Archives aided by anti-spam tools

Crumbling texts and books are being digitised thanks to anti-spam tools.

To thwart spammers many websites force visitors to transcribe obscured words or characters before they get access. Now instead of random words many sites are taking text from old books and documents that have been scanned by character reading software. The words supplied are those the software cannot read but humans can, helping to complete the conversion of old texts to digital form.

Read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7567692.stm

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Fixing video with Photographs

From Crunchgear:

Using Photographs to Enhance Videos of a Static Scene from pro on Vimeo.
This system, by students at the University of Washington, uses still photographs or one single frame of a video scene to automatically improve video. The improvements are amazing. Video might contain artifacts like overexposure and low-resolution imagery and this system takes cues from still images of the scene to bring almost the entire video up to photographic quality. Can???t wait for this to hit our local point and shoot – in maybe five years.

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The Periodic Table of Videos

This is from Neatorama:

Periodic Table of Videos is neat beyond belief. Martyn Poliakoff, a professor at the University of Nottingham, and video journalist Brady Haran, put together a periodic table where each elements is a link to a video about that element!

It’s heartening to see chemistry in action and that people can actually have fun doing science! If only this were the way science is taught at school…

Periodic Table of Videos

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It Sounds Sweeter with Two

Ever recorded a podcast or lecture with two or more speakers?
How ’bout the sound?
Everyone spoke at the same level, right?
Really? No quiet talkers and they all talked in to the mic.
I wish.

Afterwards, have you tried even out all those levels?
It’s a pain.

Want some help?

The fine people at The Conversations Network, a listener-supported non-profit podcast network, have a wonderfully FREE tool called Levelator that might just help. It’s specifically optimized for speech and works to correct uneven volume levels. Just drag & drop a WAV or AIFF file (sorry, no MP3 or AAC) into it’s window and it does the rest.

I just tried it with a test file and it really works. Listen here:


30 second sound bite before using Levelator


30 second sound bite after using Levelator
Notice how you can clearly hear Dee’s correction about basements. Good stuff.

Give it try.
It’s free and available for Mac, Windows, and Linux (Ubuntu).

To find out more about The Conversations Network and to download Levelator, just go to http://www.conversationsnetwork.org/

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ITunes U: Find college lectures next to pop stars

SMU-on-iTunesU-080730-sm.jpgI thought some of you might find this article of interest.

iTunes U: Find college lectures next to pop stars
By John Boudreau, Mercury News

At Apple’s iTunes online store, Britney Spears and Shakespeare are separated by just a few clicks. While an episode of “Desperate Housewives” will cost $1.99, a series of lectures by renowned University of California-Berkeley philosophy professor Hubert Dreyfus is absolutely free.

View Full Story

To visit SMU’s iTunes U site, click here.
To see what else is available, try here.

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FlowingData

logo-flowingdata.gifFlowingData explores how statisticians, designers, computer scientists, and others are using data to help us understand more about ourselves and our surroundings. more…

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Merlin Mann – Worst Website Ever – SXSW 2008

merlin_mann.jpgHave you ever wanted to be a “thought leader?” Find out about Merin’s new website FlockedUp.

See the video Merlin Mann – Worst Website Ever – SXSW 2008

Merlin is an independent writer, speaker, and broadcaster who’s based in San Francisco.

See:
43Folders
5ives

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Write & Listen @ Same Time: Livescribe

The Lightscribe Smart Pen is a advancement in the common ball point pen. Think of it as a pen with built-in voice recorder & tagging. When you write, it records what is spoken at the time and links it to your written notes. Confused?

Just check out the video at http://www.livescribe.com/ Well worth a look.

Right now it’s Windows only and requires special paper. As for future Mac capability, according to the manufacturer…

*Note to Mac??? users: We are actively developing a native Mac solution. Please note that our product is not currently compatible with Parallels or VMWare. We are working hard to resolve both of these issues, and will post more details and timing as soon as possible.

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Students Struggle with TAKS’ Short-Response Written Test


Dallas-Fort Worth students struggle with TAKS’ short-response written test
09:16 AM CDT on Sunday, July 20, 2008
By LAURIE FOX and HOLLY K. HACKER / The Dallas Morning News

Kids today are whizzes at text-messaging.

But when they’re asked to craft a well-thought-out answer based on a short piece they’ve read, many are all thumbs.

A small part of the high school language arts TAKS tests has become a sinkhole for even the state’s best students.

Three short-response questions require students to stretch their brains by generating clear, reasonable ideas from a reading selection.

Then they must support those ideas with evidence from the text in a well-written response.

It’s a challenge that’s vexing high school students and their teachers.

Read the full article at http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/072008dnmettaksscores.443a381.html

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iSpring

ispring_logotype.png

Free PowerPoint to Flash converter

Accurately converts animations, transitions, videos, new styles, SmartArt and 3D objects introduced in PowerPoint 2007. Works fine with PowerPoint 2000/XP/2003/2007.

Windows only

See more: iSpring

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