NEWS - 2/11/07

Search is on:

• Corbis using text analysis,
• Google trying visual content recognition and
• Stellent going for the universe.
• ADIC has automated migration.
• While Hasselbad has improved on the 35mm,
• Heidelberg may be slaying the Topaz, but Silverfast will help you move yours forward

For the DAMers among us

MetaData Extraction
Corbis is automating the caption indexing of its images as they are added to the collection.  They are using Nstein text analytic solutions for this effort as well as to improve search and retrieval processes. On the Nstein web site, its asset management program is described as providing “ XML normalization, management and secure storage.”  It also infers that it can extract metadata from several file formats including Photoshop.

Visual Content Recognition
Is Google pursing content recognition as a search method?  The Picassa Group, a sub unit of Google, recently acquired Neven Vision, which does work on extracting visual information from a photo, and holds several patents on facial recognition.  Maybe Google can make content recognition a reality.

Universal Content Management System
Stellent, a developer of content management systems now uses the tag line Universal Content Management.  In a press release about the Dallas Museum of Art's adoption of its system explains how its server provides document management, Web content management, collaboration and digital asset management capabilities through one common architecture.  This is very interesting for those of us trying to serve a variety of users.  Its server add-on, Site Studio is also interesting as it permits multiple departments within the museum to contribute Web site content by "dragging and dropping" content in its native format -- such as a Microsoft Word document -- directly into the Stellent system which uses industry standard Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV).   As a side note, Oracle acquired Stellent last fall.

Another free DAM for consumers
Another free image browser and editor for windows is being provided by Corel called Snapfire,

For the Preservers

Automated migration.
That is right, the answer to your dreams. Advanced Digital Information Corporation, ADIC has a software feature to help you maintain the integrity of you data files when stored on their “Intelligent Storage(TM) solutions for the open system market.” The feature in AMASS archiving software automatically tests the integrity of data stored on removable media and then migrates it to new media when specified error-rate thresholds are reached.

Imaging News

Hasselblad now has DSLR 48 x 36 mm digital capture or about 39 megapixels.
They are calling it the H3D-39. Its image format converts to the DNG file format to enable you to open raw, compressed image files in Adobe Photoshop. Hasselblad image files carry a full set of metadata, including capture conditions, keywords and copyright, facilitating workflow with image asset management solutions.

The popular image correction software for use while scanning, Silverfast by Lasersoft is now released for the popular high-end flatbed scanner Heidelberg Topaz scanners as well NexScan and Tango. SilverFast’s Automatic Descreening, allows the user to scan preprinted materials without the hassle of measuring the original lines per inch (LPI), thus avoiding noticeable moire patterns.  Of course finding one of these scanners is a trick

Heard in the alley

While in the Alley, Microsoft discovers images.

Vista brings a new perspective

While many are pooh poohing Microsoft’s new OS Vista. I think imagers would do well to pay attention.  For one thing, there is their new file format, which is an XML Paper Specification [XPS].  The XPS document viewer comes with Windows Vista and allows you to open and read XPS documents without the original authoring system. The document will also look just as it would if printed. All 2007 Office programs will be able an create XPS document.  Sounds like what the Mac does with PDF, so you could say it is another catch up but it is not using the current industry standard!!. This is a whole new format. Do you think it can replace PDF? They are circulating the format to encourage its adoption.  Kofax, a large document vendor already plans to support this formation for production scanning and capture. So I guess we can just wait and see.

Then, there is Windows Media Photo (WMP),  their new image format which will ..."preserve more information at a  higher compression than the current JPEG."  They also are promoting that WMP allows devices and software that support it to render a region of the image, or a lower-res version, without having to wrestle with the entire photo at full resolution. And it provides for both lossy and lossless compression with one algorithm. Sounds like JPEG 2000, but again it is not.  It is part of the XPS system, which at least is an XML specification, but not a standard one. Again wait and see.

 AND then there is Photosynth

This is cool project. It is a joint project between Microsoft and the University of Washington, You can see some results of it in Explorer's new earth mapping.  In the site's words:

"The Photosynth Technology Preview is a taste of the newest - and, we hope, most exciting - way to view photos on a computer. Our software takes a large collection of photos of a place or an object, analyzes them for similarities, and then displays the photos in a reconstructed three-dimensional space, showing you how each one relates to the next. "

I urge you to check out what they are doing at their site, Microsoft Live Labs. Some interesting proposals include a Flickr type approach where you can add you favorite shot of, say the Eiffel tour, to many others as the web gradually builds up a denser and denser 3-D virtual world. Or maybe you will soon be able to take a picture, match it online to learn its correct name and then serach for more information about what you shot, like maybe name all those churches when you get back?