OOG. Morning.

Well, the sandman must have clobbered me with his velvet hammer last night. I got home from visitng friends around 2:00 am and got ready for bed, but was unable to fall asleep until nearly 5:00 am. When I did fall asleep though, I slept very soundly and have no memory of my alarm going off at 1:00 pm, but it was turned off when I awoke at 3:00 pm.

I'm still somewhat groggy, but I'm hoping the currently-brewing coffee will take care of that.

It doesn't rain but it pours.

So, I now count SIX separate possible sources of revenue for me that have all appeared in the last month or so now. They range from the sounds-likely to the who-are-you-kidding levels of probability of becoming reality, but I find it all very heartening. I've also been rethinking my own stalled money-making proposition (a 7th source) after talking to bohemianpsyche about website design yesterday. She has a 'just get it done -- it can be fixed when its making money' attitude that I really need to borrow. I find I'm far too concerned about getting everything perfect from the very start.

PVR desiderata.

Here's a question for all my various friends out there: Would you have any desire to own a customized TIVO-like appliance and what would be the list of things that you would want it to do for you?  I've been seriously looking at building my own, and possibly starting a business to build and sell them. Consider this market research.
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Addendum: I've decided not to comment back to the comments, because I don't want to influence things unduly. So far though, I like what folks are saying.

Visual Google.

One of the things I've always wanted is a system for abstracting the contents of images in such a way that you could:

• Notice that two images of the same event, taken at different angles or times are the same,
• Identify the larger image from which a smaller one was cut. (from which famous painting did Monty Python steal its 'foot').
• Identify that two images took place at the same location, although the events and people may be completely different.
• Identify common visual elements among different images, such as people and objects.
• Figure out what is going on in an image (and give it attributes accordingly. Is this a sports picture, or porn, or both?)

The problem has always been finding a good image signature algorithm and having a database from which to draw for comparison. While I was working at Softguard, we were trying to solve the second half of the problem, and were considering the first as a possible place to extend the technology.

Anyway, according to this article, someone thinks they have a handle on doing all this.