Talking to Machines

BACKGROUND

     Today people are fascinated by the artificial intelligence of the machines that enable them to interact with people trying to mimic as close as possible the human's reactions and providing near logical responses to conversations with them. This artificial intelligence has already been put into good use by Apple when they introduced Siri. I know most people nowadays of who or what is Siri. So let me introduce you to two more AI that will let you talk to machines, cleverbot and Evie.

CLEVERBOT
Cleverbot's homepage.

     Cleverbot is a web service which allows you to talk to a computer program. The program tries to learn from the context of the words you are giving it and provide you with a response that will seem like a you are actually chatting to a human. Unlike Siri, the service is at the time of this writing limited to conversational purposes and plain fun.

Cleverbot can even answer Filipino statements.

     The interface is very simple. Just type your statement on the textbox then hit enter or click "Think about it!". You can also make cleverbot talk for you by pressing "Think for me!. The chat stream is only visible for up to four lines so if you want to review everything you have talked about, click "Thoughts so far" to see the chat log.

A log of random chat with cleverbot.

Try cleverbot yourself:

EVIE (Electronic Virtual Interactive Entity)
Evie's homepage.

     Evie is much more like cleverbot but aside from presenting a text based response, Evie also talks. She also displays facial expressions as you type and reacts to the statements you say to her.

Just like cleverbot, she doesn't know Siri.

Evie talking to another Evie:

Web Feature: MMDA Trafffic Information

BACKGROUND

     The MMDA has harnessed the power of new technology in delivering real time traffic updates to the general public. It has started with twitter updates and now, in partnership with TV5 interaksyon website, MMDA launches its BETA testing TV5-MMDA traffic monitoring system. Another milestone in MMDA's mission to provide service to the FIlipino people.

USER REVIEW

     The website is satisfactory although it is still in BETA testing as stated by the tweet of MMDA's official twitter account. "MMDA [REMINDER] Please check out our beta website http://mmda.gov.ph/navigator for traffic updates #mmda".

     The traffic update is available in three views: System View, Line View and Google Map View. In system view, you can have a rough overview of the traffic situation on the entire jurisdiction of MMDA. The color coded legend shows if the area has light traffic, moderate traffic or heavy traffic. And if for some reason the site's situation is not available it will also show as such. The color coded nodes on the System View is also clickable that will show a pop up information on the location, north and south bound situation and also the time of the last update.

System View: TV5-MMDA Traffic Monitoring System

     The line view basically gives the same information but it is presented in table form. The traffic situation for northbound and southbound is also presented by the same color code and last update is also provided.

Line View: TV5-MMDA Traffic Monitoring System

     The google map view is also the same with the system view, only that it is presented as a map overlay of the google map. It is very helpful if you want to plan the fastest route to a place you want to go.

Google Map View: TV5-MMDA Traffic Monitoring System

     To the hardworking guys of TV5 and MMDA behind this new service, keep up the good work. We hope to see more updates coming soon to this website. A live "video feed on demand" for a certain location would be great.

Web Feature: Google Doodle Les Paul Guitar

BACKGROUND

     Doodles are known as the decorative changes that are made to the Google logo to celebrate holidays, anniversaries, and the lives of famous artists and scientists. Whether it is the beginning of Spring, Albert Einstein's birthday, or the 50th anniversary of understanding DNA, the doodle team never fails to find artistic ways to celebrate these unique events.

     Having a little bit of fun with the corporate logo by redesigning it from time to time is unheard of at many companies but at Google, it is a part of the brand. While the doodle is primarily a fun way for the company to recognize events and notable people, it also illustrates the creative and innovative personality of the company itself.

     Google doodle started in 1998 when Google founders Larry and Sergey played with the corporate logo to indicate their attendance at the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert. A stick figure drawing was placed behind the 2nd "o" in the word, Google. It was intended as a comical message to Google users that the founders were “out of office.” While the first doodle was relatively simple, the idea of decorating the company logo to celebrate notable events was well received by our users.

LES PAUL GOOGLE DOODLE

     This doodle was created by google to honor the 96th birthday of Les Paul who died in 2009. Les Paul is a musician and an electric guitar pioneer, so the doodle featured the google logo in the shape of a guitar. The best part is the doodle guitar was actually playable. You can strum the strings with your mouse or use the keyboard.  The following is the keyboard map of notes:

Google Doodle: Les Paul Guitar

C = 1, Q, A or Z    

D = 2, W, S or X

E = 3, E, D or C

F = 4, R, F or V

G = 5, T, G or B

A = 6, Y, H or N

B = 7, U, J or M

C = 8, I, K or ,

D = 9, O, L or .

E = 0, P, :, or /

     The les paul guitar doodle has been a hit that google decide to give it a permanent page at google doodles. Here you can play the doodle and also make a recording of your creations and share it with your friends with a google shortened URL. As stated by Alexander Chen, a musician and designer at google creative labs, the doodle featured the recording because Les Paul also experimented in his garage with innovative recording techniques like multitracking and tape delay in addition with his guitar work.

 
Links to other interactive doodles 

• Jules Verne Doodle
• Pacman Doodle

Web Feature: Stolen Camera Finder

BACKGROUND

     The idea behind Stolen Camera Finder is that when your camera has been lost or stolen, it will eventually used to take a picture (of course..) and that picture could be uploaded somewhere on the world wide web. This site will search the web for pictures matching the serial number of the camera that you provided or by directly extracting the serial number from the exif data of your previously taken photos.

USER REVIEW

     The sites feature that generally get my attention is the very simple user interface. You will just need to drag and drop your picture and the site will automatically get the serial number from the exif data. Then they will search the web for photos with matching serial number in the exif data.



Sample Exif Details extracted by stolencamerafinder.com



     The only downside is that the drag and drop feature only works on chrome and firefox. So the IE version of the site only relies on the serial number that you will input. The fun part comes with using the site in chrome or firefox. This is because the site dont just get the serial number from the photo's exif data but gather all information within. Then the site enables you to view the exif details of that photo. For all the photography enthusiasts out there, this is quite useful if you want to see the details of certain photos to recreate the shot.

Web Feature: Neopets

BACKGROUND

     Neopets.com is a virtual pet site where you can own virtual pets. Feed them, clothe them, create a house for them, give a pet to them (called petpet) and many other activities. This site also features plots and site events that you can participate and earn trophies to display on your user lookup. This site's virtual currency is in NP or neopoints. You can earn neopoints by simply playing the onsite flash or html games and submitting your score. You can then use your NP to buy items for your pets from the shops of neopets or the other user's site. You can also put up your own shop, gallery, coin collection, avatar collection or stamp collection.

     As of the date of this posting, neopets.com has 184,201,091 users, 270,191,491 neopets (the virtual pets), an average of 1.467 neopets per owner.

USER REVIEW

     I have been playing neopets for eight and a half years now. So far I have three painted neopets, one christmas shoyru, one sponge acara and one disco elephante that I always bring to daily trips to the lab ray in hopes of getting a much rare color. I have also collected 234 avatars, 40 stamps, 3 keyquest tokens, 206 neodeck cards, 11 site themes, 23 site event trophies, 3 site feature trophies, and 8 game trophies. I have also garnered 465 out of 531 battledome wins. I have put up a size 24 shop, size 10 gallery and a neohome. I am currently a member of nothingbutneopets guild. So that will give you a rough idea of the many things that you can do on neopets.

     What I love on this site is that users of all ages are welcome to use their service. The user environment is also very very child friendly. The site policy is concrete about children's safety. Swear words are blocked on the site's forum (neoboards) boards. And best of all, the site's service is free of charge. Their income come from advertisements but the site's ads are unobtrusive. They also have a very clever sponsored games, wherein the games are featuring the product that they are advertising.



Baby Shoyru Neopet

Snow Acara

Baby Elephante

Note: NEOPETS, characters, logos, names and all related indicia are trademarks of Neopets, Inc., © 1999-2011. ® denotes Reg. US Pat. & TM Office. All rights reserved.

Web Feature: How Secure Is My Password

BACKGROUND

     If you want to know if your password is secure enough, this website will give you a rough idea. HowSecureIsMyPassword will calculate your password strength and present it in terms of time it will take a desktop PC to hack your password using the brute force method.

USER REVIEW

     HowSecureIsMyPassword uses JavaScript to calculate the password strength. Because javascript is a client side script (calculation/operation are done on your local PC and not on the website's server), it is safe to use since the password string will not be transmitted. But if you are very cautious, you can also disconect your internet connection after loading the page. Then do your calculations on their page while offline. After you are done, clear your browser's cache and cookies before reconnecting to the internet.

     The calculations' result is accurate although in real brute force attack of your password, many factors will affect the time it will take. This involves the computing power of the PC used for the attack and the type of account the password is used for. Many online accounts has maximum attempt limits and will lockout the account for the day after such number of failed attempts.



Screen capture: Calculation of my password strength.




Screen Capture: Fooling around with the calculator. Trying to get the maximum strength password.



Web Feature: Make Me Babies

BACKGROUND

     Ever wondered how will your baby look like? Then this site is for you. MakeMeBabies is using advanced face detection technology to create a simulation of what your baby will look like. But do have in mind that MakeMeBabies is rendering a unique baby face based on you and your partners facial features, but real life genetics is far more complicated than that. Use this site for your entertainment only.

USER REVIEW

     The site is very easy to use and very entertaining. You just have to upload your photo then choose whether to upload your partners photo or select from their list of celebrities. The photo of the baby is also framed with the design that you choose.

     I love the website's sense of humor by putting a custom message while processing the photos. Instead of putting the usual "loading.." or "rendering..", they stated that "please hold on while we make your baby... it shouldn't take more than 9 months ;)..". The best part of all is that this baby generator service is free. See samples below of baby photos I have rendered using this site's service.

My baby with Bea Alonzo	My baby with Andi Eigenmann
My baby with Drew Barrymore	My baby with Kim Kardashian
My baby with Shakira	My baby with Jennifer Aniston
My baby with Angelina Jolie	My baby with Myles Cyrus

Web Feature: The Agent Pool

BACKGROUND

The Agent Pool is a dynamic and fast growing company that focuses on improving and scaling placement practices across industry and geography. Intrigued by low interview to hire ratios in many industries, The Agent Pool developed its core services to provide easier access to employment opportunities for viable candidates. At the same time, The Agent Pool has developed services for employers to drastically increase their hiring rates. The combined services have resulted in cost savings, scalability, and efficiency for both the job seekers and employers.

Find the best Philippines job openings and job vacancies at The Agent Pool. The Agent Pool is the Philippines best jobs and career management system, and is the only tool for you to showcase your talents and abilities to the entire job market in the Philippines. It is the fastest and easiest way to conduct a targeted job search, and it’s the only way to show companies that you have the skills required to get hired for one of the many job vacancies and job openings that they have posted. Sign up, take the employment aptitude test, let companies present you with the best job opportunities, and get hired today!

USER REVIEW

I have signed up with The Agent Pool because I am drawn in with their Employment Aptitude Test (EAT). I have been interested to see what are my skills and what areas I still have to work on. After I signed up, I immediately take the test.

The test is very nice and applicable to almost any industry but in my opinion it is more advantageous to persons seeking positions as call center agents or customer service representatives. You need a webcam and a headset with microphone if you want to use all the features of the test. The webcam is optional but when you download your test certificate, no picture will be included. Before the test, you will be asked to read and record a paragraph. Although this is optional, it will be advantageous for those seeking positions in call centers. The test is timed and covers many areas such as, data analysis, situational discourse, analogies, reading comprehension, listening comprehension, sentence completions, problem solving, logic, analysis of explanations, reasoning and arithmetic. You will need the headset for the listening comprehension part where an audio clip will be played and a question will be given based on the clip.

After the test, a test result will be shown and there will be an option to download your test certification. A chart will also display your relative strength and weakness on the areas covered.

The author's EAT result at The Agent Pool http://www.theagentpool.com/