iTelescope

After uploading a few pictures last week, I spotted the ‘Add Name Tags’ link on my Picasa page. I knew this had to do with mapping faces to people, but what I had wrongly assumed was the simplicity. It took me less than a couple of hours to map about 2500 faces. I thought of sharing the accuracy of the tool & conditions that baffled it.

Unlike Orkut, where you have to mark faces yourself, Picasa automatically extracts faces. It took less than 5 minutes to extract some 5500 faces from about 3800 pictures. Another differentiator in the approach is that instead of mapping many faces on a photo (like Facebook, Flickr, etc), faces from many photos are brought together to be mapped to a person. This is what really saves time & effort and retains interest. Statistically speaking, atleast 60% of all my photos (about 1800 Nos) feature one from my family of four. So in the ideal case, I will finish mapping 1800 photos in 4 clicks instead of 3600 clicks (assuming 2 faces per photo). That makes Google what it is: not just an applications company, but a technology company.

I don’t know if people tagged by me will be suggested a priori to others in their photos.

The tool started off with my photos, possible because the count was the highest. I showed me about 12 full sets (x16) of my pictures. A couple of photos in the first set were quite old - about 12 years back. Soon, it started suggesting my name for all my photos.

The next set had pictures about 17 years old, from my thread ceremony; my head was bald then (like now).

This was the best: it could make me out in a black & white bald photo, and when I had a mustache, and a beard & a french beard. Awesome!

One of dad’s photo was also from the yester-years!

Kashish’s looks have hardly changed, but Picasa didn’t miss!

This is Chibu after Holi - wonder how Picasa got this?

This is my friend Vidyaranya ‘Vishal’ Rampurkar with part of his face covered. Picasa picked up his name based on previous training.

This was a bit crazy: it had grouped all my pictures but suggested my uncle instead of me. This should have been quite obvious given the tool’s performance so far.

This time it picked up all Chibu’s photos but included one of Isha’s. I really don’t think they look alike in any way. The suggestion was, however, correct.

This was quite expected, but we had managed to confuse the tool. Everyone says that me & Chibu looked very similar just before we started teenage. Picasa is not to blame here!

Now, the other way round! Chibu’s pictures were suggested as mine and the group did include one of my photos.

This time it got confused with my father and his brother, Rajesh Gupte.

Hemant looks like GBN Babu? Noooooooooo! (Dakshet style) Family tak theek tha; now the tool starts mapping people to their bosses… Lol…

Praveen surely mimics Manjunath sir well! I wonder if its that intelligent

There was a single sardarji in all of my photos, and Google failed to recognize. I had already mapped Jasmeet ‘Jassi’ Singh a couple of times before.

At this moment, I got bored using the tool. The grouping & suggestion both went hay-wire. Some problem with Nikhil’s face though; it does not recognize him even today

Can this be used to verify if kids belong to a certain parents?

Ferries (catamarans) are operated by a couple of companies from Gateway of India (Bhau-cha Dhakka) Mumbai to Mandwa jetty near Alibag. The fare is usually inclusive of the bus ride from Mandwa to Alibag city-centre/bus stand. This is perhaps the fastest way to reach Alibag, and then Murud - especially if you are in South Mumbai. Got a picture of PNP’s schedule - thought it could be of use! (continue reading…)

Photos from the Annual Satyanarayan Pooja at Bhatnagar Terrace CHS, Goregaon (E). The pooja was performed by Mrs. & Mr. Umesh Gokarn (303)

Wishing fellow Indians a happy Republic day! Just checked out the new version of Mile Sur Mera Tumhara today: 2 x 8 min videos… huh! And not that exciting! Check out the new ‘Phir Mile Sur Mera Tumhara’: Part 1 | Part 2. Some immediate comments:

• All pure instrumental portions are fantastic: Rahman, Anousha Shankar, tabla, Sivamani, Jazz, …
• Great focus on renewable energy: Solar water heaters and aggregators in the background a couple of times
• S-E-L (Shankar-Eshan-Loy) are great towards the end of their part
• The old-age home (supposedly) & Kashmir parts are very sweet
• Old is Gold: Original music has been tampered too much. Preferred the older Punjabi & Bengali parts (Is Shaan saying send me ‘SMS’?)
• There seems to be no one besides movie stars in this…
• Amitabh Bachchan has been made to sound wierd; he should’ve only been asked to read out the lines
• A bit of over-acting from actors down-under
• No Value Add: The Lux couple, Sonu Nigam, Shahid, Ranbir (in pajamas), Karan Johar
• Salman, Deepika short of clothes
• First 14 mins were great, and then SRK arrives with his silly hand gestures  as if he’s going to jerk of the whole world by closing his fist Just compare it to Aamir’s part
• Thanks for paying homage to the military at the end

Notable comments from elsewhere:

• why to ruin the good memories with bad bollywood experimentation. It is like comparing SHOLAY with RGV KI AAG
• This “SUR” has become “BESUR” because of bollywood
• Seriously, half of the people in this video didn’t deserve to be there

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Just uploaded the photos taken during the Maghi Ganesh Utsav 2010 at Nandgaon, Murud-Janjira. This festival is celebrated each year around January-end for which the entire Gupte-Chitnis family comes together at their family temple.

Thanks to Chibu (Pratik Gupte) for the excellent coverage of the event with his phone. If you have any pictures to share, pl email them to me at gupte.prasad+utsav2010@gmail.com

I never spent more than 2 mins on making my coffee: 1 minute to mix coffee, sugar & milk and another to heat it in the microwave. But then I came across a great way of making coffee - by spending 10 mins. Not that I suddenly have more time, but once in a while its good to take interest in something that makes you feel so good. Especially when you want to spend some time talking to your honey

This is how you make it...

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Gmail confirms this in a cute way

Did you know that Gmail lets you add any number of dots (.) and plus (+) signs in your email address? I didn’t. This was recently brought to my notice by a colleague, Narendra Wagh. The best part was the way Gmail conveys the fact. (continue reading…)

Evaluated Receipt Settlement (ERS) is an EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) procedure, part of Supply Chain Management.  It was pioneered by GM to address the issues associated with payments against invoices (bills) for goods received. ERS is valid in India. (continue reading…)

Wish you all & your families a very happy & prosperous new year. It has been quite a lazy start to my new year, nonetheless I’m lovin it (am I using this too often? McDonalds gonna sue me :D) What else would you expect when the new year starts with a long weekend?

I personally don’t keep new year resolutions; they perish as winter sets out While I was setting some targets for me to achieve this year, a few other things came to my mind which we, as Indians, should all look forward to. (continue reading…)

The turn-out this beyond all expectation. Apart from myself, Joe, Pranay, Rohan & Vivian, 5 others joined. Richard Menezes, Akshath Poojary, Jijo Mohan, Naved and Pranab Patel (towards the end). Apart from Jijo & Naved, we were all in the same class in ninth grade.