we’re in for a treat.

A Tweeting .NET Micro Framework Breathalyzer

2011-05-19T08:16:00.000-07:00

This project shows how you can use the Netduino Plus to make a tweeting breathalyzer—a standalone breathalyzer that can post messages about the detected alcohol level to Twitter, using an inexpensive alcohol gas sensor.

The Netduino is an open source electronics platform based on a 32-bit microcontroller running the .NET Micro Framework. The Netduino Plus is similar to the original Netduino, but adds a built-in Ethernet controller and MicroSD slot. Since the Netduino Plus can connect directly to a network, it can independently communicate with Twitter’s API without being connected to a computer.

Hardware Overview

The MakerShield is a simple prototyping shield that is compatible with the standard Arduino and Netduino boards.

In this configuration, the MQ-3 alcohol gas sensor will output an analog voltage between 0 and 3.3V to indicate the amount of alcohol detected. This output will be connected to one of the Netduino’s analog input pins and read by its ADC.

While it would possible to convert the sensor’s output to a numeric BAC level, this would require careful calibration and would be prone to error. For this project, I will use approximate value ranges to determine which of several messages should be posted to Twitter. An approximate reading will be displayed on an RGB LED.

RGB LED

The RGB LED is the primary status indicator. During normal operation, it shows the level of alcohol, represented by colors ranging from green to red.

Three transistors are used to provide power to the RGB LED. The microcontroller used on the Netduino has a relatively low current limit per IO pin (around 8 mA for most pins) so it is generally not advised to drive LEDs (which can require 20-30 mA) directly from these pins. Using a transistor (or another LED driver) helps ensure that enough power will be made available to each LED without damaging the Netduino.

This page shows some common transistor circuits, including a few "transistor as a switch" circuits. Since the RGB LED I am using has a common cathode (low side) lead, I am using PNP transistors to switch the anode (high side) of each color.

E Ink & Epson High Resolution ePaper

2011-05-17T08:20:00.000-07:00

It's pretty obvious that this year's SID Display Week is shaping up to be a stage for the 300ppi extravaganza -- Samsung and LG were first to announce their latest high pixel density LCDs, and then Toshiba chimed in with its 367ppi LCD for cellphones. Fortunately, fans of ePaper will also have something to look forward to here, as E Ink Holdings and Epson have just announced the co-development of a 300-dpi ePaper device. To be exact, E Ink will be in charge of producing the sharp-looking 9.68-inch 2,400 x 1,650 display panel, whereas Epson will take care of the high-speed display controller platform to go with E Ink's display. No availability has been announced just yet, but stay tuned for our eyes-on impression at the show.

The Fourth Paradigm: Data-Intensive Scientific Discovery

2011-05-15T08:21:00.000-07:00

Presenting the first broad look at the rapidly emerging field of data-intensive science

Increasingly, scientific breakthroughs will be powered by advanced computing capabilities that help researchers manipulate and explore massive datasets.

The speed at which any given scientific discipline advances will depend on how well its researchers collaborate with one another, and with technologists, in areas of eScience such as databases, workflow management, visualization, and cloud computing technologies.

InThe Fourth Paradigm: Data-Intensive Scientific Discovery, the collection of essays expands on the vision of pioneering computer scientist Jim Gray for a new, fourth paradigm of discovery based on data-intensive science and offers insights into how it can be fully realized.

Critical Praise forThe Fourth Paradigm

“The individual essays—andThe Fourth Paradigm as a whole—give readers a glimpse of the horizon for 21st-century research and, at their best, a peek at what lies beyond. It’s a journey well worth taking.”

— James P. Collins
School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University

Download the article(PDF)

Read the review online (subscription required)

From the Back Cover

“The impact of Jim Gray’s thinking is continuing to get people to think in a new way about how data and software are redefining what it means to do science."

— Bill Gates, Chairman, Microsoft Corporation

“I often tell people working in eScience that they aren’t in this field because they are visionaries or super-intelligent—it’s because they care about science and they are alive now. It is about technology changing the world, and science taking advantage of it, to do more and do better.”

— Rhys Francis, Australian eResearch Infrastructure Council

“One of the greatest challenges for 21st-century science is how we respond to this new era of data-intensive science. This is recognized as a new paradigm beyond experimental and theoretical research and computer simulations of natural phenomena—one that requires new tools, techniques, and ways of working.”

— Douglas Kell, University of Manchester

“The contributing authors in this volume have done an extraordinary job of helping to refine an understanding of this new paradigm from a variety of disciplinary perspectives.”

— Gordon Bell, Microsoft Research

Panaromic Images using Microsoft ICE

2011-05-13T08:26:00.000-07:00

Panoramic View of Dublin using MS ICE

It’s very easy to use just drag and drop set of pictures and ICE will make a panoramic exportable image for you…

Microsoft Image Composite Editor is an advanced panoramic image stitcher. Given a set of overlapping photographs of a scene shot from a single camera location, the application creates a high-resolution panorama that seamlessly combines the original images. The stitched panorama can be shared with friends and viewed in 3D by uploading it to the Photosynth web site. Or the panorama can be saved in a wide variety of image formats, from common formats like JPEG and TIFF to the multiresolution tiled format used by Silverlight's Deep Zoom and by the HD View andHD View SL panorama viewers.

New features through version 1.3.5

-->Accelerated stitching on multiple CPU cores

-->Ability to publish, view, and share panoramas on the Photosynth web site

-->Support for "structured panoramas" — panoramas consisting of hundreds of photos taken in a rectangular grid of rows and columns (usually by a robotic device like the GigaPan tripod heads)

-->No image size limitation — stitch gigapixel panoramas

-->Support for input images with 8 or 16 bits per component

-->Ability to read raw images using WIC codecs

-->Photoshop layer and large document support

Additional features

-->State-of-the-art stitching engine

-->Automatic exposure blending

-->Choice of planar, cylindrical, or spherical projection

-->Orientation tool for adjusting panorama rotation

-->Automatic cropping to maximum image area

-->Native support for 64-bit operating systems

-->Wide range of output formats, including JPEG, TIFF, BMP, PNG, HD Photo, and Silverlight Deep Zoom

1d, 2d, 3d Now 4d Barcodes

2011-04-28T08:22:00.000-07:00

To increase the capacity of two dimensional barcodes a third dimension, color can be added. These 3d codes are available already as noted in a previous post Color C Code and now researchers are looking at adding a fourth dimension, time. The image below shows what they may look like and this paper provides further information, Unsynchronized 4D Barcodes (pdf).

more here

Carlitos’ Projects: Speech-Controlled Arduino Robot

2011-03-30T08:23:00.000-07:00

We all dream of having appliances and machines that can obey our spoken commands. Well, let’s take the first step towards making this happen. In this second iteration of Carlitos’ Projects, we are going to build a speech-controlled Arduino-based robot.

You may be thinking that making such a robot must be a very complex task. After all, humans take many years before they can understand speech properly. Well, it is not as difficult as you may think and it is definitely lots of fun. The video below illustrates how to make your own speech-controlled Arduino rover.

After watching the video, read below the detailed list of parts and steps required to complete the project.

Materials

A DFRobotShop Rover kit. It constitutes the robot to be controlled.
A VRbot speech recognition module. It processes the speech and identifies the commands.
Two Xbee RF communication modules. They create a wireless link between the speech recognition engine and the robot.
An Arduino Uno. Controls the speech recognition module.
An IO expansion shield. Allows to connect the Xbee module to the DFRobotShop Rover
An Xbee shield. Allows to connect an Xbee module to the Arduino Uno.
Male headers. They are required by the Xbee shield.
A barrel jack to 9V battery adaptor. Allows to power the Arduino Uno trough a 9V battery.
An LED. It is not required since the IO expansion shield already has one but it can provide a more visible activity feedback.
An audio jack. It will be used to connect the microphone. This is optional
A headset or a microphone (a microphone is included with the speech recognition module).

Tools

A Wire Cutter. It will be used to cut the leads off components.
A Soldering Iron. In order to solder all the (many) connections, a soldering station might be preferable since it provides steady and reliable temperature control that allows for easier and safer soldering (you have less risk of burning the components if the temperature is set correctly).
A Third Hand. This is not absolutely required, but it is always useful for holding components and parts when soldering.
A Hot-glue gun in order to stick the components together.
A computer . It programs the DFRobotShop Rover and the Arduino Uno using the Arduino IDE.

Putting it Together

Assemble the DFRobotShop Rover and mount the IO expansion shield, an Xbee Module and the LED. Se the picture above or the video for further information.
Solder the headers onto the Xbee shield. Also solder four headers on the prototyping area as shown below. Do not like soldering? Then keep reading since there is no-solder-required version of the project.
Connect the four headers to the corresponding pins as shown below.
As shown above, you can also mount the headphone jack and use the cable included with the microphone in order to connect it to the VRbot module microphone input.
Put the shield onto the Arduino and connect the battery.
Connect the VRbot speech recognition module wires and the microphone.
Program the DFRobotShop Rover and the Arduino Uno with these programs respectively:
dfrobotshop_serial.zip and VRbot.zip
Start talking to your robot! Say “forward”, “backward”, “left”, or “right” in order to make the robot move in the desired direction. The word “move” shown in the video has been removed from the program in order to improve the performance.

More at ... http://www.robotshop.com/gorobotics/

What's New in iPad 2

2011-03-25T08:24:00.000-07:00

Apple has released new iPad 2 as promissed. Following are few features that you will find in new iPad 2.

1. iPad 2 has new design and it is 33% thinner and 15% lighter than the first iPad.

2. iPad 2 runs on a new dual-core A5 processor.

3. iPad 2 has 2 cameras. One is a front-facing VGA camera and the other one is a rear-facing camera that allows users to capture 720p HD videos. The front-facing VGA camera supports Apple’s FaceTime and iPad 2 is the first iPad to get this.

4. Comes with iOS 4.3 (the latest version), promises faster mobile browsing and etc.

5. Has a built-in gyroscope that enables advanced gaming.

6. Supports HDMI Video Mirroring, allowing users to stream media on HDTVs.

7. iPad 2’s launch also saw the introduction of 2 new apps; iMovie and GarageBand. In a nutshell, iMovie allows you to shoot and edit videos with your iPad 2 and upload them to video sites. GarageBand on the other hand will make a musician out of you.

In Ireland you can buy it from here... http://store.apple.com/ie

Monirobo Measures Radiation in Japan

2011-03-23T08:25:00.000-07:00

According to a report by a Japanese news agency, a radiation monitoring robot, aptly named Monirobo, is the first non-human responder to go on-site following the partial meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The machine, which was developed by Japan's Nuclear Safety Technology Centre to operate at lethal radiation levels, reportedly began work Friday, enlisting a 3D camera, radiation detector, and heat and humidity sensors to monitor the extent of the damage. A second Monirobo, used to collect samples and detect flammable gases, is expected to join its red counterpart soon -- both robots are operated by remote control from distances up to one kilometer away. They join the US Air Force'sGlobal Hawk drone in unmanned surveillance of the crisis.

Microsoft® Community Contributor Award

2011-03-11T08:29:00.000-08:00

Dear Mubshir Raza,

Congratulations again for being recognized with the Microsoft Community Contributor Award!

The Microsoft Community Contributor Award is reserved for participants who have made notable contributions in Microsoft online community forums such as TechNet, MSDN and Answers. The value of these resources is greatly enhanced by participants like you, who voluntarily contribute your time and energy to improve the online community experience for others.

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MAVIS

2011-02-13T08:31:00.000-08:00

The Microsoft Research Audio Video Indexing System (MAVIS) is a set of software components that use speech recognition technology to enable searching of digitized spoken content, whether they are from meetings, conference calls, voice mails, presentations, online lectures, or even Internet video.

About MAVIS

As the role of multimedia continues to grow in the enterprise, Government, and the Internet, the need for technologies that better enable discovery and search of such content becomes all the more important.

Microsoft Research has been working in the area of speech recognition for over two decades, and speech-recognition technology is integrated in a number of Microsoft products, such as Windows 7, TellMe.com, Exchange 2010, and Office OneNote. Using integrated speech-recognition technology in the Windows 7 operating system, users can dictate into applications like Microsoft Word, or use speech to interact with their Windows system. The TellMe.com service allows mobile users to get directory services using speech while on the go. Exchange 2010 now provides a rough transcript of incoming voicemails and in Office OneNote, users can search their speech recordings using keywords.

MAVIS Adds to the list of Microsoft applications and services that use speech recognition. MAVIS is designed to enable searching of 100s or even 10,000s of hours of conversational speech with different speakers on different topics. The MAVIS UI, which is a set of aspx pages, resembles that of a web search UI as illustrated below but can be changed to suite different applications.

MAVIS comprises of speech recognition software components that run as a service in the Windows Azure Platform , full text search components that run in SQL Server 2005/2008 sample aspx pages for the UI and some client side PowerShell and .NET tools. The MAVIS client side tools make it easy to submit audio video content to the speech recognition application running in the Azure service using an RSS formatted file and retrieve the results so they can be imported into a SQL Server for full text indexing which enables the audio video content to be searched just like other textual content.

MAVIS is currently a research project with a limited technical preview program. If you have deployed Microsoft SQL Server, have large speech archives and are interested in the MAVIS technical preview program, contact us.

MAVIS Architecture

Speech-Recognition for Audio Indexing Backgrounder

There are two fundamentally different approaches to speech recognition, one referred to as Phonetic indexing and the other Large-vocabulary Continuous Speech Recognition (LVCSR).

Phonetic indexing is based on phonetic representations of the pronunciation of the spoken terms and has no notion of words. It performs phonetic based recognition during the indexing process, and at search time, the query is translated into its phonetic spelling which is then matched against the phonetic recognition result. Although this technique has the advantage of not depending on a preconfigured vocabulary, it is not appropriate for searching large audio archives of 10,000s hours because of the high probability of errors using phonetic recognition. It is however appropriate for relatively small amounts of audio as might be the case for searching personal recordings of meetings or lectures. Microsoft has utilized this technique with success to enable the “Audio Search” feature in Office OneNote 2007.
Large-vocabulary continuous speech recognition or LVCSR, which is used in MAVIS, turns the audio signals into text using a preconfigured vocabulary and language grammar. The resulting text is then indexed using a text indexer. The LVCSR technique is appropriate for searching large amounts of audio archives which can be 10,000s of hours in length. The vocabulary can be configured to enable recognition of proper nouns such as names of people, places or thing.

Although LVCSR based audio search systems can provide a more accurate search result than phonetic based systems, State-of-the-art LVCSR based speech-recognition accuracy on conversational speech is still not perfect. Researchers at MSR Asia have developed a more accurate technique called “Probabilistic Word-Lattice Indexing” which takes into account how confident the recognition of a word is, as well as what alternate recognition candidates were considered. It also preserves time stamps to allow direct navigation to keyword matches in the audio or video.

Probabilistic Word-Lattice Indexing

For conversational speech, typical speech recognizers can only achieve accuracy of about 60%. To improve the accuracy of speech search, Microsoft Research Asia developed a technique called ”Probabilistic Word-Lattice Indexing,” which helps to improve search accuracy in three ways:

Less false negatives Lattices allow to find (sub-)phrase and ‘AND’ matches where individual words are of low confidence, but the fact that they are queried together allows us to infer that they still may be correct. Word-lattices represent alternative recognition candidates that were also considered by the recognizer, but did not turn out to be the top-scoring candidate.
Less false positives Lattices also provide a confidence score for each word match. This can be used to suppress low-confidence matches.
Time stamps Lattices, unlike text, retain the start times of spoken words, which is useful for navigation.

Word lattices accomplish this by representing the words that may have been spoken in a recording as a graph structure. Experiments show that indexing and searching this lattice structure instead of plain speech-to-text transcripts significantly improves document-retrieval accuracy for multi-word queries (30-60% for phrase queries, and over 200% for AND queries).

For more information about Microsoft Research Asia’s basic lattice method, see:

A challenge in implementing probabilistic word-lattice indexing is the size of the word lattices. Raw lattices as obtained from the recognizer can contain hundreds of alternates for each spoken word. To address this challenge MSRA has devised a technique referred to as Time-based Merging for Indexing which brings down lattice size to about 10 x the size of a corresponding text-transcript index. This is orders of magnitude less than using Raw lattices.

Introducing Google Instant

2011-01-11T08:58:00.000-08:00

Google Instant is a new search enhancement that shows results as you type. We are pushing the limits of our technology and infrastructure to help you get better search results, faster. Our key technical insight was that people type slowly, but read quickly, typically taking 300 milliseconds between keystrokes, but only 30 milliseconds (a tenth of the time!) to glance at another part of the page. This means that you can scan a results page while you type.

The most obvious change is that you get to the right content much faster than before because you don’t have to finish typing your full search term, or even press “search.” Another shift is that seeing results as you type helps you formulate a better search term by providing instant feedback. You can now adapt your search on the fly until the results match exactly what you want. In time, we may wonder how search ever worked in any other way.

Benefits

Faster Searches: By predicting your search and showing results before you finish typing, Google Instant can save 2-5 seconds per search.

Smarter Predictions: Even when you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for, predictions help guide your search. The top prediction is shown in grey text directly in the search box, so you can stop typing as soon as you see what you need.

Instant Results: Start typing and results appear right before your eyes. Until now, you had to type a full search term, hit return, and hope for the right results. Now results appear instantly as you type, helping you see where you’re headed, every step of the way

NodeXL: Network Overview, Discovery and Exploration in Excel

2011-01-01T08:33:00.000-08:00

NodeXL is a powerful and easy-to-use interactive network visualisation and analysis tool that leverages the widely available MS Excel application as the platform for representing generic graph data, performing advanced network analysis and visual exploration of networks. The tool supports multiple social network data providers that import graph data (nodes and edge lists) into the Excel spreadsheet.

The tool includes an Excel template for easy manipulation of graph data:

Sample networks generated with NodeXL:

Project contributers:

The NodeXL Template in Action

This is what the NodeXL template looks like. In this example, a simple two-column edge list was entered into the Edges worksheet, and the Show Graph button was clicked to display the network graph in the graph pane on the right.

The two-column edge list is all that’s required, but you can extensively customize the graph’s appearance by filling in a variety of optional edge and vertex columns. Here is the same graph after color, shape, size, image, opacity, and other columns were filled in.

In the next example, NodeXL has imported and displayed a graph of connections among people who follow, reply or mention one another in Twitter:

Some NodeXL Features

NodeXL Graph Gallery

Here are some graphs that were created with NodeXL. Additional images can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/marc_smith/sets/72157622437066929/.


^{John Crowley}	^{Cody Dunne}


^{Marc Smith}	^{Pierre de Vries}


^{Eduarda Mendes Rodrigues}	^{Tony Capone}


^{Tony Capone}	^{Eduarda Mendes Rodrigues}