Researchers Glean Audio from Video
July 10, 2015
Now, this is fascinating. Scary, but fascinating. MIT News explains how a team of researchers from MIT, Microsoft, and Adobe are “Extracting Audio from Visual Information.” The article includes a video in which one can clearly hear the poem “Mary Had a Little Lamb” as extrapolated from video of a potato chip bag’s vibrations filmed through soundproof glass, among other amazing feats. I highly recommend you take four-and-a-half minutes to watch the video.
Writer Larry Hardesty lists some other surfaces from which the team was able reproduce audio by filming vibrations: aluminum foil, water, and plant leaves. The researchers plan to present a paper on their results at this year’s Siggraph computer graphics conference. See the article for some details on the research, including camera specs and algorithm development.
So, will this tech have any non-spying related applications? Hardesty cites MIT grad student, and first writer on the team’s paper, Abe Davis as he writes:
“The researchers’ technique has obvious applications in law enforcement and forensics, but Davis is more enthusiastic about the possibility of what he describes as a ‘new kind of imaging.’
“‘We’re recovering sounds from objects,’ he says. ‘That gives us a lot of information about the sound that’s going on around the object, but it also gives us a lot of information about the object itself, because different objects are going to respond to sound in different ways.’ In ongoing work, the researchers have begun trying to determine material and structural properties of objects from their visible response to short bursts of sound.”
That’s one idea. Researchers are confident other uses will emerge, ones no one has thought of yet. This is a technology to keep tabs on, and not just to decide when to start holding all private conversations in windowless rooms.
Cynthia Murrell, July 10, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
SharePoint 2016 to Feature Deeply Ingrained Cloud Services
July 7, 2015
As additional details continue to be released, the SharePoint community speculates about the role of the cloud in the upcoming 2016 version. According to the GCN article, “SharePoint 2016 Built on Cloud Foundation,” cloud will play a central role.
Read all the details in the article, which begins:
“When SharePoint Server 2016 is released next year, Microsoft’s cloud services will be deeply ingrained, creating a more unified end user experience across components. ‘Everything we’re doing in Office 365 inspires the [SharePoint Server] product going forward, and you’ll see this cadence continuing,’ said Mark Kashman, a senior product manager at Microsoft on the SharePoint team.”
It sounds like users may have a steeper learning curve on this upcoming version, but then the pace may be set for the next several years. What will be interesting to see is whether users find the cloud focus to be intuitive, or if it is a hindrance, particularly for those who have voiced a preference for on-premises capabilities to continue. Microsoft is definitely trying to walk the line and be all things to all people, but then that has always been both its greatest strength and its greatest weakness. Stephen E. Arnold is a longtime leader in search and he knows the strengths and weaknesses well. His Web service, ArnoldIT.com, features a dedicated SharePoint feed, and is a great resource for users who need to stay up to speed without a huge investment in research time.
Emily Rae Aldridge, July 7, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Misinformation and Truth: An Issue in Play
July 6, 2015
Navigate to “Italian Newspaper Creates Fake Restaurant to Prove TripAdvisor Sucks.” The story tells the story of a real journalistic operation which created a non existent restaurant. Then the real journalists contributed reviews of the vaporous eatery. TripAdvisor’s algorithms sucked in the content and, according to the write up,
declared La Scaletta the best restaurant in the town, beating out another highly-regarded restaurant with over 300 reviews (most of them positive).
Ah, real journalism, truth, and the manipulation of socially-anchored systems.
Now direct your attention to “Fact Verification As Easy as Spellcheck?” The point of this article is that figuring what’s accurate and inaccurate is non trivial. The write up reports:
Researchers at Indiana University decided to try a different approach to the problem. Instead of trying to build complex logic into a program, researchers proposed something simpler. Why not try measure the likelihood of a statement being true by analyzing the proximity of its terms and the specificity of its connectors?
The procedure involves a knowledge graph. Is this the same, much loved graph approach built with the most frequently used mathematical methods? No information to answer that question is in my files, gentle reader.
My radar is directed at Bloomington, Indiana. Perhaps more information will become available on software’s ability to figure out if the Italian restaurant is real or the confection of real journalists. Note: The GOOG seems to be laboring in this vineyard was well. See this Bezos story.
What if—just hypothetical, of course—the “truth” methods can be spoofed by procedures more sophisticated that cooking up some half cooked tortellini? Those common numerical methods are pliable, based on my team’s research. Really flexible when it comes to what’s “truth.”
Stephen E Arnold, July 6, 2015
Dassault Systemes’ “Single View of the Truth” Problem-Solving Approach
July 3, 2015
The article on Today’s Medical Developments titled Collaborative Design Software uses the online collaborative design video game Minecraft to consider the possibilities for programmers working together in the future. Dassault Systemes’ is in the process of implementing a change to many design engineers working more collaboratively off a master file. The article quotes Monica Menghini, a Dassault executive,
“Our platform of 12 software applications covers 3D modeling (SOLIDWORKS, CATIA, GEOVIA, BIOVIA); simulation (3DVIA, DELMIA, SIMULA); social and collaboration (3DSWYM, 3DXCITE, ENOVIA); and information intelligence (EXALEAD, NETVIBES)… These apps together create the experience. No single point solution can do it – it requires a platform capable of connecting the dots. And that platform includes cloud access and social apps, design, engineering, simulation, manufacturing, optimization, support, marketing, sales and distribution, communication…PLM – all aspects of a business; all aspects of a customer’s experience.”
The point is that Dassault wants to sell customers a dozen products to solve a problem, which seems like an interesting and complicated approach. They believe new opportunities could include more efficient design-building, earlier chances for materials specialists to cut costs by opting for lighter materials, marketing could begin earlier in the process and financial planners would have the ability to follow the progress of a design, allowing for a more transparency on every level of production.
Chelsea Kerwin, July 3, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
==
Another Bayes Theorem Explanation
June 26, 2015
Our old pal Reverend Bayes cooked up an important numerical recipe. Sure, it strikes some as counter intuitive, but the approach has been useful, controversial, and tough to explain to those who struggle with math.
If you want to know why some real journalists get nervous when confronted with Bayesian methods, navigate to “Bayes’ Theorem.” There is a useful explanation plus a dusting of equations. I know these are often deal breakers, but the author, as I, find them helpful.
The discussion of Priors is quite well done. There is also a touch of poetry:
As an example, the explanation that Thor’s wrath is responsible for thunderstorms may sound simple enough to humans, and definitely simpler than atmospheric physics. However, a computer program that simulated Thor throwing lightning bolts needed not only to simulate the lightning bolts themselves, but Thor as well. Viewed from this perspective, Thor appears as an unnecessary complication, which does not in fact have any explanatory power. By contrast, the Standard Model of particle physics explains much, much more than thunderstorms, and its rules could be written down in a few pages of programming code.
Remember that the sun will shine through the metaphor.
Stephen E Arnold, June 26, 2015
Search and Math: Stuck in a Rut?
June 23, 2015
I read a paper several years ago. Okay, maybe it was in 2008. You can find the write up here. There is a more recent review of the information in that “Top 10 Algorithms in Data Mining” article here. To make a long story short, most of the search and content processing systems use these tried-and-true methods. Most of them can be implemented using the guidelines in computer science textbooks, and there are plenty of examples to ensure that none of the search and content processing systems fall prey to the Big O issue.
Against this background, I read with interest “The Top 10 Mathematical Achievements of the Last 5ish Years.” I like the specificity of “5ish.” Good math thinking in today’s fuzzy algorithm environment.
The idea is that the write reviews math which sticks up like mountain tops above the cloud layer in the Peruvian Andes. Three of the 10 items snagged my interest, which is skewed by my bias toward search and content processing. Here are the three I highlighted from the 10 in the useful write up:
- The bound gaps between primes. Perhaps the approach will benefit those engaged in making and making cryptography in the next year or so?
- Voevodsky’s Homotopy Type Theory., How can one go wrong with new thoughts on fundamental math.
- Work on The Fundamental Lemma. Gimme some old time group/set religion with potentially useful new handles with which to grab groups.
Now how will search and content processing benefit? For now, not too much. The problem is that innovations in math cannot be applied to most of today’s information processing systems. There are computational considerations, and there are other tasks which need more attention than the plumbing; namely, how can a vendor get the system to output information a licensee can actually use in real life.
I want to remind you, gentle reader, that the reason most search and content processing systems are very much alike has a simple explanation. Most are built using the same 10 components identified in the 2008 paper.
Consider that the next time you plunk down big money for a proprietary system. For most business tasks, open source solutions are substantially similar in core functionality without the hefty price tag for the license, bespoke engineering, and a development cycle more mysterious than the pronouncements of the oracle at Delphi.
Stephen E Arnold, June 23, 2015
Video and Image Search In the News
June 17, 2015
There’s been much activity around video and image search lately. Is it all public-relations hype, or is there really progress to celebrate? Here are a few examples that we’ve noticed recently.
Fast Company reports on real-time video-stream search service Dextro in, “This Startup’s Side Project Scans Every Periscope Video to Help You Find the Best Streams.” Writer Rose Pastore tells us:
“Dextro’s new tool, called Stream, launches today as a mobile-optimized site that sorts Periscope videos by their content: Cats, computers, swimming pools, and talking heads, to name a few popular categories. The system does not analyze stream text titles, which are often non-descriptive; instead, it groups videos based only on how its algorithms interpret the visual scene being filmed. Dextro already uses this technology to analyze pre-recorded videos for companies … but this is the first time the two-year-old startup has applied its algorithms to live streams.”
Meanwhile, ScienceDaily reveals an interesting development in, “System Designed to Label Visual Scenes Turns Out to Detect Particular Objects Too.” While working on their very successful scene-classification tool, researchers at MIT discovered a side effect. The article explains that, at an upcoming conference:
“The researchers will present a new paper demonstrating that, en route to learning how to recognize scenes, their system also learned how to recognize objects. The work implies that at the very least, scene-recognition and object-recognition systems could work in concert. But it also holds out the possibility that they could prove to be mutually reinforcing.”
Then we have an article from MIT’s Technology Review, “The Machine Vision Algorithm Beating Art Historians at Their Own Game.” Yes, even in the highly-nuanced field of art history, the AI seems to have become the master. We learn:
“The challenge of analyzing paintings, recognizing their artists, and identifying their style and content has always been beyond the capability of even the most advanced algorithms. That is now changing thanks to recent advances in machine learning based on approaches such as deep convolutional neural networks. In just a few years, computer scientists have created machines capable of matching and sometimes outperforming humans in all kinds of pattern recognition tasks.”
Each of these articles is an interesting read, so check them out for more information. It may be a good time to work in the area of image and video search.
Cynthia Murrell, June 17, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Quick Tips for Increased SharePoint Productivity
June 16, 2015
For organizations that utilize SharePoint, increased efficiency is a continuous goal. Users want to get more out of their installation without a huge time commitment. Technology Tell covers some tips and tricks in their recent article, “8 SharePoint Tips for Greater Productivity.”
The article begins:
“As far a strategic workflows go within the corporate world, SharePoint is arguably one of the best productivity tools. It’s a platform that provides businesses and teams with opportunities to thrive. SharePoint grants access to streamlined methods for communication, management and motivation. But to be truly effective, SharePoint needs to be organized in terms of infrastructure, and its functions must be correctly carried out.”
What follows are eight simple tips for streamlining infrastructure and therefore usage. Stephen E. Arnold is also a good resource for additional tips and tricks. His Web service ArnoldIT.com has a helpful SharePoint feed that collocates SharePoint news and strategies. His lifelong career in search has made him an expert in the field, and his straightforward approach saves time and energy for the reader.
Emily Rae Aldridge, June 16, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Instagram Promises Improved Search
June 15, 2015
Frustrated with the abysmal search functionality at Instagram? Rejoice, for Wired tells us that, soon, “Better Search Will Transform How You Use Instagram.” Instagram’s cofounder Mike Krieger admitted that it is currently difficult for users to discover many photos that would interest them, but also asserted the company knows it must do better. Why, then, wasn’t search a priority earlier in the company’s history, and why are they talking about this now? Writer Julia Greenberg informs us:
“All that could soon change, given that Instagram has Facebook on its team. The social media titan, which acquired Instagram in 2012, is targeting Google itself as it develops a robust search system to make both its own platform and the whole web searchable through its own app. But while Facebook users post links, status updates, news, opinions, and photos, Instagram is almost completely visual. That means Instagram needs to teach its search engine to see. Krieger said his team has worked on a project to better understand how to automate sight. ‘Computer vision and machine learning have really started to take off, but for most people the whole idea of what is a computer seeing when it’s looking at an image is relatively obscure,’ Krieger said.”
Ah, prodded by their Facebook overlords; makes sense. Instagram isn’t ready to hand the site over to algorithms entirely, though. Their human editorial team still works to help users find the best images. Apparently, they feel humans are more qualified to choose photos with the most emotional impact (go figure). Krieger sees Instagram developing into a “storytelling” destination, the place users to go connect with world events through images: “the real-time view into the world,” as Krieger puts it. We agree that implementing an effective search system should help toward that goal.
Cynthia Murrell, June 15, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Google and Fact Ranking: Close but No SEO Cigar
June 3, 2015
Based on my experience gleaned in rural Kentucky, home of Pappy Van Winkle, Google ranks more than Web pages, people, news stories, and links. Google ranks with lots and lots of factors. The Googlers are busy lads and lasses in the ranking department. There are many reasons. One of them may be ad-centric.
I read “Beyond Links: Why Google Will Rank Facts in the Future.” In my opinion, the write up is close by no cigar and certainly no an SEO cigar. Here’s a passage I highlight in dramatic orange:
Since web pages can be littered with factual inaccuracies and still appear credible because of a high number of quality links, the Google team is pursuing a future where endogenous signals carry far more weight than exogenous signals. In short, Google may soon be more concerned with the information your website contains than the level of trust people have in your website. New websites could immediately be ranked higher than established competitor sites just by hosting content that is more factually accurate than theirs.
I have quite a bit of confidence in the GOOG; however, there is one sticky wicket: What is a fact? Facts can be tricky in math; for example, infinity or zero, fact or fanciful notion. One whiz kid went crazy noodling the infinity issue, infinities of infinities, and sets of infinities on the left and the right of the good old decimal point.
Rah rah for the Google Knowledge Vault. There are some statistical tools to rank a fact as more or less correct. Will the SEO crowd be able to game the system so their clients’ Web pages are more factual? Will Google use facts to drive ad sales? Will the user know what is and is not correct? Is there a factual answer to this question: Which is more sophisticated technically? Facebook or Google. What does the Knowledge Vault think?
Stephen E Arnold, June 3, 2015
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