Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with recognition

Writer meets arthritis

grumblebee — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 11:18:40 -0800

Mac voice-recognition software for a writer with arthritis. My father's arthritis is making it more and more difficult for him to type. This is hard for him, because he's been a writer for decades (over 25 books and countless articles). He is considering switching to voice-recognition software.

Here are some things to note:

- He is originally from England but has lived in the US since the 1950s. He is a very clear speaker, but his accent is a mix of British (cockney originally) and American.

- He owns a Mac.

- He is not highly computer literate, but he lives in a university town and could find people to help him set things up if necessary. He probably will have trouble if the voice-recognition software itself is overly complicated to use.

I am looking for any advice and experiences with this. What is the state of the art these days? What's available for the Mac? What is the experience like for people who are heavy users?

What are my options for Mandarin and Cantonese speech recognition software?

querty — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:05:07 -0800

What are my options for Mandarin and Cantonese speech recognition software? I've found the PenPower Cantonese VoiceWriter (using the IBM ViaVoice engine), but that's about it. Too bad Dragon NaturallySpeaking doesn't have a version for Chinese. Hopefully some of you might know of other Mandarin / Cantonese speech recognition software?

What was this weird temporary recognition failure

srboisvert — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:07:46 -0800

This morning I suffered from a disturbing failure of my recognition memory. I couldn't figure out what Dexter or Californication were even though I had watched both series from start to end. Even after asking my wife the names of the shows seemed completely unfamiliar though I could recall the general content. I have had some trouble sleeping lately and am pretty tired. I am also on a calorie restriction diet with an aim to lose 1.8 lbs a week.

It recovered pretty quickly. I felt normal in about 15 minutes.

Anybody know what was going on?

What can you see in satellite photos?

k. — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:33:01 -0800

Satellite photos: what interesting features can be seen or measured in them (or other aerial photos), and where can I get a supply of images? Examples I have already seen, from some crude Google-searching:
Roads
Buildings
Degree of development (urban/suburban/rural)
Oil spills (apparently these are usually hard to see)
Blooms of algae (cyanobacteria) in the Baltic Sea
Damage to buildings from earthquakes

More would be appreciated--the more specific, the better. These will be used in a computer vision system, so I'd especially like to know where I can find a supply of images containing whatever feature I'm looking for (including the above)--easy for buildings or roads, but hard for rare events like oil spills. Natural disasters seem interesting, if there are pictures available.

I would also consider some other kind of non-photographic data as well, if it could be combined with maps or photos. Don't worry whether you think it's suitable; any idea you have will help!

Do you know any good voice control software?

dhacker — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:51:25 -0800

I'm looking for good, inexpensive voice control software for the PC. Nothing as fancy as Dragon Naturally Speaking. I just want my voice to fire keyboard commands. There used to be a great program out there called Game Commander that could do exactly this. You gave it an application name (say, MS Word), and then you trained it to listen to your voice when you said "New" and it would fire the keystroke to create a new document. Sadly, I can't get Game Commander to work on Vista.

Online Author Comparison

cell divide — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 04:41:08 -0800

Is there such thing as an online tool to compare two pieces of text and determine if they were written by the same author? If so, please link to them here and tell me about your experience using them. If not, please let me know about any offline tools or services that might be available. Thanks!

I've just seen a face. I can't forget the time or place...

wsg — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:43:42 -0800

What if someone had a proven, uncanny ability to recognize people even if they're in disguise. Is there any way to make money with such a skill?

Where to buy a patent plaque

Blue Jello Elf — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 20:01:21 -0800

What company should we order a patent plaque from? A family member was named on a patent that was recently approved by the US Patent Office. However, she no longer works at the company that owns the patent, and so won't be receiving a patent plaque from the company. We would like to purchase one for her as a gift, but it's difficult to tell which of the companies are worthwhile. The sites that come up in a Google search are hard to differentiate from one another.

Any suggestions which we should order from? If you work for a company that issues these kinds of plaques to their employees, do you know what company they use?

Assume, You, Me, etc. etc.

SquidLips — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:03:43 -0800

If a military veteran chooses not to actively remember or discuss their military service (probably due to painful memories) in life, is it appropriate to go the extra mile to recognize their service in death? My grandfather, a WWII Veteran, passed away this morning. While discussing the plans and some memories with Mom, I learned a little more of his military service and am considering proposing to Mom and her siblings that he be honored by the Minnesota chapter of the Patriot Guard during the ceremonies. But I have a dilemma, potentially unfounded because of my bumbling social skills, so I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Grandpa was never one to talk about his service... I knew very little about his time in the military until just today. He would always talk more about trips that he took with Grandma, his business, pretty much all aspects of his life besides his tours of duty. From some of the discussion with Mom, I learned that he was deeply involved, and faced death, and the death of his comrades, many times; some things he never even told Grandma about.

To my knowledge, he never kept any tokens or signs of his service... no medals, no uniforms displayed on the wall, no flag in the yard. If you didn't know him and were in his house you would never even think of him as having been a service member. The only hint of his acknowledgment was his desire to be interred at the National Cemetery here in Minnesota.

Aside from an uncle who served in Viet Nam, none of the other 6 aunts and uncles were ever in the service; this was not the "military" family, although it's pretty clear that the military influenced the childrens' upbringing - everything very formalized and strict, from what I'm told.

Anyway, forgive me if this sounds naive. My question is, for someone who didn't choose to really publicize his service to the country, is it appropriate to ask the Patriot Guard to honor him at the cemetery? Am I making a poor assumption that he would welcome the recognition? Is there something to be said for the concept of now that he's gone and can see and understand things on whatever that higher plane may be, he would be honored by such a recognition?

I certainly wouldn't want to be presumptuous and assume automatically that he would want this. Am I overthinking this? Please help me make sure I'm not going to suggest this idea and have it turn into an awkward and inappropriate situation. Thanks, everyone.

Help me find a nerdy-cool trophy to recognize a volunteer!

olinerd — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 20:13:27 -0800

I'm looking for a cool trophy to recognize someone's contributions to a techy volunteer organization. I need to recognize a volunteer's substantial contributions to the organization and execution of a large local event that's part of a nationwide nonprofit. It's engineering and science-oriented; this particular individual's background is biomedicine, though the event is focused on robotics. (It's FIRST, for anyone who knows)

There exists a trophy for a separate recognition that is a Mobius strip ball bearing sculpture. It is seriously awesome. I'm looking for something on par with this awesomeness. Anyone know of something? I've poked around Etsy but haven't really been able to find something; maybe I'm using the wrong search terms. I'm open to any and all suggestions.

Is there a word for when you look weird to yourself in the mirror after shaving?

tumbleweedjack — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 13:51:24 -0800

You know when you haven't shaved your face for about a week, and then when you do finally shave, you look weird to yourself in the mirror? Is there a word for that (in English or any language?)

Help me learn about image recognition

wongcorgi — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:54:45 -0800

Image recognition on the PC, where do I start? I've been playing around with some external sensors attached to my PC (phidgets) and I'd like to play around with image recognition.

At the most basic level I was thinking about taking a webcam, somehow taking image dumps every so often and analyzing light levels or even basic colors. (possibly graduating to shapes).

Does anyone know of any more information on this topic? Or know where I can find tools to do so? I have no idea where to start.

I thought I was the only one who thought I was the only one...

phrontist — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 04:50:14 -0800

Is there a term for that feeling when you realize someone else notices (or notices in a particular way) something you had never thought of anyone else paying attention to, or viewing similarly? This American Life (the radio show) is a good example of that feeling... kind of "Oh man, I can't believe other people feel that way or notice that" (David Sedaris aims for this, and whether you find him funny seems to depend on whether you react this way to him). This thread, and askmefi in general, is also good example. The humor of many of the Cohen brother's films, in particular The Big Lebowski, seems largely derived from this. Walter, in that film, is not just amusing as an imagined person, but because the coen brothers seem to be saying "isn't it funny how some people are like this". Another example would be when you learn a new word for something you'd never considered other people considering - I felt this way about "phosphenes". Ya know what I mean?

My +100 Aggression Face Looks Like Taking a Shit

By The Grace of God — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 16:31:42 -0800

Is anyone doing real-time emotion detection in video games? I have been playing a lot of Fallout 3, and Fable 2 and Mass Effect before that, and I think that a lot of these branching NPC interactions could be enhanced by real-time emotion detection.

I know of a few precursors to this idea, such as the EyeToy, but that's sort of like using the camera consciously as an input device. Is anybody in video games doing anything with emotion recognition, either from facial expression or voice input? If not, why not?

I'm not paranoid, just curious.

qvtqht — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 12:26:23 -0800

Advanced facial recognition in Reno casinos? I recently spent three days in Reno, Nevada. Since there isn't much to do, I spent at least half an hour in just about every casino. I mostly just walked around, but I played some penny slots too.

At the first casino I entered on my first day there, I was approached by someone in less than 5 minutes and asked for my ID. This didn't happen again, not once, over the next three days!

Was this just a coincidence, or are the casinos cooperatively running some kind of automated facial recognition software that flags people who haven't been IDed yet?

I usually get carded by anyone who checks IDs, and I was dressed in jeans and T-shirt.

T9 kybd wld be gr8.

moitz — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 07:23:48 -0800

Does anyone know of a manufacturer of a T9 keyboard/software for a PC? My father is confined to a wheel chair and on a ventilator, so he finds it difficult, if not impossible, to talk on the phone. As such, his primary means of communication is IM and email. However, he's slowly finding it more difficult to type as a result of arthritis and a combination of other things. My brilliant solution is to try to find him a keyboard (or software) that can emulate T9 word recognition like on a cell phone. That will cut down the amount of typing he has to do, and I think make it easier for him to communicate. Anyone heard of such a thing? Any other ideas?

Are there any OCR programs that can process Syriac?

perpetualstroll — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 20:16:34 -0800

Are there any OCR programs that can read Syriac? This one's a pretty straightforward one, I'm just looking for an OCR program that can recognize Syriac and output it into a digital document. Anyone have any leads on software that may do this?

Places to order awards?

danny boy — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 14:12:00 -0800

Any recommendations on places to order award-type items from? Kind of like trophies but not that cheesy . . . thinking specifically about having something made out of lucite, nothing fancy, but needs to look professional. I have no idea where to order something like this, and when you Google "lucite award" you get about a million results.

How can I learn to recognise more languages?

PuGZ — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 21:07:06 -0800

How can I learn to recognise more languages? I'm a literate English-speaker who knows more than a smattering of French and I can usually guess the language of texts written in most Western European/SE Asian/Programming scripts, but I'd like to improve. I recently received an email in Turkish and I had no idea what language it was, which made it difficult to find a machine translation. How can I train myself to recognise more languages and hence find resources for translation?

Mouse-free Windows?

tabulem — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 13:04:21 -0800

How can I use Windows without touching a mouse? Will voice recognition software help? I have increasingly severe wrist/shoulder pain which makes it impossible to use a mouse with either hand. I have tried MouseKeys but it's pretty pathetic and causes just as much strain as an actual mouse. I've also tried all different kinds of mouses (or mice, if you prefer), and nothing helps.

I would like to be able to control every aspect of Windows XP--menus, windows, dialogs, internet, etc.--without using a mouse.

I use a lot of keyboard shortcuts, but these are limited--there are many things which can't be done from the keyboard, e.g. especially things that would normally be accomplished by dragging.

(1) Is there any good software which will significantly expand my ability to do things using the keyboard?

(2) Better still, how much control over user interface elements would I have with Dragon Naturally Speaking? If it's worthwhile, do I need to shell out for the preferred (extra $100) or professional (extra $600) edition?

Thanks for your help.

Staff appreciation event on a (tiny) budget

jay_wiese — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 13:16:15 -0800

What would you do if you were asked to plan the following event for 250 people on a budget of $500?: "... a staff appreciation event celebrating the past year's accomplishments and anticipating future directions. Includes the following tasks: scheduling event, reserving location, setting agenda, arranging for speakers, ordering and purchasing refreshments, publicizing event, and handling setup and cleanup." This event is for library staff at a major southern public university. Our committe has already thought of giving eveyone $2, but HR says we can't hand out cash awards. Annual leave as awards is out, too; and we can't serve alcohol.

Okay, voice recognition technically works, but...

krisjohn — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 22:50:29 -0800

Anyone have any practical tips for using voice recognition in an office environment? I'm currently testing/evaluating Dragon Naturally Speaking. Now that I'm using a decent mic-to-USB adapter and a pair of comfortable headphones (and I've selected the right accent in the software) the rate of recognition is so impressive that I'd like to use this as a normal data entry method. Does anyone have any recommendations or stories relating to use of Dragon Naturally Speaking in an office environment?

One thing I've particularly noticed is I am so much slower to pick up the phone because I have to take my headphones off and stop the dictation system. In fact, most interruptions either via telephone or via doorway are now much more significant interruptions to the flow of work. I would be very interested in hearing how people deal with this.

Any other stories relating to integration of successful voice recognition in an office environment, or specific non-recognition related issues that resulted in you having to give up on the software would be useful.

Also, what am I supposed to do with my hands?

"I Love You" Oldies Song Identification

abbyladybug — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 14:31:53 -0800

I'll never forget a conversation. Does that help?

Afroblanco — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 19:41:21 -0800

Why do people get offended when you forget their name? (also here, here, and here) Ok, so I'll admit, I'm really, really, REALLY bad about this. Whatever part of the brain that is supposed to recognize faces and associate them with names, let's just say that I don't have it. (I'm also terrible with directions.)

What makes matters worse is that I'm the kind of person who tends to "stick out" in peoples' memories. Thus, the problem is compounded - everybody remembers my name, but I don't remember anybody else's. I've found that some people get offended by this. Why? I never get offended by this kind of thing.

Is there some general pattern to the type of person who will be offended by having their name forgotten? Is there a pattern to people, like me, who forget names?

(Added detail - I'm very good at remembering entire conversations that I've had with people, but for some reason, this doesn't help at all)

Character Recognition Software

felix betachat — Wed, 20 Jul 2005 07:45:06 -0800

Can anyone recommend free (or dirt cheap) character recognition software for OSX? I've been asked to help in the preparation of a second edition of a book published B.W.P. (before Word Processors). Step one is creating revisable copy of the original text. I'd prefer (for obvious reasons) not to have to type it out manually. I'd also prefer not to have to spend money.