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Comment Re:Finally... NOT so final... (Score 2, Informative) 212

by WrongDecision (#18685289) Attached to: Google Pushes Open Source OCR
Actually, GOCR works very well (100%) on the image-based text that some sites use to prevent screen scrapping.
1. Download and save the image.
2. If it's a gif, convert it to a jpg.
gif2jpg -a tmp.gif
3. Reduce the colors to 2 (black & white).
djpeg -colors 2 -greyscale -dither none tmp.jpg tmp.pnm
4. If there is a border, crop it off.
pnmcut a b c d tmp.pnm > OCR.pnm
(The dimensions a,b,c,d can be determined by any tool that returns useful info about an image, in general remove 1 or 2 pixels from the edges to get rid of borders.)
5. OCR it.
gocr -n 1 OCR.pnm >> OCR.txt
Of course, this is all automated within the screen scraper, I just broke it out here to explain the steps.
For CAPTCHAs, you have to demorph the severely distorted images after step 4, before you OCR it. I'm still working on the demorpher, but it's about 50% accurate now. Basically, it unstretches long strings of pixels to the average of other strings of pixels in the x and y axis. Works even better if you determine the angle of the pixel sting and shrink on that, along with some rotation to the nearest x or y axis.
Space

Global Space Agencies Gather For Collaboration 74

Posted by Zonk from the united-federation-of-planet-earth dept.
UltimaGuy handed us a link to a story on the Register site, covering NASA's plan to create a collaborative space effort across the globe. Agencies from 'Italy, Japan, China, Britain, France, America, India, Korea, Ukraine, Russia, Canada, Germany, Australia and the ESA' got together for the first time since the formation of the Global Explorations Strategy team last year. "This year, they met in Kyoto to discuss a draft Framework for Collaboration, which will set out how the various agencies will work together. The team has agreed that its main focus should be robotic exploration of the solar system, particularly of the moon, Mars and the near-Earth asteroids. It has also proposed a non-binding collaboration mechanism which would allow all agencies to share their plans, and look for opportunities to work together. This would also provide a route for agencies to share the data from their own missions with scientists from other agencies."
Technology

Scientists Demonstrate Thought-Controlled Computer 172

Posted by Zonk from the a-little-crude-for-decking dept.
Da Massive writes with a link to ComputerWorld coverage of a unique gadget shown at this past week's CeBit show. The company g.tec was showing off a brain/computer interface (BCI) in one corner of the trade hall. The rig, once placed on your head, detects the brain's voltage fluctuations and can respond appropriately. This requires training, where "the subject responds to commands on a computer screen, thinking 'left' and 'right' when they are instructed to do so ... Another test involves looking at a series of blinking letters, and thinking of a letter when it appears." Once the system is trained, you can think letters at the machine and 'type' via your thoughts. Likewise, by thinking directions you can move objects around onscreen. The article provides some background on the history of g.tec's BCI, and suggests possible uses for the technology in the near future.
Biotech

Submission + - Anti-Matter's Potential in Treating Cancer

Submitted by
eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: "The BBC is taking a look at how atomic physicists are developing cancer treatments. A step past radiotherapy, the CERN institute is publishing interesting results: "Cancer cells were successfully targeted with anti-matter subatomic particles, causing intense biological damage leading to cell death." The press release from last year is finally sparking interest in the medical community."
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - Simple computation using dominos

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: When silicon fails to beat Moores law, maybe dominos can help. This guy has created a half adder in dominos as a proof of concept for domino computation. If he intends to make a full domino computer he's going to need an awful lot of dominos...

Feed With Cameras, Compromising Can Pay Off (nytimes.com)

From feed by nytfeed
Midsize digital cameras can offer features you generally don’t get with S.L.R.’s, like a movie-capture mode and a “live” back-panel screen, at a price often under $350.

Feed Lawmakers Tout DMCA Killer (wired.com)

From feed by wiredfeed
The Fair Use Act would free honest consumers to pick the electronic locks on their digital media, under certain circumstances. A congressman says it's a good first step. Luke O'Brien reports from Washington.


Businesses

Is Network Engineering a Viable Career? 229

Posted by Cliff from the testing-the-waters dept.
An anonymous reader asks: "I'm fresh out of high school and interested in getting a job in networking. One option is a degree in networking, the alternative I've considered is just getting certificates (CCNA/P, A+, MCSA). A large factor in my decision is which route is most likely to land a secure and well-paid full time job. I'm located in Melbourne, Australia and I don't have any local contacts in the industry who can advise me, and so was hoping some other Australian (or international) readers could share their knowledge and experience with these issues."
Hardware

First Graphene Transistor 83

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the cool-under-pressure dept.
An anonymous reader writes "UK researchers are announcing the first ever workable transistor made of graphene — that's one layer of carbon atoms. It's thinner and smaller than a silicon transistor can ever be, and it works at room temperature. When silicon electronics are dead, this is what many speculate is going to take over. There's slight controversy as they decided to announce their results via a review article, rather than wait for their (submitted) peer review paper to come out."
User Journal

Journal Journal: DHCP versus HDCP...

Journal by Looce

So here I was, today, reading Slashdot, when I decided to make a comment on an article that had only one (at the time of pressing Reply).
Databases

Submission + - Free global virtual scientific library

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: More than 20,000 signatures, including several Nobel prize winners and 750 education, research, and cultural organisations from around the world came together to support free access to government funded research, "to create a freely available virtual scientific library available to the entire globe. The European Commission responded by committing more than $100m (£51m) towards facilitating greater open access through support for open access journals and for the building of the infrastructure needed to house institutional repositories that can store the millions of academic articles written each year. From the BBC article: "Last month five leading European research institutions launched a petition that called on the European Commission to establish a new policy that would require all government-funded research to be made available to the public shortly after publication. That requirement — called an open access principle — would leverage widespread internet connectivity with low-cost electronic publication to create a freely available virtual scientific library available to the entire globe." Isn't this the way its suppose to be?

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