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Duplicate Pictures September 30, 2006

Posted by atharkhan in : Tech , 1 comment so far

Does anyone out there know of a software which can help me eliminate duplicate pictures?

Lawyers, Guns and Money (Opening Track on Justice) September 28, 2006

Posted by atharkhan in : Personal , add a comment

In case you were looking for the name of the opening track on Fox’s “Justice,” it is “Lawyers, Guns and Money” by Warren Zevon. It’s available on iTunes and here are the lyrics.

Well, I went home with the waitress
The way I always do
How was I to know
She was with the Russians, too
I was gambling in Havana
I took a little risk
Send lawyers, guns and money
Dad, get me out of this
I’m the innocent bystander
Somehow I got stuck
Between the rock and the hard place
And I’m down on my luck
And I’m down on my luck
And I’m down on my luck
Now I’m hiding in Honduras
I’m a desperate man
Send lawyers, guns and money
The s*** has hit the fan
Send lawyers, guns and money…

Human Computation September 22, 2006

Posted by atharkhan in : Tech , add a comment
A friend forwarded this video to me and it is simply incredible in it’s simplicity and level of genius. Watch it for a few minutes and let me know what you think of it. Google TechTalks July 26, 2006 Luis von Ahn is an assistant professor in the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University, where he also received his Ph.D. in 2005. Previously, Luis obtained a B.S. in mathematics from Duke University in 2000. He is the recipient of a Microsoft Research Fellowship. ABSTRACT Tasks like image recognition are trivial for humans, but continue to challenge even the most sophisticated computer programs. This talk introduces a paradigm for utilizing human processing power to solve problems that computers cannot yet solve. Traditional approaches to solving such problems focus on improving software. I advocate a novel approach: constructively channel human brainpower using computer games. For example, the ESP Game, described in this talk, is an enjoyable online game — many people play over 40 hours a week — and when people play, they help label images on the Web with descriptive keywords. These keywords can be used to significantly improve the accuracy of image search. People play the game not because they want to help, but because they enjoy it. I describe other examples of “games with a purpose”: Peekaboom, which helps determine the location of objects in images, and Verbosity, which collects common-sense knowledge. I also explain a general approach for constructing games with a purpose.