Digitizing the World, one word at a time

reCAPTCHA.... what a great idea!

reCAPTCHA is a free web-based service that helps digitize books and newspapers. You have probably seen a CAPTCHA before. It is the warped word that you must decipher when completing web registration forms. The CAPTCHAS are used to prevent spam and abuse on the internet. No computer program has the capability to read these words, only humans can.

As the world moves from leather bound books and paperbacks to Kindles and Nooks, there is an increasing need to digitize physical books that were written before the computer age. OCR, or "Optical Character Recognition", is a program that photographically scans pages of book and transforms the text into a downloadable format. There is one problem though. OCR is not perfect.

To explain reCAPTCHA's role in the digitization of books, their website explains:

"reCAPTCHA improves the process of digitizing books by sending words that cannot be read by computers to the Web in the form of CAPTCHAs for humans to decipher. More specifically, each word that cannot be read correctly by OCR is placed on an image and used as a CAPTCHA. This is possible because most OCR programs alert you when a word cannot be read correctly. But if a computer can't read such a CAPTCHA, how does the system know the correct answer to the puzzle? Here's how: Each new word that cannot be read correctly by OCR is given to a user in conjunction with another word for which the answer is already known. The user is then asked to read both words. If they solve the one for which the answer is known, the system assumes their answer is correct for the new one. The system then gives the new image to a number of other people to determine, with higher confidence, whether the original answer was correct."

You can help digitize books by visiting their website at www.recaptcha.net. Also, if you run a website, you can add the reCAPTCHA application to your registration web form to protect your site from spam.

Which eReader is the best?

eReader Race: Compare eReader devices based on price, screen size, storage space, content availability, and other criteria. How will Barnes & Noble's Nook stack up?

In the "Nook" of time

A new electronic reader, the Nook, enters the market: Barnes & Noble has produced a credible alternative to the Amazon Kindle, the Nook, which will start shipping in late November. The Nook is priced at $259.

Blackberry vs. iPhone

Ever since its introduction in 2007, I have wanted an iPhone. You have seen the commercials. You know, the ones showing how iPhone apps can solve pretty much any problem you might face, from traffic reports and weather updates to movie times and where to find the cheapest gas. Hey, there's an app for everything!

My dad and I use/are bound to a seemingly never ending contract with Verizon Wireless, but we have been trying to switch to AT&T for over a year now, just so we can have iPhones.

However... this past weekend I joined Team BlackBerry.

After my last phone, the LG voyager, took a dive into a drink on Friday night (and after a failed attempt at removing the water in the phone by submerging it in rice), I headed to the Verizon store in hopes that I could finally end my contract and get an iPhone. Well, surprise surprise, that was not really an option. I reluctantly started browsing through the phones that Verizon offers. The sales guy suggested the new BlackBerry Tour, which provides internet access, streams a maximum of 10 email address into your message inbox, features Facebook, MySpace, and Flickr applications, provides a high quality video camera, and offers many other useful tools.

Lets just say I bought the phone on Saturday-- Its Tuesday, and I have not put the thing down.

I love having my emails, facebook notifications, and messages streamed into ONE place. I prefer the Blackberry keyboard as opposed to the iPhone touchscreen. Yes, the iPhone has an unlimited number of applications that could provide hours of entertainment, but the BlackBerry is more reliable. The iPhone may be a great toy, but the BlackBerry is a better phone. One of my best friends has been through 7 iPhones in the past year due to broken screens and/or problems with dialing phone calls and texting. My dad has had his BlackBerry for over a year now with zero problems. I am thrilled with my new BlackBerry and I think I can finally say that I can live without an iPhone... I can always ask for a iPod Touch for Christmas, right? haha!

What do you think? BlackBerry or iPhone??