Optical Character Recognition in Images: Have your say
The buzz in every major SEO news source over this last week has got to be the news that a patent that Google filed in June 2007 for optical character recognition (OCR) in static images and video has just become available.
For once, something that makes a SEO/web designer’s life easier! Up until this point, the web design community had 2 options when tackling headings: Opting for a font that is widespread on all/most PCs (very limited and very plain) and relying on stylesheets to spice it up a bit or creating a heading using any given font as an image and hoping that the search engines read the alternative text provided in the image tag.
With this new application, image headings can be read and indexed, as can videos, Flash presentations and even (and I dare to be bold) a whole web page consisting of 1 big image! Duncan Riley from Tech Crunch added further scope on the development:
With extreme technical advances also comes drawbacks. A Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart (CAPTCHA) is a script that generates a random word in an image and uses a variety of methods to distort the image, eg an angled line or crowded symbols making it harder for bots to encrypt. This method is widely used by sites such as MySpace and Blogger to reduce the amount of spam posted.
If and when this scripting comes into use, this could leave the CAPTCHA with its days numbered. If this technology can be developed at Google Central, then what's to say the same software can’t be developed elsewhere? Once the spamming community get their mitts on this hot potato, it will be across the community quicker than nausea at a Mika concert.
I have seen the damage this minority of the underworld can do on a forum with no security measures: Using their shared scripts to automatically generate numerous fake users with their spammy web links for all to see. Fair to say, I lost the battle of keeping that forum rid of spammers. This could become more commonplace if forum/blog owners don't act quick enough to protect their fort.
Even if Google has the patent giving them exclusive rights to OCR, are they going to nail every spammer, scammer, splogger, tinker, tailor, soldier, spy in cyberspace? It would be great if they could (with a long-awaited revolution where spammers are placed in stocks and pelted with rancid fruit) but lets live in the real world for now and assume that that is not going to happen.
So what do you all think: OCR sweet or OCR sour?
Hello Liberated Web Design
For once, something that makes a SEO/web designer’s life easier! Up until this point, the web design community had 2 options when tackling headings: Opting for a font that is widespread on all/most PCs (very limited and very plain) and relying on stylesheets to spice it up a bit or creating a heading using any given font as an image and hoping that the search engines read the alternative text provided in the image tag.
With this new application, image headings can be read and indexed, as can videos, Flash presentations and even (and I dare to be bold) a whole web page consisting of 1 big image! Duncan Riley from Tech Crunch added further scope on the development:
"If Google has found a way to index text in static images and video this is a great leap forward in the progression of search technology. This will make every book in the Google Books database really searchable, with the next step being YouTube, Flickr (or Picasa Web) and more. The search capabilities of the future just became seriously advanced."
Goodbye CAPTCHA
With extreme technical advances also comes drawbacks. A Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart (CAPTCHA) is a script that generates a random word in an image and uses a variety of methods to distort the image, eg an angled line or crowded symbols making it harder for bots to encrypt. This method is widely used by sites such as MySpace and Blogger to reduce the amount of spam posted.
If and when this scripting comes into use, this could leave the CAPTCHA with its days numbered. If this technology can be developed at Google Central, then what's to say the same software can’t be developed elsewhere? Once the spamming community get their mitts on this hot potato, it will be across the community quicker than nausea at a Mika concert.
I have seen the damage this minority of the underworld can do on a forum with no security measures: Using their shared scripts to automatically generate numerous fake users with their spammy web links for all to see. Fair to say, I lost the battle of keeping that forum rid of spammers. This could become more commonplace if forum/blog owners don't act quick enough to protect their fort.
Even if Google has the patent giving them exclusive rights to OCR, are they going to nail every spammer, scammer, splogger, tinker, tailor, soldier, spy in cyberspace? It would be great if they could (with a long-awaited revolution where spammers are placed in stocks and pelted with rancid fruit) but lets live in the real world for now and assume that that is not going to happen.
So what do you all think: OCR sweet or OCR sour?
Labels: captcha, google, ocr, optical character recognition
Getting Personal with Google
One of my new year's resolutions is to work smarter not harder. Yes it is the old BT slogan, but if I am able to save a bit of time (and stress) during the day, that has to be a good thing, right?
Basically my morning routine (30 minutes before the kids get up) goes something like this:
Now that's quite a few websites to visit isn't it? A surf session that is pretty much impossible to keep inside of 30 minutes. So wouldn't it be great if you could view all this information together on one web page without the need to go anywhere else?
I have been researching this over the Christmas period and basically you can. Google has got pretty sophisticated over the last couple of years: Not only has their search got sophisticated, including separate searches for video and image, but now with iGoogle you can keep all your favourites on one page.
First of all, you need to sign up for an account if you haven't already. Registration is free and surprisingly easy.
Once you are signed up and logged in, you can start adding widgets under the "Add Stuff" link. Well talk about a kid in a sweetshop! In this long list you can opt for the latest news headlines, eBay search, horoscopes. There is also games, jokes pictures and favourite Bush-isms. However rather than sift through the endless list, use the search function to narrow the list down. I am embarrassed to admit that I've looked, but there are also porn gizmos!
Now I have everything I listed earlier at a glance, along with a calendar and clock (not digital - one with hands), a widget that lists the latest scores and news for Norwich City (my team!) and a link to access my Google Analytics account. All it needs to do now is make the coffee and take the kids to school and that will be my mornings taken care of!
There is also a feature where you can ditch the familiar and very plain Google look altogether and opt for a new skin. At the moment there are about 13 skins under "Select Theme". There is however a downside as the box is constantly visible and cannot be moved or hidden.
However there is a workaround: iGoogle Skins v2.0 (Kudos to Bob Walsh at Web Worker Daily)is another little gizmo that can be added to your iGoogle page. It currently has about 50 custom skins and is growing. I say it growing because, there is also an option where users can create their own skins and share them with the rest of the community. As this is a widget, it can be reduced to save space.
I've opted for the Feeling Lucky option which changes skins every time you log into it
I would definitely recommend this to anyone who wants to make their work/personal life a lot easier. I was surprised that Google was allowed to get away with calling their facility iGoogle. A bit cheeky that – and surprisingly lenient of Apple Inc.
Basically my morning routine (30 minutes before the kids get up) goes something like this:
- Check my diary for the next couple of days
- Check out emails at Hotmail
- Look at Sky News for latest news headlines, and weather
- Check my Starsign for the day (paper or online)
- Read through my RSS feeds at Bloglines
- Brief check of MySpace for messages
Now that's quite a few websites to visit isn't it? A surf session that is pretty much impossible to keep inside of 30 minutes. So wouldn't it be great if you could view all this information together on one web page without the need to go anywhere else?
I have been researching this over the Christmas period and basically you can. Google has got pretty sophisticated over the last couple of years: Not only has their search got sophisticated, including separate searches for video and image, but now with iGoogle you can keep all your favourites on one page.
First of all, you need to sign up for an account if you haven't already. Registration is free and surprisingly easy.
Once you are signed up and logged in, you can start adding widgets under the "Add Stuff" link. Well talk about a kid in a sweetshop! In this long list you can opt for the latest news headlines, eBay search, horoscopes. There is also games, jokes pictures and favourite Bush-isms. However rather than sift through the endless list, use the search function to narrow the list down. I am embarrassed to admit that I've looked, but there are also porn gizmos!
Now I have everything I listed earlier at a glance, along with a calendar and clock (not digital - one with hands), a widget that lists the latest scores and news for Norwich City (my team!) and a link to access my Google Analytics account. All it needs to do now is make the coffee and take the kids to school and that will be my mornings taken care of!
There is also a feature where you can ditch the familiar and very plain Google look altogether and opt for a new skin. At the moment there are about 13 skins under "Select Theme". There is however a downside as the box is constantly visible and cannot be moved or hidden.
However there is a workaround: iGoogle Skins v2.0 (Kudos to Bob Walsh at Web Worker Daily)is another little gizmo that can be added to your iGoogle page. It currently has about 50 custom skins and is growing. I say it growing because, there is also an option where users can create their own skins and share them with the rest of the community. As this is a widget, it can be reduced to save space.
I've opted for the Feeling Lucky option which changes skins every time you log into it
I would definitely recommend this to anyone who wants to make their work/personal life a lot easier. I was surprised that Google was allowed to get away with calling their facility iGoogle. A bit cheeky that – and surprisingly lenient of Apple Inc.
Labels: iGoogle, working at home
Happy New Year from DVH Design
DVH Design wishes all of its readers and clients a very happy new 2008. May it be a great one and much better than 2007.
It is a little late, but still in the first week of the new year, so its still valid.
It is a little late, but still in the first week of the new year, so its still valid.
Labels: 2008 happy new year.
