Google and open source OCR

<span class="byline-author">Posted by T.V. Raman, Research Scientist</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">From time to time, our own <a href="http://emacspeak.sourceforge.net/raman/">T.V. Raman</a> shares his tips on how to use Google from his perspective as a technologist who cannot see -- tips that sighted people, among others, may also find useful. - Ed.</span><br /><br />As someone who cannot see, I prefer to live in a mostly paperless world. This means ruthlessly turning every piece of paper that enters my life into a set of bits that I can process digitally. I scan in everything. Until now, I have relied on commercial OCR packages to convert these images into readable text. OCR is perhaps one of the areas where the benefits of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore%27s_law">Moore's Law</a> are most evident; today, OCR can do remarkably well when handed a page image. Until now, my only dissatisfaction with the status quo in this area has been that commercial OCR engines afford me little flexibility with respect to training them to do better on documents that are specific to me.<br /><br />The advent of our own open source OCR initiative, <a href="http://code.google.com/p/ocropus/">OCRopus</a> (source code: <a href="http://ocropus.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/">Ocropus Sources</a>) is a welcome change in this regard. I introduced support for <a href="http://code.google.com/p/emacspeak">OCRopus in Emacspeak</a> recently, and the HTML output this produces compares favorably with output from commercial OCR engines, provided you place the page at the right orientation on the scanner. OCRopus' extensibility, and the ability to express the OCR as a structured HTML document makes it an ideal starting point for producing rich spoken output. The possibilities are enormous for people being able to collectively train, customize and improve an OCR engine.

Google and open source OCR

Posted by T.V. Raman, Research Scientist From time to time, our own T.V. Raman shares his tips on how to use Google from his perspective as...

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Asia-Pacific Open House June 28th

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Christine Hong, Head of Engineering Operations, Asia Pacific</span><br /><br />We're hosting an Asia Pacific open house for engineers on Thursday, June 28 from 6-9pm on the <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=1600+Amphitheatre+Pky,+Mountain+View,+CA+94043&sll=37.0625,-95.677071&sspn=82.939223,105.996094&ie=UTF8&ll=37.423412,-122.086515&spn=0.042466,0.051756&amp;amp;amp;z=14&iwloc=addr&om=1">Google campus</a> in Mountain View. Ping Li from Accel Partners will moderate a panel discussion by the four directors of our engineering centers in India, Korea, Taiwan, and China. They'll talk about top tech trends in their respective markets, and we'll demo products developed in each location. Of course, there will be plenty of food & drink, and a raffle. This should be an informative networking event for Bay Area engineers and entrepreneurs with a technical background.<br /><br />Agenda: <ul><li>6-6:30 pm - Registration, food, drinks</li><li>6:30-8 pm - Panel discussion and Q&A</li><li>8-9 pm - Product demo, networking, and a raffle drawing</li></ul>If you're an engineer or an entrepreneur with a technical background who'd like to come, please email me at <span style="font-style: italic;">chong at google dot com</span> for your invitation. Make the subject line "APAC Open House 2007" and include:<br />- name<br />- title<br />- affiliation/company<br />- contact info<br /><br />We're looking forward to seeing you on the 28th.

Asia-Pacific Open House June 28th

Posted by Christine Hong, Head of Engineering Operations, Asia Pacific We're hosting an Asia Pacific open house for engineers on Thursda...

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Carbon neutrality by end of 2007

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Posted by Urs Hoelzle, Senior Vice President, Operations </span><br /><br />Climate change continues to be one of the biggest, most challenging problems our planet faces, and we know that a sustained global effort is needed if we're going to have any hope of reversing its effects. In that spirit, today we're announcing that Google will become carbon neutral by the end of 2007. This is an important step in our long-term pursuit of holistic environmental solutions.<br /><br />Our plan to neutralize Google's carbon footprint includes three basic strategies:<br /> - reduce energy consumption by maximizing efficiency;<br /> - invest in and use renewable energy sources; and<br /> - purchase carbon offsets for the emissions that we can't reduce directly.<br /><br />To calculate our carbon footprint, we took into account emissions from purchased electricity, employee commuting, business travel, construction, and server manufacturing. In a partnership with the <a href="http://www.ert.net/" title="Environmental Resources Trust">Environmental Resources Trust</a> (ERT), we have independently verified this assessment, and will do so every year.<br /><br />In order to meet our short-term goal of carbon neutrality, we have decided to purchase some carbon offsets. To be clear, we see carbon offsets not as a permanent solution but rather as a temporary tool which allows us to take full responsibility for our impact right away. By investing in projects elsewhere in the world that cut the overall amount of greenhouse gases, we can help reduce climate impact now while we develop more sustainable strategies for the future. When considering an offset project, we carefully examine the project's environmental integrity, its ability to be monitored and verified, and the impact that our investment will have in furthering that project's goals. In other words, we want to make sure that our offset funding directly enables the project, and that the carbon savings of the project are real.<br /><br />As you may have read, Google already has several other environmental programs and initiatives in place. Last week <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/climate-savers-computing-initiative.html" title="we announced">we announced</a> the <a href="http://www.climatesaverscomputing.org/" title="http://www.climatesaverscomputing.org/ Climate Savers Computing">Climate Savers Computing</a> initiative to greatly improve computing energy-efficiency standards. (Make sure your next computer purchase is a compliant PC!) Transportation is another major area of focus. Our employee shuttle system provides a commute for more than 1,500 Googlers daily around the San Francisco Bay area, and several hundred more have also taken advantage of our rebate when they bought a fuel-efficient vehicle.<br /><br />We're equally committed to finding and developing new green technologies and sources of energy. We <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/clean-energy-update.html" title="just completed">just completed</a> our solar panel installation in Mountain View, the single-largest corporate solar installation in the U.S. to date. We've also joined the World Resources Institute's <a href="http://www.thegreenpowergroup.org/" title="Green Power Market Development Group">Green Power Market Development Group</a>, so we can work with other companies to make more green power available to everyone. And of course <a href="http://google.org/" title="http://Google.org">Google.org</a> is working on creative new initiatives, including <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/pressrel/rechargeit_20070618.html" title="plug-in hybrid cars">plug-in hybrid cars</a>. In addition, we've set ourselves the ambitious goal of creating 50 megawatts of new renewable generation capacity--enough to power 50,000 typical U.S. homes--by 2012.<br /><br />Still, we're only one company, so aside from improving our own practices, we want to do more to raise awareness and commitment worldwide. We feel we can best do this through our products and services, which reach millions of people every day. For example, <a href="http://www.google.com/transit" title="Google Transit">Google Transit</a> makes it easier than ever to find and use public transportation around the globe. New custom tabs on iGoogle bring climate news, <a href="http://www.google.com/ig/gmcreator?moduleurl=gm_youtube.xml" title="energy-related talks on video">energy-related talks on video</a> from our @Google series and other environment-related content to your homepage. Google Maps users have created mashups to show <a href="http://flood.firetree.net/" title="possible coastal flooding">possible coastal flooding</a> if the sea level changes, or to map <a href="http://www.climate-charts.com/climate-map.html" title="climate data for cities">climate data for cities</a> worldwide. And we're urging lawmakers to create clear public policies on important issues like energy-efficiency standards, increased funding for public research and development of energy technologies, and regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.<br /><br />To learn more, visit our <a href="http://www.google.com/corporate/green/energy/" title="new site on energy initiatives">new site on energy initiatives</a>, which details much of this work to date.

Carbon neutrality by end of 2007

Posted by Posted by Urs Hoelzle, Senior Vice President, Operations Climate change continues to be one of the biggest, most challenging probl...

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More sharing

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Sam Schillace, Engineering Director</span><br /><br />We're pleased to announce that we've acquired the assets of Zenter, a company that provides software for creating online slide presentations.<br /><br />You've heard us talk a lot about using the web to improve group collaboration and information sharing. These days, when you create a document -- whether it's a text document, a spreadsheet, or a presentation -- you usually want to share it, collect feedback, or communicate about it in some way. We on the <a href="http://docs.google.com/" target="_blank">Google Docs & Spreadsheets</a> team focus on making this experience easier and more powerful for you. In particular, we're working to <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/were-expecting.html">add presentation-sharing capabilities</a> to Google Docs & Spreadsheets, and we're excited about the addition of Zenter's technology and team to that effort.

More sharing

Posted by Sam Schillace, Engineering Director We're pleased to announce that we've acquired the assets of Zenter, a company that pro...

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YouTube in 9 more domains

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Sakina Arsiwala, International Manager, YouTube</span><br /><br />The YouTube community began life speaking English, but thanks to the uniquely expressive medium of video, today there is a global village of content makers and viewers. With a noteworthy number of YouTube visitors now coming from outside the U.S., it's high time we go multilingual.<br /><br />Today at a Google press event in Paris, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen are announcing the launch of nine new domains in <a href="http://www.youtube.com.br/">Brazil</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.fr/">France</a>, <a href="http://it.youtube.com/">Italy</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.jp/">Japan</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.nl/">the Netherlands</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.pl/">Poland</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.es/">Spain</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.ie/">Ireland</a>, and the <a href="http://www.youtube.co.uk/">UK</a>.<br /><br />In response to many requests, each new site is fully translated and localized for each country including content (Featured Videos, Director Videos, Promotions), as well as the interfaces, search, user support, and such community features as video ratings, sharing, and content flagging. And these new localized versions are built using Google search technology, so you can quickly find more of what you want to see. Perhaps best of all, you can continue to use <a href="http://www.youtube.com/">youtube.com</a>, or move to one of these localized sites -- and switch seamlessly between the two. Happy creating, viewing and sharing!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Update:</span> Removed link to user content.

YouTube in 9 more domains

Posted by Sakina Arsiwala, International Manager, YouTube The YouTube community began life speaking English, but thanks to the uniquely expr...

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A clean energy update

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Dan Reicher, Director, Climate and Energy Initiatives, Google.org</span><br /><br />Today <a href="http://google.org/">Google.org</a> is launching an exciting project that offers a glimpse of a smarter energy future: cars that plug into an electric grid powered by solar energy. Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (“plug-in hybrids”) can achieve 70 -100 miles per gallon, quadrupling the fuel economy of the average car on the road today (~20 mpg). As we demonstrated at today’s event, plug-in hybrids can sell power back to the electric grid when it's needed most through vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology<br /><br />As you may know, one of Google.org's core missions is to address climate change. In the U.S., transportation contributes about one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions –- with more than 60 percent of those emissions coming from personal vehicles. By accelerating the adoption of plug-in hybrids and vehicle-to-grid ("V2G") technologies, this new project, <a href="http://www.google.org/recharge/">RechargeIT.org</a>, aims to reduce emissions and dependence on oil while promoting clean energy technologies and increasing consumer choice. Linking the U.S. transportation system to the electricity grid maximizes the efficiency of our energy system. From these efforts, we believe the environment will benefit -- and consumers will have more choices to fuel their cars.<br /><br />We've been working with Google engineers and <a href="http://www.hymotion.com/">Hymotion</a>/<a href="http://www.a123systems.com/">A123Systems</a> to build a small fleet of plug-in hybrids, adding an external plug and additional batteries to a regular hybrid car so that it runs on electricity with gasoline (or even better, biofuels) to extend the driving range for longer trips. Here's what it looks like:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjws2EsrJ9Ek-BIy5wRgkOejneFArfwUaCI4lMdca0sPNOoxz1zOky50elzpOUL8t3eIcL4ZJfOKDAaHajvZx4W6BGxp9Gg_nYoh-uTb2OKsQdj5z6xBDysTAPv41F7blP3PwONJvAzHOJK/s1600-h/PHEV_car.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5077457709546282210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjws2EsrJ9Ek-BIy5wRgkOejneFArfwUaCI4lMdca0sPNOoxz1zOky50elzpOUL8t3eIcL4ZJfOKDAaHajvZx4W6BGxp9Gg_nYoh-uTb2OKsQdj5z6xBDysTAPv41F7blP3PwONJvAzHOJK/s320/PHEV_car.png" style="cursor: pointer;" /></a><br /><br />Since most Americans drive less than 35 miles per day, you easily could drive mostly on electricity with the gas tank as a "safety net." Our goal is to demonstrate the plug-in hybrid and V2G technology, get people excited about having their own plug-in hybrid, and encourage car companies to start building them soon.<br /><br />In the preliminary results from our test fleet, on average the plug-in hybrid gas mileage was 30+ mpg higher than that of the regular hybrids. In conjunction with Pacific Gas and Electric, we also demonstrated the bidirectional flow of electricity through V2G technology, and have awarded $1 million in grants and announced plans for a $10 million request for proposals (RFP) to fund development, adoption and commercialization of plug-ins, fully electric cars and related vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology. (Here's the <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/pressrel/rechargeit_20070618.html">full release</a>.)<br /><br />As for Google Inc., today the <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/corporate-solar-is-coming.html">solar panel installation</a> we announced last October is now producing clean, renewable electricity for our Mountain View, CA headquarters.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv5k5Xxf5k_EAwD4VFj-ZhDLf6eUIunv5Od50i7uRu3oTDEorcDo-LH7YKJPRFa52uxc06c7GBvVwvyct3eocabxykqBuX9cTeqW1lV6R7N44ff5YI-HBu_Yj16pQ8MzMM1Bumr3nrzkng/s1600-h/Solarpanels_patio.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5077462773312724226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv5k5Xxf5k_EAwD4VFj-ZhDLf6eUIunv5Od50i7uRu3oTDEorcDo-LH7YKJPRFa52uxc06c7GBvVwvyct3eocabxykqBuX9cTeqW1lV6R7N44ff5YI-HBu_Yj16pQ8MzMM1Bumr3nrzkng/s320/Solarpanels_patio.png" style="cursor: pointer;" /></a><br /><br />The system will offset peak electricity consumption at the solar powered offices and the newly constructed solar carports have charging stations for the plug-in hybrids. At 1.6 megawatts -- with an electricity output capable of powering approximately 1,000 average California homes -- the Google project is the largest solar installation on any corporate campus in the U.S. to date, and one of the largest on any corporate site in the world. To see how much electricity these panels are producing right now, visit our new <a href="http://www.google.com/corporate/solarpanels">performance monitoring site</a>.<br /><br />To learn more about the initiative, we encourage you to explore the rest of <a href="http://www.google.org/recharge/">RechargeIT.org</a>. And to see what others are saying about plug-in hybrids and V2G technology, be sure to watch <span>this video</span>.<br /><br /><object height="350" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/oDjSbWTJbdo"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/oDjSbWTJbdo" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="350" width="425"></embed></object>

A clean energy update

Posted by Dan Reicher, Director, Climate and Energy Initiatives, Google.org Today Google.org is launching an exciting project that offers a...

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This blog's M.O.

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Elliot Schrage and Karen Wickre, Global Communications & Public Affairs</span><br /><br />Just about 3 years ago, we <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2004/05/is-this-thing-on.html">launched</a> this blog as a fast and direct way to reach Google users, friends and anyone else interested in our goings-on. Even though it's a blog from Google, it's by Googlers, not from a single executive (or founder). We've encouraged hundreds of people to write about news and ideas from all their respective corners of the company. A lot of the posts you read are news and updates about products, because that's what the bulk of Googlers work on. But with an eye towards transparency, we also share our positions on issues -- for example, our <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/01/google-in-china.html">role in China</a>, our <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2005/10/point-of-google-print.html">perspective on digitizing books</a>, our <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/03/update-lanes-gifts-v-google.html">comment</a> on a lawsuit. And occasionally we're keen to share snippets of our <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/snakes-in-plain-old-office-building.html">culture</a> or highlight <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/health-care-information-matters.html">industry developments</a> we find noteworthy.<br /><br />Our communications team manages the blog, but consistent with our grassroots way of doing things, it's Googlers who propose content and write the posts (and likewise, develop new blogs). When it comes to editing copy, we aim for a very light touch -- focusing mainly on clarity of information, not sanitizing style.<br /><br />Since this blog first appeared, another 52 Google blogs have also launched. At present, 18 of them are not in English, and we expect that number to grow as we expand around the world. All of these other Google blogs (the <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com">full list</a> is on the righthand side of the main blog) have smaller readership because they are more tightly focused on the details of a specific product (like <a href="http://adwords.blogspot.com/">AdWords</a> or <a href="http://adsense.blogspot.com/">AdSense</a> or they represent Google in a country (including <a href="http://googlepolska.blogspot.com/">Poland</a> and <a href="http://adwords-br.blogspot.com/">Brazil</a>), or they speak to a niche audience, like <a href="http://librariancentral.blogspot.com/">librarians</a> or <a href="http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/">webmasters</a>. Typically they don't feature the same topical expanse we think will be of interest to most Google users.<br /><br />In short, we're relying as always on the power of the Internet -- in this case, the incredibly easy-to-use publishing platform known as the blog -- to help interested folks understand how we work, and what we do. As new resources and media tools come into being, we want to make use of those too. One of these is the <a href="http://youtube.com/google">Google Channel on YouTube</a>, where it's a priority to post videos and presentations by Googlers, including our executives, as quickly as we can following public events.<br /><br />Through all of these means and others -- podcasting, video blogs, forums -- we plan to continue being as direct as possible with you concerning our news and views. So thanks for reading, and stay tuned.

This blog's M.O.

Posted by Elliot Schrage and Karen Wickre, Global Communications & Public Affairs Just about 3 years ago, we launched this blog as a fa...

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