Irreverence

posted on 31 July 2008 14:04

French phillosopher Rene Descartes said: "Je pense donc je suis," meaning I think therefore I am. IBM software called Pensieve has been designed to help people who can't think so well, a bit like: "Je m'appel Pensieve donc je suis."

The Pensieve software has been created in IBM's Research Labs and captures data and images captured in turn by a mobile phone or similar and puts them in a context to help people recall names, faces, conversations and other information.

IBM says the advantage of the new technology is its ability to understand the context in which data is captured, then connect various data, and then use this knowledge to help bring the correct information to a person when it is needed.

Dr. Yaakov Navon, the lead researcher and an image processing expert from IBM's Haifa Research Lab, said: "This is like having a personal assistant for your memory. Our daily routines are overflowing with situations where we gain new information through meetings, advertisements, conferences, events, surfing the web, or even window shopping. Instead of going home and using a general web search to find that information, PENSIEVE helps the brain recall those everyday things you might normally forget."

IBM's new software blends techniques from image processing, GPS information, smart clustering, optical character recognition, speech recognition, and information retrieval to index and tag the information.

For example, if you meet someone at a conference and use your phone to take a picture of him or her and another picture of that person's business card, the new technology will associate the two pieces of data because they were taken at the same time and location. It then creates a 'virtual briefcase' of data that includes the person's image, the name of the conference where you met, the date and time, and any other relevant data.

Prior to a future meeting with the same person, you can be prompted by your calendar to review your notes about that person, along with other facts you may have recorded or items the system associated for you.

On the other hand you might find yourself distracted by the mobile device presenting a load of old background information about a bozo you'd rather forget.

IBM says many people encounter situations where you have been introduced to someone but you can't quite recall how you know them. By simply typing the person's name into PENSIEVE, you can recall when and where you met them, and any related information garnered at that time. You could even browse forwards or backwards in time to find out what events transpired before or after the initial meeting.

So... speech recognition and a mobile phone. Okay; version two of the software on your iVeryCleverPhone and you see their name badge and say the name to yourself: "Doctor Strangelove". The iVeryCleverPhone uses Pensieve v2.0, runs a look up and says back to you: "Odd geezer that likes extreme bomb riding," and off you go towards the man with hand outstetched saying: "I like riding bombs too," only he's already walking away because his iEvenClevererPhone runs Pensieve v3.0 and it's just told him a boring bozo is approaching so walk away.....

^{[Chris Mellor.]}