Microsoft shows off optical character recognition for Windows 8

Microsoft shows off optical character recognition for Windows 8

Microsoft already showed off a new Bing platform and 3D maps for Windows 8 today at Build 2013, and now it's revealed that optical character recognition (OCR) is coming to the OS as well. Of course, OCR has been available on Windows Phone for some time, but the feature has now finally made it to Win8 as a part of Bing's new capabilities. In the demo, Microsoft showed a Surface tablet using OCR scanning Spanish text on a sheet of paper, then translating it to English. A quick verbal command later, and the info was added to an itinerary within a travel app. Of course, we assume with all those new APIs, devs will be able to find many other ways to use this newfound feature. Time to get creative, people!

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IRISNotes 2 looks to undercut Livescribe, digitizes your scribbles for $99

IRISNotes 2 looks to undercut Livescribe, digitizes your scribbles for $99

IRIS is trying to make a big name for itself in the OCR world. But, top notch software alone isn't going to put its name on the tips of consumers tongues. For that they're gonna need something sexier, more... tangible. With its portable scanner line already on shelves the company is pushing out an update to its digital pen series IRISNotes. The IRISNotes Express 2 and Executive 2 are very similar to the intriguing Livescribe that, while compelling, never seemed to fly off the shelves. IRISNotes ditches the special paper required by its more popular competitor, and instead uses a small receiver that clips to the top of a standard sheet to record your scrawl in digitized form. IRIS hasn't specified how much storage is on board, only saying that it can save 100 pages worth of notes before you'll need to download its contents to a PC. The $99 Express undercuts Livescribe's cheapest offering by $20, but it's worth noting that it doesn't have support for voice notes or a stable of applications that tie into its ecosystem. The Executive model retails for $149 and sports a more elegant finish, befitting its name. It also comes with a 30-pin adapter that lets you dump your missives directly to an iDevice. Both are available now, and you'll find complete PR after the break.

Continue reading IRISNotes 2 looks to undercut Livescribe, digitizes your scribbles for $99

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IRISNotes 2 looks to undercut Livescribe, digitizes your scribbles for $99 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Aug 2012 00:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google reCAPTCHAs now featuring Street View addresses, 221b Baker St. to get even more famous

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If you've enjoyed decrypting the often frustratingly skewed (and occasionally humorously juxtaposed) reCAPTCHAs, you might be a bit sad to learn that Google is mixing things up with some rather more boring numerals. The combinations of two words are typically used as part of a registration form to ensure the registrant is, indeed, human. Google is now replacing one of the words in some of its reCAPTCHA forms with photos gleaned from Street View service. Google says it uses these numbers internally to improve the accuracy of Street View and that pulling them into reCAPTCHAs is part of an "experiment" to "determine if using imagery might also be an effective way to further refine our tools for fighting machine and bot-related abuse online."

In other words, Google's bots are already capable of decoding these numbers, which makes this all sound like a bit of a challenge to the rest of the OCR-loving coders in the world. Any takers?

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Google reCAPTCHAs now featuring Street View addresses, 221b Baker St. to get even more famous originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 08:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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