I've decided to put this blog to rest. However, I keep a journal at my main site that might (but probably won't) interest you:
Over the July 4th weekend, my friends Jay and Tom and I went backpacking at Mineral King in Sequoia National Park. It was amazing. My first backpacking trip, I experienced breathtaking views, exhausting hikes, and spent some quality time with some quality people. This was a weekend I won’t ever forget.
Check out some more pictures of our trip.
Add comment July 5th, 2006
I had a great time coming home to San Diego this weekend. Mom and I went to Meeti’s wedding (Congrats!), which was great, and my brothers and I spent most of Sunday with Mom celebrating Mother’s Day. I’ve uploaded the album for Mother’s Day to Flickr.
Add comment May 14th, 2006
Last weekend, my family and I participated in the walk for a cure for MS. It was a pretty enjoyable morning, and the walk was relaxing. We unofficially settled on a “No-iPod” rule, so we all just talked and made fun of each other. Good time.
Add comment May 2nd, 2006
Riya works. It’s that simple. I uploaded thousands of photos last night (Well, Riya did. I was sleeping.), and today I spent about an hour training Riya to the faces. In retrospect, that was probably more time than was needed, but better safe than sorry.
When I first logged into Riya, I browsed my photos. At the time, Riya had recognized zero faces since I hadn’t told her who anyone was. After some time, though, more and more faces began to pop up (Riya continues to recognize faces as you work and after you’re done). Riya has recognized 744 faces from my photos, and counting.
Read On: Training Riya
Riya’s training processes are very intuitive and effective. Other than viewing individual pictures one-by-one and filling in the names for the faces, there are two primary ways to train Riya, and they go together.
In Simple Training, you’re presented with several random photos. Each has fields below it for identifying the person in the photo. Once you identify someone for the first time, their name is added to the list of your contacts on the left. The next time you see one of their photos, you can drag that name onto the photo instead of typing it in.
After a round of that, you’re taken to the Bulk Training screen. Here, Riya uses the data it gathered in Simple Training to double-check its recognitition. It’s usually pretty good at finding the faces to fit your identifications.
If Riya does happen to make a mistake, it’s mature enough to learn from it. Simply click on a photo that doesn’t match the name it’s supposed to. This way, Riya can further refine its recognition of your contacts.
Read On: Riya Training Itself
All of the training in Riya isn’t necessarily manual. Riya can search its entire public database to help you out. If you and someone else have a shared friend, and you haven’t identified your friend yet, it’s possible they’re already in the system. Riya can search through your address book from most major e-mail services to gather a list of email addresses to check the system for.
This functionality isn’t too powerful yet, but I suspect that’s because so few people are actually using Riya right now. The odds of finding a shared contact are slim. But as Riya brings more users into its testing and eventually opens the doors to the public, I’m confident that Riya’s auto-training will be very effective.
Read On: Browsing Individual Photos
It’s pretty exciting to search through your photos for the first time and see so many faces recognized - especially given the minimal training you had to do to get there. But every so often, Riya will need your help to understand a specific photo.
In the below photo, Riya didn’t realize that there were two people in the photo. It had only gathered data for my cousin on the right (pink jacket). So, I used my cursor to draw that red box around my other cousin.
Riya then checks to make sure you didn’t draw the square on purpose.
Then I entered her name, and the photo’s recognition was complete:
Read On: Riya Can Goof… But It Can Amaze, Too.
Sometimes Riya thinks things are faces that aren’t. It’s okay - I do that sometimes, too.
Fortunately, such goofs are far outnumbered by displays of power and precision:
Ultimately, Riya is an excellent service with great potential. For people with tons of photos, organizing your computer with Riya can be a life-saver. Though it has its moments of fogginess, the facial recognition is pretty accurate. It works well even in low-light photos, and can usually tell if someone is contorting their face with a yawn or frown.
Thumbs Up.
41 comments March 22nd, 2006
Update: Read the Review.
Today Riya emailed me with a long email that basically said, Whew! After many months of saying, “soon”, it’s finally here. And you’re one of the first to be invited!
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I’m super-excited to be a part of the Beta, and I’ll be uploading my photos this evening after work. Stay tuned for my findings.
Add comment March 21st, 2006
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