Tools of the Trade

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Alfie
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Re: Tools of the Trade

Unread post by Alfie »

A tool I have just found that helps connect ideas http://www.thebrain.com

I would be interested if any members are familiar with it, and have found it useful, or not as the case may be.

A ten minute guide;


full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoVbFINmLcQ

Here is an example page by Yan Irvin, on Thomas Huxley as the focus,

http://webbrain.com/brainpage/brain/6FB ... 41AAA#-675

from his website and article http://www.gnosticmedia.com/how-darwin- ... n-history/
fbenario
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Re: Tools of the Trade

Unread post by fbenario »

A Start-Up Figures Out Photoshop Abuses

Hany Farid, a professor at Dartmouth College, has built a career and a reputation as a leading researcher in digital image forensics. He has made software tools for a number of impressive projects in recent years. One was a pixel-sleuthing program to detect how much fashion photographs have been burnished with Adobe’s Photoshop editing program to remove wrinkles and flab, while plumping up lips and breasts.
...
Mr. Farid is hoping to broaden the reach of his work as co-founder and chief technology officer of a start-up company, Fourandsix Technologies, which is being announced on Tuesday.

The company’s president and other founder is Kevin Connor, who spent 15 years at Adobe. He was vice president of product management for Photoshop until last year, when he left to join Mr. Farid. At Adobe, Mr. Connor said, he was familiar with Mr. Farid’s research, and Adobe engineers often cooperated with the Dartmouth scientist.
...
The core market for its first product, Mr.Connor said, will be law enforcement agencies and news organizations, where the authenticity of a photograph spells the difference between the truth and a lie. The Department of Homeland Security and the Associated Press were among the beta testers.

Fourandsix’s downloadable software, FourMatch, determines the likelihood that an image has been altered by comparing the digital “signature” of an image with a database of more than 70,000 known signatures for cameras, smartphones, software and online services, from social networks like Facebook to photo-storing sites like Picasa. The software tells the user if an image matches a known signature or has been modified by software and can suggest how extensive the alteration may have been. FourMatch works as an extension to Photoshop.

The many signatures arise from the malleability of the JPEG standard, the format in which nearly all cameras save images. Different cameras and mobile devices have varying sensor sizes and resolution settings, and techniques for handling thumbnail pictures and image metadata. Different cameras and software use different methods to compress image files. All leave telltale digital tracks.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/1 ... rketplace/
I've been ill the last 4 days, and haven't had time or computer access. These are the first 4 days of the forum's existence I haven't read the day's posts. Such as life. At least I'm better now - and back in the saddle again!


full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgUh6BNdq9Y
fbenario
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Re: Tools of the Trade

Unread post by fbenario »

Simon, might this new site be useful for storing permanent copies of all the varying 9/11 broadcasts that morning?
Bringing Your Old-Media Memories Into the Digital Age

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000087 ... 02860.html
Equinox
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Re: MISSING!

Unread post by Equinox »

Also--

I’m currently saving to acquire the new Fourmatch software just released a month ago…




Image

Image

Image
FourMatch leverages the fact that there is nearly endless variety to exactly how hardware and software products can choose to store a JPEG file. This variety results in a distinctive set of “signatures” from each hardware and software product. Once an image has been edited and resaved from a software product, this signature is changed to match the software rather than the original capture device. Thus, when a file signature correctly matches a known signature from the device that captured the photo, you can be confident that the photo has not been edited.
Fourandsix has built a database of more than 70,000 signatures representing more than 2,400 camera models and mobile devices, as well as signatures from a variety of image editing programs and online services. When you purchase a copy of FourMatch, you’re also purchasing access to this valuable database, which is updated frequently as new devices become available. Loaded with this database, FourMatch can quickly assess the authenticity of many images.
icarusinbound
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Re: Tools of the Trade

Unread post by icarusinbound »

Apologies, you'll be miles ahead of me on this, but you're aware that Fourmatch says it has to sit on top of (at minimum) full CS5, not just LE or Elements? So that's an $890 application extension that sits on top a $700+ app?

Looks interesting and powerful, but challenging price structures..
Equinox
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Re: Tools of the Trade

Unread post by Equinox »

icarusinbound wrote:Apologies, you'll be miles ahead of me on this, but you're aware that Fourmatch says it has to sit on top of (at minimum) full CS5, not just LE or Elements? So that's an $890 application extension that sits on top a $700+ app?

Looks interesting and powerful, but challenging price structures..

YES. It is very, very expensive. Like the first play station was almost the same price.. It’s just because it’s a new piece of technology that’s why it’s high in price
Here’s the deal, the average Joe on the street, like you or I has NEVER had access to this kind of technology so freely… there were some basic ones, like copy move. But these never offered what four six claims. I have been following this technology for a while, and the best one could do until now would be to approach a photo forensic expert usually based at a university and ask them, and with that, it would be an amount probably 5 times the costing price of four/six you could get the proof one needed about the imagery.

But going on its demonstrations, and what it claims to do, the price is the only negative aspect of it. The four/six forensic software has exactly 7000 cameras on its database and will tell you straight away whether the imagery is genuine or not.

Of course the four/six forensic software can only work with an original, that what it’s designed for. But if a shopped photo runs through it there is a good chance will also be able to tell what software tool used it… E.G. Gimp, Photoshop, pixelator…
I myself want to try it as photo/imagery defiantly will be a hobby for the for see able future, and whilst I don’t have buckets of money. There is a strong economy on Australia so a second job for a young lad like me should help.

Lets just say online there are about 2000, supposedly authentic 9/11 images. I’m betting even ALL of them are going to come up as fraud. But that’s just going on what it claims.There is also more aspects. It can apparently tell if something is half fake, and what parts may have been touched up. I’m curious, when and if I acquire Foursix I shall keep you posted on it. :D
lux
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Re: Tools of the Trade

Unread post by lux »

I'm not sure I understand what this software does. It only determines if an image has been through an editor?

If so, that in itself wouldn't necessarily indicate it was faked.
Equinox
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Re: Tools of the Trade

Unread post by Equinox »

lux wrote:I'm not sure I understand what this software does. It only determines if an image has been through an editor?

If so, that in itself wouldn't necessarily indicate it was faked.

The four six software has many features,
Confirm if a suspect image is fake.
Confirm if it has not originated from a camera
Confirm if certain software programs such photo shop has manipulated the suspect image.
It can confirm if has had some of the image manipulated to it.
And suggest which parts are fake, and also suggest which parts are real.
There are many features the four/six software does.

I understand the fact that it does not indicate it is fake. But if you ran EVERY vicsim, plane, so called photo through the software EG -- 2000. Suspect images... And well when THEY ALL come back as fake, I believe that speaks multitudes.

2000 photos, And Not one of them are real??
fbenario
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Re: Tools of the Trade

Unread post by fbenario »

Equinox wrote:2000. Suspect images... And well when THEY ALL come back as fake, I believe that speaks multitudes.

2000 photos, And Not one of them are real??
That's certainly what I'm betting on!!!!!!!
strypey
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Re: Tools of the Trade

Unread post by strypey »

There are at least a couple of places on the web where you can see archived snapshots of what websites looked like at different times. Most of you probably know of the WayBack Machine at Archive.org. If a site isn't currently being archived, you can essentially request they start archiving it by searching for it. I searched for CluesForum, and it came up with your front page, plus a message saying:
The Wayback Machine hasn't archived a capture for that URL.
Here's a capture taken 0 minutes ago from the live web that will become part of the permanent archive in the next few months.
Another site you can use to take a snapshot of a site at a particular time is WebCite. WebCite will grab a copy of the page at the url you enter, and archive it. It will do this every time someone asks it to, so its archive of a particular site will depend on how many WebCite users have taken an interest in that site:
http://www.webcitation.org

These tools are really handy when something gets published online, and later altered or taken down. WebCite I like particularly, because they are a consortium of libraries and archives, not directly government-funded, and according to their FAQ, their archives are not dependent on WebCitation.org itself:
Finally, the DOI handle system enables a mechanism to cite and retrieve an archived copy of a webpage without having to rely on the functionality of WebCite® and the webcitation.org URL itself. WebCite® can, under certain circumstances, assign DOIs to archived copies, which are identified by their hash (a digital fingerprint). Archived copies can then be retrieved through http://dx.doi.org (either from WebCite®, or from other digital preservation organizations), providing a mechanism for cross-archive retrieval of archived material.
[Edit] The other advantage of WebCite is that it takes a full copy of the embedded videos from YouTube etc, and goes at least one page deep into external links, so the WebCite snapshot I just made of CluesForum also includes pages from other forums etc linked in your posts:
http://www.webcitation.org/6DDOVUytj
Maat
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Re: Tools of the Trade

Unread post by Maat »

Here's a quick & easy way to download any video online by pasting the URL into this site: http://keepvid.com/ (no video download programs needed)

Also handy for extracting a clip for gif conversion using the Free Video to Gif converter: http://www.video-gif-converter.com/ (demonstrated earlier here)

e.g.

ImageImage
Animation: 2013 (Boston bomb hoax)________________________Animation: 1999 (Final Fantasy VIII, video game)
Maat
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Re: Tools of the Trade

Unread post by Maat »

Free Online OCR Convert JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, PDF, DjVu to Text

Recognizes 75 languages on any image: http://www.newocr.com/

"NewOCR.com is a free online OCR (Optical Character Recognition) service, can analyze the text in any image file that you upload, and then convert the text from the image into text that you can easily edit on your computer."
anonjedi2
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Re: Tools of the Trade

Unread post by anonjedi2 »

I found this website earlier tonight and thought it would be useful for CluesForum members.

You can search over 57,000 videos and over 7 million images.
With more than 57,000 historic clips and 7 million stills for immediate download, CriticalPast is your source for imagery of worldwide events, people, and B-roll spanning the 20th century.

Fully digitized and searchable, the CriticalPast collection is one of the largest royalty-free archival footage collections in the world. Search and view thousands of historic video clips and millions of still images, all available for immediate download in many formats, including multiple variations of HD, PAL, and NTSC. All clips and stills are licensed royalty-free, worldwide, in perpetuity, for all media. The average HD clip price is only $200 for 2 minutes. Stills are licensed for only $25. CriticalPast offers immediate downloads of full-resolution HD and SD masters and full-resolution time-coded screeners, 24 hours a day, to serve the needs of broadcast news, TV, film, and publishing professionals worldwide.

Specialties:

Drawn largely from U.S. government sources, CriticalPast contains a vast collection of vintage military and war footage, as well as 20th century propaganda and educational films from many countries. The CriticalPast war collection is second to none, and includes footage from World War I, World War II, The Korean War, The Vietnam War, and The Cold War. Other specialties include worldwide Political Figures, Industrialization, the Great Depression, Culture, Civil Rights, Transportation, Aviation, and Space.
http://criticalpast.com/
ICfreely
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Re: Tools of the Trade

Unread post by ICfreely »

The following overview of How to Lie with Statistics by Darrel Huff is a critical tool which can assist readers navigate through the ambient Bernaysian atmosphere. A layman, with a basic understanding of statistics, can easily deconstruct some of the most seemingly complex scientific literature.


How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff

Chapter 1 - The Sample with the Built-in Bias: We find that polls (while informative) are they bias?

-Response Bias: Tendency for people to over-or under-state the truth
-Non-response: People who complete surveys are systematically different from those who fail to respond. Accessibility/Pride.
-Representative Sample: One where all sources of bias have been removed. (Literary Digest)
-Questionnaire wording/Interviewer effects
-Recall Bias: Tendency for one group to remember prior exposure in retrospective studies

Chapter 2 - The Well-Chosen Average: The word "average" is it mean, median, or mode?

-Arithmetic Mean: Evenly distributes the total among individuals. Can be unrepresentative when measurements are highly skewed right. (e.g. per capita income)
-Median: Value dividing distribution into two equal parts. 50th percentile. (e.g. median household income)
-Mode: Most frequently observed outcome (rarely reported with numeric data)

Chapter 3 - The Little Figures That Are Not There: Independent laboratory says:
"Science proves that tossed pennies come up heads 80 per cent of the time."

-Small samples: Estimators with large standard errors, can provide seemingly very strong effects
-Low incidence rates: Need very large samples for meaningful estimates of low frequency events
-Significance levels/margins of error: Measures of the strength and precision of inference
-Ranges: Report ranges or standard deviations along with means (e.g. “normal” ranges)
-Inferring among individuals versus populations
-Clearly label chart axes

Chapter 4 - Much Ado about Practically Nothing:

-Probable Error: Estimation error with probability 0.5. If estimator is approximately normal, PE is approximately 0.675 standard errors. (Old school)
-Margin of Error: Estimation error with probability 0.95. If estimator is approximately normal, PE is approximately 2 standard errors
-Clinical (practical) significance: In very large samples an effect may be significant statistically, but not in a practical sense. Report confidence intervals as well as P-values.

Chapter 5 - The Gee-Whiz Graph: Distorted [eye-catching] graphs (choices of scales and origins).

-Choice of ranges on graphs can have huge impact on interpretation (e.g. percent change)
-Choice of proportion of y-axis to x-axis can distort as well (very easy to do with modern software)
-Can also distort bar charts by having them start at positive values and/or trimming below an artificial baseline to 0

Chapter 6 - The One-Dimensional Picture: Distorted picture graphs (height vs. area).

-1-D Pictures: Bar Charts and Pictorial Graphs should have areas proportional to values (only make comparisons in one dimension)

Chapter 7 - The Semi attached Figure: The reported data may even be irrelevant.
This mouthwash kills germs (but maybe not cold germs in the mouth).

-Target Population: Group we want to make inference regarding
-Study Population: Group or items that experiment or survey is conducted on
-When comparative studies are conducted among products, treatments, or groups; what is the comparison product, treatment, or group?
-Control for all other potential risk factors when studying effects of factors

Chapter 8 - Post Hoc Rides Again: Cause and effect, or some common cause, or coincidence, or what?
”There are two clocks which keep perfect time. When “A” points to the hour. “B” strikes. Did “A” cause “B” to strike?

Correlation does not imply causation
-Elements of causal relationships
1- Association between Y and X
2- Clear time ordering (X precedes Y)
3- Removal of alternative explanations (controlling for other factors)
4- Dose-Response (when possible)

Chapter 9 - How to Statistic late: Lying with statistics = dishonesty or incompetence?

Chapter 10 - How to Talk Back to a Statistic: How to detect lying ? Ask yourself does it make sense?



Souurces:
How to Lie with Statistics – Darrell Huff (1954)
http://www.horace.org/blog/wp-content/u ... 4-Huff.pdf
How to Lie with Statistics - overview
http://www.haneefandassoc.com/itsui/dow ... istics.pdf
How to Lie with Statistics – shorter overview
https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/vie ... estats.ppt



“Thou shalt not sim!”
-ICfreely FCCSCF (Fellow Contributor to the Common Society of CluesForum)
hoi.polloi
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Re: Tools of the Trade

Unread post by hoi.polloi »

Cool, dense "brain tool" ICfreely!

I think it's worth noting two web sites good for a quick "corporate connection" briefing, even if it's not the end of the story.

http://www.nndb.com (Name database)
But it mostly exists to document the connections between people, many of which are not always obvious. A person's otherwise inexplicable behavior is often understood by examining the crowd that person has been associating with.
~ and ~

http://www.sourcewatch.org
We provide well-documented information about corporate public relations (PR) campaigns, including corporate front groups, people who "front" corporate campaigns, and PR operations.
Again, not the end of the story, which runs deeper than surface articles, but a simple place to start digging.
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