Google OCR. One word: WOW!

Either I have been hiding under a rock for the past few months or Google just placed a gem into the documents market.  Placed above the menu of Documents was hidden a highlighted "New Features" section.  The section was laden with new additions to Google Documents, including a curved line feature.  But nothing stood out as much as the OCR feature.  According to Google, one can upload a PDF file to the Google Documents section and have it converted into a Google Document that is ready for editing.

I tried this today and noticed a near flawless result, with preservation of layouts etc., from a relatively complicated PDF document.  It was a poster on Psychiatry and it was reproduced flawlessly.  To prove that it was a google document and not a picture, I was able to edit the document.  I tried again, this time uploading a picture of a billboard with words on it.   The picture was of a billboard and Google Docs translated the words (sans the picture of course) flawlessly. 

Color me IMPRESSED !  Unfortunately I cannot upload the examples because the two documents have copyrights.  But again, that may be an issue that Google may have to deal with some time in the future.  I wonder if this was the same software that Google used in its book conversions? 

You owe it to yourself to try this one out.  It is truly brilliant.

Nirvana in Todo Land....Toodledo

When I used my Lifedrive profusely, I often wondered what would happen if I forgot the gadget at home. All of my Todo lists were on the device. Naturally, I could have used the Exchange server at work as a backup, but there were times when I felt that my needs with the Exchange Server conflicted. For example, did I really need my workplace to know that I was visiting my mother or that I had to pick up milk at 5pm? Too personal. On the other hand, I needed to know about important meetings and the Lifedrive and all of the Palm devices afforded me a way of knowing these things well in advance - be it 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week. But I still yearned for something more. The day that I left my machine at home showed me that.

It was a tuesday as I recall, back in 2002, I had a calendar of events as long as my arm. I had to see patients, but in between that there were other things that had deadlines fast approaching - and all of those non-direct patient care deadlines were on the device. Some things required phone calls being made before 5pm, some before 2 pm. I couldn't keep up with them all. My Palm Tungsten kept everything in place. I missed nothing that day, but only after getting back in my car at lunch time and driving home to get it. My partners thought I was crazy, but I knew better. The day ended at 11pm, but not without me putting a check mark next to every single item on the Todo list for that day.

So I began thinking.... Backing up the Todo list and the calendar to the PC was not the best thing in the world. If you left the gadget at home, you had two devices at home - The gadget and the PC. Enter Google!

Google was not the first to start putting things in the cloud, they are just the best at it. They have seen the future and it really is in cloud computing. Other companies have jumped on the bandwagon and some of these smaller companies are doing an incredible job. Again, I do want to give a shout out to Mobisystems for creating one of the first cloud devices, found on the palm with their MobiOffice suite for Palm. Hands down the best ever created for the Palm, eclipsing Dataviz. But I digress.

For the last two years I have been looking for a calendar solution that would integrate online and with the iPhone. I have yet to find a solution that works well. If I use my workplace Exchange calendar, it wipes out my regular calendar and events. If I use Google's calendar, I can't get my work calendar in at the same time due to the limitation of only 1 exchange server at a time on the device.

So, I began looking at the second problem that I was having, linking Todo lists which I use quite frequently. After reading "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," and "Getting Things Done," and eventually listening to the hyper linguistical Merlyn Mann, I have been keeping TODO lists since 2000 and perfecting them after reading and listening to the other two that I mentioned. The 7 Habits book was a lifestyle changer for me. I categorized everything that I had to do, including family time and forced breaks. I have since fallen away from some of the very draconian things that I used to do, but with work, I find that these lists are invaluable. If something is due next friday, I label it a "3." If it suddenly becomes more important, I drag it up to a "1." I am able to complete things, not always in a timely fashion, but complete them none the less, using this system of importance. It turns out that others have been using systems like this for years. In "The Toyota Way," one of the first electronic books that I ever downloaded, I was stunned to see how these systems were used over and over again in the production plants. Microsoft, in a book written by one of its serious gurus - Randall Stross, this system was not only looked at, but strictly adhered to and probably accounted for much of the incredible profits this company produced during the heady 90's. "The Microsoft Way by Randall Stross" is a book about nothing but lists. I couldn't believe it when I read it in 1999, soon after reading "The 7 Habits..."

Fast forward to the present day, after years of searching for the near perfect solution, I finally believe that I have found my list taking Nirvana. The website is called TOODLEDO.COM. There is a competitor called REMEMBERTHEMILK.COM that is similar. But what makes Toodledo so wonderful for me is its integration with a TODO list suite called TODO (What else right :)?). TODO is available on the iPhone and is a list makers dream. It is customizable and can synch with either your Mac Desktop wirelessly (which is a dramatic plus - can you hear me Dataviz????). But it can also synch with TOODLEDO.COM for free. What's nice about this is the fact that even without a desktop app for the TODO iPhone program (It synchs with the iCal application, but not in an elegant way), synching with TOODLEDO.COM affords the download of a desktop widget, which is basically your TODO list synched with your iPhone. Make a change to your iPhone and hit synch and the change is on the desktop in the widget, in the cloud and available from any machine, be it windows, linux, solaris, Mac OS X, Symbian, Pen & Paper :). That IS TODO Nirvana.

Now, I am looking for the same thing for a calendar program. I would like a calendar program on my iPhone or any phone for that matter that would just synch anywhere. Google doesn't quite cut it due to some issues on the iPhone, especially the lack of multiple exchange servers or at the very least allowing 2 exchange servers on the phone. In addition, I would like for the calendar to be able to show the calendars of the rest of my family. Even my young kids have gotten into the calendars now themselves. I would like to see those calendars and not have to put their events in my own calendar, but have it just show up. Still not there yet.

In regards to notes, I have found a note Nirvana solution too. But more on that later.
For now, I highly recommend the following for the chronic List Takers out there:

1. TOODLEDO.COM - An online Todo list that synchs with iPhone's TODO.

2. iPhone App TODO by Appigo - A little expensive at $9.00, but very customizable and the best TODO app I have ever seen on the market. I've used at least 5 of them on the iPhone.








Honorable Mention:

1. REMEMBERTHEMILK.COM - These guys actually started the craze, but App
integration has been spotty. Additionally, the iPhone app is a
little too sparse, when compared to TOODLEDO.

2. Mobisystems Database for Palm - When I used it, it was the best Office App ever,
but it is a little dated now with the iPhone. Additionally,
there is no TODO list available. Still a great suite if you're
still using the old Palm OS. By the way, it won't crash your
Lifedrive. (This is really an honorable mention for a program
that brought me great joy).

LDD.

Adding New Web site to the List

I haven't looked at the site recommendations list in a while, but today after perusing a website, I thought that I should add this one to the list.

www.precentral.net

There you will find just about everything and anything that you ever wanted to know about the upcoming Palm Pre handheld. They are in a frenzy and I can almost feel the excitement with every article published.

The writers seem to have an inside scoop on the Pre and the information appears to be aggregated and published by independent sources. It's a very nice blog, with some serious commentaries listed along with it. There are even Pre accessories available. That one surprised me! But if you have a few minutes and an inquisitive mind, pop over and see for yourself.

LDD.

More on the LifedriveCF, Linux and a taste of Numenta.

Perusing through the Lifedrive Universe, I ran into a very interesting comparative video put out this weekend by PDAColombia. Here they compared -side by side- and running simultaneously the Lifedrive in its original format running with the Lifedrive CF. The most striking difference was the reboot times. There was an obvious advantage with the CF drive, taking about 1/2 the time to reboot as the harddrive version.

However, some apps appeared to run at the same speed and load at the same times as on the hard drive. That was very surprising. Overall, the Lifedrive CF appeared more robust and appeared to be faster on most counts.

For me, this video is a Godsend. I may in fact wait until October/November when the Linux based Palms hit the shelves. I am still debating whether to buy one, not wanting to be a part of the first adopter or bleeding edge candidates who purchased the Lifedrive. But if the price of the Lifedrive - used preferably - comes down, I may buy one and hack the daylights out of it.

PDAColombia.com video

Pdacolombia videocast 10
Uploaded by pdacolombia

Palm Linux



I have also spent some time this weekend over at hack&dev to see how the linux project is coming along. Those guys have made great strides. However, I am begining to wonder if they will curtail their project now that Palm will be supporting their own version of Linux. But you should pop over there to see some of the incredible strides that they have made with OPIE.




Linux Development on Palm.

Linux on Palm Screenshots.


Numenta

Okay, for the ultimate geek weekend, I spent 90 minutes listening to Jeff Hawkins, the founder of Palm giving a lecture on Hierarchical Temporal Memory: Theory and Implementation. First of all, I was really impressed by Jeff Hawkins' incredible mind and ability to comprehend not only the anatomy, but the inner workings of the brain. In addition, I truly admired his ability to stand up to some of the world's most distinguished Neuroscientists and Neurologists. The grilling that took place following the lecture reminded me of Grand Rounds given once a week, when a complete review of a case was done. It was one of the most chilling aspects of my life many years ago, particularly if I was involved in the case. If I was as knowledgable and confident as Mr. Hawkins, I probably would have saved a few shirts from the puddles of sweat that encompassed each of these grillings.

So, why was I listening to this lecture? It was not purely to learn about Hierarchical Temporal Management, which I found absolutely fascinating, but to get a handle on what's next at Palm. After hearing about Numenta, I am convinced that the project coming out in November is not what everyone has been writing about. Numenta is not a machine, but a thought process which attempts to emulate the brains' thought processes through non-static, mobile "guesswork" that dwarfs our thinking about events. It is preemptive. It is akin to thinking about a sequence of numbers and colors before they have been produced. It is akin to knowing the difference in texture between velvet and carpet. Some of the guess work appears to involve appointing memories of other objects and things and interpolating them to come up with what you are holding in your hands. A real life example would be putting out your hand and having someone tell you that you are about to feel a cup filled with hot cocoa. You already have a preconceived notion about the scent of hot cocoa, the ceramic feel of a cup, the warmth involved and the visualization of the cup, such that when it is placed in your hand you can translate it to mean: Warm cup of Cocoa in hand. All of these things are involved in making that decision. Numenta appears to be about trying to emulate these thought processes to come to these conclusions.

One can see quite readily that this has the potential for a lot of DoD type stuff: Face recognition, object identification etc. Mr. Hawkins has stated that the early project will involve food/recipe recognition to start with. There appears to be some semblance of software out on the website to experiment with Numenta for now.

I suspect that it would be possible to have some form of recipe program just placed on the next Palm Project without much fanfair or discussion just to see how this works. Given the fact that Numenta (let's call it a program for now) works on Linux and Mac OSX, I think that the new Linux device will incorporate this well.

What this lecture did for me was to give me an idea of where Jeff Hawkins is heading. I am not certain how this fits into the Palm ecosystem, but I do foresee something along the lines of Search algorithms coming out of this. Google has been the prominent search king for now, but if Hawkins' Numenta is capable of adaptive search strategies, we may be looking at a handheld device dwarfing Google's capablities. For example, say that you want to find a picture of a yellow lemon. With Google, we would have to place file tags on the picture. With Numenta, the search program would already know that it is looking for a picture and then it would have to analyze the picture, shapes etc to come up with the answer. The obvious problem - and hence the reason why I do not believe that this is something to get excited about in November (the expected launch date for the Linux Palm Series) - is that this would require tremendous computing power - way more than a Handheld can handle.

So, 90 minutes gave me some insight into the mind of Jeff Hawkins, but sheds less light on the new devices that will be running Palm Linux.




Bye for now.
LDD

(updated, thanks to Bryan :)).