Evernote First Impressions: Text in Image Recognition for the Masses

Yesterday I received an email from Evernote saying that I was invited to beta test their app. Evernote is an app for both Windows and Mac platforms that allows you to keep both text and image notes in Evernote’s servers. You can then refer back to them when needed.

What attracted me about Evernote was not that it allows you to keep your love letters from your ex-lovers. It was the text in image recognition technology. Initially, I thought that this tech is built into their app. However, after using the app itself I was slightly disappointed because the text in image recognition is actually done server-side, meaning all those tech stuff is actually being done on Evernote’s servers and not right on their app.

How it works is every few minutes your app synchronizes with Evernote’s servers uploading changes (such as additions of new notes). It takes a while before those text in image recognition process is done on your newly uploaded pictures. I’m guessing every few minutes the servers undergoes the process of “tagging” all the newly uploaded images by users. So it’s actually a matter of luck how long it takes for your images to get synced.

However, I don’t think the “few minutes delay” thing matters because the use of this technology is to allow you to search images that contain words that you remember. Unless your memory span is less than a few minutes, then you shouldn’t be worry about this.

This is how Evernote’s Mac app look like.

To test out how Evernote recognizes text in images, I used the “New Snapshot Note” feature and took a quick webcam shot thru my built-in iSight. I took a picture holding up Uncle Toby’s “what I eat for breakfast when I’m running late for classes”.

Right here you can see that it recognizes the word “Apricot” very well and highlights the word Safari-style. Other words that worked was “Uncle”, “Yoghurt” and the first few numbers of best before date. Anything smaller than the word “Apricot” was not recognized. Fair enough, those words are too blurry anyway.

Next, I took a picture of my book shelf with my digital camera and made sure the picture wasn’t too blurry.

As you can see, the smaller words such as “Socks” could be recognized.

Here, you can see that even vertical words can be recognized! This holds true for most of the words that appear on this picture except for those that are half-shadowed.

Just for fun, I typed in all alphabets a to z in the search box to yield all alphabetical results. Here you can see what words were picked up by Evernote’s text in image recognition system. It’s not too bad for a consumer-based product!

Of course, this is just one of Evernote’s many cool features. If you’re interested to know more, head on to www.evernote.com!

P/S: Evernote is currently invitation-only beta.

MagStay PRO: One Dumb Invention

So apparently some people didn’t like the magnetic power connectors (MagSafe) on MacBook’s.

Then, some “geniuses” came to the rescue:

More Info: http://thoughtout.biz/MagStayPRO

Not only it effectively removes one USB port from your MacBook, it shall put your MacBook to a toughness test when someone trips over the power cable.

What an “awesome” product, well thought out indeed (the company calls themselves THOUGHT OUT Company, LOL!).

Long story short, if you still could not detect the sarcasm of this post, just stay away from products like this. May the magnetic force be with you.

Debunking Common Mac Myths

Mac’s or Apple Computer’s… Ask any tech-illiterate what they think of an Apple Computer. The answer you probably will get is “Oh, Apple’s damn good for graphic designers!”

Then ask them, “Would you consider getting a Mac?”

A long pause…………………

“Ermmmmmmmmmm… But there are a lot of programs out there not compatible with Mac’s!”

If the above conversation took place 10 years ago, then that dude is probably right. The number of Mac apps are limited a decade ago. But time’s have changed, Mac’s have evolved from a baby cat to a Tiger, Panther and recently even a Leopard (these are the codenames for Mac OS X builds btw).

Mac’s are not only good for graphic designers anymore. I mean, why would I get a MacBook Pro myself if I can’t even draw anything more advanced than stick figures?

Therefore, I shall now attempt to debunk some common Mac Myths and unveal the ugly (or pretty) truth about Mac’s capabilities.

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Myth #1: Mac’s are only good for graphic designers

Well, it was true maybe a decade ago. Now, Mac’s are for everybody. Mac’s have everything you need to do your daily tasks whether you’re a clerk or a programmer. Heck, you could do all basic office tasks such as word processing on Mac’s fresh off the box.

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Myth #2: A lot of programs are not compatible with Mac’s

If you’re talking bout Windows Notepad or Pinball then yes of course those are not compatible with Mac’s natively. However, a huge number of applications are out there available for the Mac. And I dare say there are more apps out there for Mac’s than Windows. I bet you’re surprised that Microsoft actually makes an Office suite for the Mac’s. That’s right, you can have MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint etc all on the Mac (except for Access). Programmers will find Mac’s to be a pleasantly nice platform to work on, because since Mac OS X is built on Unix (BSD) platforms, you can harness the power of the shell to dish out amazing stuffs. Ruby on Rails guys will know what I’m talking bout.

Mac’s also have a lot of alternative free apps available out there that do practically the same job as their Windows counterparts. Not satisfied with the Mac apps? Then INSTALL WINDOWS!  Yes, that’s right folks. You can install Windows on a Mac (only on Mac’s that are made since 2-3 years ago) now thanks to the transition of the craptastic Motorola PowerPC processors to Intel Core processors. There are many ways to run Windows on a Mac,most people prefer to install Windows as a guest OS inside Mac OS X so you can actually RUN BOTH together. That’s right, you can actually have Windows Pinball or Utorrent on your Mac desktop. This can be done by using either Parallels or VMWare Fusion software that enables you to run Windows side-by-side with Mac OS X.

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Myth #3: Mac’s are not user-friendly

That’s just bullshit. How do you call something user-friendly? Some people don’t seem to like the Mac OS X graphical user interface and just call it not user-friendly. From my observations all this while, I find that people tend to build a habit towards using something until he/she becomes familiar with it. Take Windows XP for example, it probably took someone who is tech-illiterate centuries to become familiar with it. If you were to force that particular person to use Mac OS X, he’ll probably mentally explode because since Windows are so prone to problems or errors if you accidentally f**k something up, he’s probably taking this bad experience over to all computers no matter what platform it’s running on. When you give this guy a Mac to use, he’ll probably be like “oh f**k, how do I use this while not f**king shit up!?”

Well friends, It is safe to say that Mac’s are MUCH, MUCH MORE user friendly than Windows. Sure, it takes time to get familiar with Mac OS X. But I guarantee you it won’t take more than a week of usage to get familiar with it. The learning curve for Mac OS X is not that curvy or however you describe it.

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Myth #4: Mac’s have viruses too

No. Mac’s have no viruses YET. No Spyware, Adware, Crapware, Trojans, Roddens or whatever crap that will make your computer explode. Viruses that can infect Windows cannot infect Mac’s and that’s a fact. It’s like saying bird flu can infect human beings but not aliens. That’s the difference. Viruses are usually tiny little programs (like .exe files) that will f**k shit up on your computer. However, Mac’s can’t natively run these. So Mac’s are actually safe from viruses for the time being, until some mad genius finds a way to build a REAL Mac virus (not those hoaxes that Symantec throw in once in a while to get Mac users buy their Anti-virus suites).

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Myth #5: Mac’s are more expensive than PC’s

Wrong. You get what you pay for. The reason MacBook Pro’s are more expensive than some dictionary-thick Dell notebook (not laptop as laptops are lap-safe) is because MacBook Pro’s are not only 1-inch thin, but it is built with material that are far superior that those used in Dell notebooks. My MacBook Pro still look good even though it’s 2 years old while my friend’s Dell XPS notebook that cost twice my MBP has BAD scratches on the palm area. Also, MBP’s have backlit keyboard, power connectors that connects magnetically so you don’t trip over, motion sensors so that your MBP hard disk turns off in the event of falling dangerously etc. MBP’s are engineered with special features while Dell notebooks are just a box with goodies thrown in without effort. That’s the difference.

Also, if you were to use the computer for commercial purposes. Software licenses for Windows will cost MUCH more. Why? Because you gotta pay for anti-virus, anti-spyware, internet firewall, black sheep wall etc. Don’t get me started on FREE alternatives because commercial products often work much better.

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Myth #6: Mac’s are slower than Windows

Ok, this could have been true if it was 10 years ago. But now, Mac’s are actually FASTER. You have no idea how I love multi-tasking, and Mac’s are damn good for that. If you’re burning a DVD on a Windows machine, chances are your whole PC feels sluggish and chokes up while your mouse pointer warps from one pixel to another. On a Mac, you don’t get such bullshit, you burn the DVD, you can do other stuff with little to no speed impact.

Also, Mac’s don’t require maintenance. Windows machines will slow down as time goes by if you don’t defragment, clean caches, clean useless registry entries, clean your toilet etc. Often people will just format their PC when their PC feels really slow. Mac’s don’t feel slow as time goes by.

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Ok, there are many more good things bout Mac’s but I think that’s enough for now. However, nothing is perfect. Mac’s have their own downsides too. For example,

Ugly truth #1: Mac’s have a VERY limited number of games

There’s no blame on whose fault is this. Money runs the world and if there’s not enough people playing games on the Mac, there’s not much point producing or porting games to the Mac. Oh well, I mean there’s still World of Warcraft right… The game that wins Best Mac Game of the year every year…

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Ugly truth #2: Mac desktops are behind in hardware

Sadly, Mac Pro’s graphics card option only have Geforce 8600’s or ATI 2600’s as their greatest cards… I mean… WTF?

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Ugly truth #3: Right mouse button is craptastic

For some reason Apple engineers think that everyone lifts up their left finger while clicking the right mouse button. Because I don’t, and this has forced me to switch from Wireless Mighty Mouse to Logitech MX Revolution.

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Till the next mythbuster, I hope you enjoyed this one! :)

Image Source: AppleInsider.com

A ‘Soundful’ Week with the Logitech Z-5500 and Razer Piranha

Came back to Aus about a week ago, found out my Logitech z-5300 is totally blown. No sound at all. I wasn’t really that upset. My z-5300 had been with me for 4 years now. Last year it was half blown where the front left and rear right speaker had no sound. This year it is FULLY BLOWN! Oh yeah and that means time to get a new set of speakers!

So, first I went to a computer shop called MSY nearby and asked if they had stock for z-5500’s. The lady at the counter was like mumbling I had no freaking idea what she was on about and the only information I captured was there wasn’t any at the moment. Then I asked if I could book any of them and she said they don’t know when will they get the next set in and she said it could take 2 months. I was like WTF and left the store. Went to another store nearby and yes that store had stock but it was like a hundred bucks more expensive than MSY so I said f**k that and left the store.

When I got home, I placed an online order for z-5500 and it came about two days ago. The price was sorta in between MSY’s and their “competitor”.

Logitech Z-5500 and my desktop

Boy, I could not believe my ears. These things are amazing. I never knew there were such a huge difference between optical and normal inputs. Everything sounded clearer. If I were to play a porn movie out loud, my neighbours woulda think there’s hot sex going on in my house.

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Also, I bought a new pair of headsets due to extreme comfort issues with my previous Razer Barracuda HP-1 headsets. Those headsets are extremely unfriendly to people who wear glasses. I’ve used these for about a year and previously the issue was just minor but ever since I got a new pair of glasses with thick side frames the problem became much more apparent and it is time to get a new pair of headset. Therefore, I went for…

Razer Piranha

These headsets are TRULY comfortable, easily a hundred times more comfortable than HP-1. The HP-1 would actually compress your head like a zip file and push up your glasses like how the chicks wear push up bra’s except that chicks do that for world peace and HP-1’s are the opposite.

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In other news, I became a fan of Angela Zhang (or Chang) thanks to my friend Vinson who introduced me to the Taiwanese Drama ‘Romantic Princess’. Yeah I know I can be gay (or feminine) at times but yeah that’s me. Angela’s latest album, Ang 5.0 should be in my mailbox within next week. ;)

Is Dell leaning towards a sexier tomorrow?

3 years ago, I would’ve just skipped over pictures of Dell products. They looked ugly as hell. Their laptops looked like a chopping board (no, seriously).

The only Dell products I’ve ever owned was a Dell Axim x30 pda (ebayed coz I never really needed a pda) and a Dell 20 inch widescreen monitor, which was the cheapest S-IPS a.k.a 8-bit LCD screen back then.

Fast forward to present. Most of their products still look ugly (just being honest), however there are some very well designed products that were released during the last 6 months. Namely the XPS M1330 pictured below:

Sexy eh? It’s like a cheapo version of a Sony Vaio.

Also, the XPS M1530:

(Just picture the XPS M1330, only bigger)

Then, you have the Dell Crystal LCD Panel:

Looks cool, but IMO this monitor is kinda overrated for its price ($1199). Also, the design is not really my taste… but it’s still sexy!

And…. wait.. what? Another sexy product from Dell?

Well, what I’ve got here is a leaked picture of an upcoming Dell Latitude E-series laptop.

Wow, now that’s what I call sexy. Is it built with brushed aluminium? That would be awesome. So far the only info as reported by Engadget:

“So far we know there will be a 4.25 pound / 14.1-inch and 5 pound / 15.4-inch version, both with WXGA and WXGA+ LED backlit displays, as well as a 12-inch (pictured above) and 13.3-inch version for road warrior types. Expect DisplayPort, eSATA, plenty of USB ports, and PC or ExpressCard slots in the larger models.”

Mmmm, WTB more info!

What do you think of Dell’s recent (sexy) progress?

Pic sources: Dell, Engadget