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Digitizing history

The New York Times is using Google AI to digitize 5-7 million historical photos.

The newspaper’s “morgue” has 5 million to 7 million photos dating back to the 1870s, including prints and contact sheets showing all the shots on photographers’ rolls of film. The Times is using Google’s technology to convert it into something more useful than its current analog state occupying banks of filing cabinets.

Specifically, it’s using Google AI tools to recognize printed or handwritten text describing the photos and Google’s storage and data analysis services, the newspaper said. It plans to investigate whether object recognition is worthwhile, too.

[Stephen Shankland/CNET]

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Yep, Facebook censored me when I posted the ‘napalm girl’ photo

I actually posted it twice, in connection with two separate articles. The first article is still up, and it’s also here on the public web.

However, Facebook deleted a second instance, which is here on the public web.

Facebook also issued me a warning. I think it suspended my account briefly — not sure; the notices went by quickly.

And Facebook required me to go through my photo album to be sure I don’t have any more nude photos in there. I did not look at each one, just thought for a second about whether I remembered posting any nude photos, decided I hadn’t, and clicked OK.

This is a big reason why I consider mitchwagner.com my home on the web even though far more people interact with me on social media. Social media is fickle.

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