Techno Babble

Developed by Cooliris Inc, PicLens combines a “Cover Flow” style with a 3D Image wall to present a novel way for viewing photos and videos across the web via your web-browser.

Plugins are available for Internet Explorer and Firefox and PicLens works with a number of websites. A search feature is built-in to the viewer which allows you to easily search and browse for images on sites such as Flickr and Google Web Albums.

PicLens is a free download, free to use, quick and easy to install and contains no spyware, adware or malware.

http://www.piclens.com

Additional tools are provided that allow users to enable their own websites for Piclens and there is also a Wordpress plugin available - so watch this space, I’ll be experimenting with these tools on this blog in the near future.

Update 1: this blog is now enabled for PicLens

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One of the more interesting applications using Silverlight to appear recently.

Tafiti, which means “do research” in Swahili, is an experimental search front-end from Microsoft, designed to help people use the Web for research projects that span multiple search queries and sessions by helping visualize, store, and share research results. Tafiti uses both Microsoft Silverlight and Live Search to explore the intersection of richer experiences on the Web and the increasing specialization of search.

If you already have Silverlight installed (or don’t mind installing it) find out more at

http://www.tafiti.com/

Apparently developed by a company called Jackson Fish

http://www.jacksonfish.com/

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Yet another online 3D-Search-by-doodling application this one from imaginestics.

3D-Seek, introduced its service at the recent DEMOfall ‘06. (Read more about DEMO - the launchpad for emerging technology )

Using http://3D-Seek.com , users can
simply doodle (draw freehand sketch) a shape of the desired part/product on
the doodle pad or upload a 2D drawing/3D model of a part/product as search
input to locate a supplier who produces that part or has the capability to
manufacture it.

Here’s a snap from their website,

Try it in action live HERE.

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First announced as a software library of functions for finding parts based on the 3D data 3DSearchIT from Geometric Software Solutions is a search engine that allows you to search for 3D models based on the shape or from textual attributes.

Features include:

• Shape/Geometry base Indexing and search of 3D data
• Search based on textual attributes
• Independent of CAD file formats
• Supports Automatic crawling and indexing in local machine/network
• Supports Interactive modifications to pre-clustering results
• Rename clusters according to industry standards or custom preferences
• Automatically visualize clusters of similar models
• User enabled search preferences and display of results
• Platform flexibility and can be deployed over PDM systems, CAD, modelers, Standalone application or Web based servers

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Microsoft have recently announced Live Search as a replacement for MSN Search.

Microsoft’s share in the search engine market was 11 percent last January, but dropped to 9.6 percent in July, forcing Microsoft into third place after Google and Yahoo.

Microsoft also plans to launch local search engines called “Live Local Search” in the U.S. and Britain. Extensive map services will also be included in the program, now in its testing period

I guess they had to respond in some way to their relatively low percentage share in the search market (and also gearing up for the release of Vista?)

A “live search blog” is available which contains additonal useful information.

I really like some of the features including the image searching, and academic searching capabilites available in the new “Live” search – reckon they’ve done a good job. (Built using the MSN SOAP API ?).

Also check out the Windows Live Toolbar, details at

http://toolbar.live.com/,

which I’ve been using for a few days.

UGS have recently announced their acquisition of technology from the German software consultancy firm software design & managment AG

http://www.ugs.com/about_us/press/press.shtml?id=4764

The product re-named Geolus Search (from its original geolus SHAPE) is a “shape search” application which allows users to quickly locate 3D models from large databases on the basis of geometric similarity.

This technology earned sd&m the “Innovator of the Year, 2004″ award from CADCAM magazine.

It claims to have the “unique” ability to build a searchable parts database across multi-CAD systems (further investigation shows that it supports JT, VRML and STL formats).

CADFind release a new version of their Graphical 2D & 3D Design Retrieval product addin for SolidWorks.

Priced from $59 for the basic version to $249 for the “Pro” version.

http://www.sketchandsearch.com/index.htm

Essentially, the product will allow you to find both 2D drawings and 3D models from a sketch drawn in SolidWorks. Once a part, or similar part, has been found it can then be loaded directly into SolidWorks.

Another follow up - this time regarding 3D Search techniques.

Back in October I reported on a research project being undertaken by researchers at Purdue University about Engineering Shape Searching

A recent report in a news article from the National Science Foundation describes how this technology appears to have evolved into the 3D-Seek product, developed by Imaginestics (a Purdue Research Park based company).

http://www.nsf.gov/…105851

You can try out the freehand doodle search capabilities on-line at the 3D-Seek Portal

http://www.3d-seek.com .