Information contained in this news release is current as of the date of the press announcement, but may be subject to change without prior notice.
November 7, 2008
Tokyo - November 7, 2008 - Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE:HIT/TSE 6501) announced today that a ranking feature to search by drawing was released for its similar image search engine GazoPa.
Search by drawing is one of the most popular features at GazoPa. Users can search for similar pictures, photos and video thumbnails by their drawings. The new 'Ranking' feature enables users to unlock its drawings to public so that other users can rate them. Other users rate not quality of drawings but quality of its search results. The number of stars indicates their evaluation score. The most popular and the latest drawings are shown separately.
Users who upload their drawing can receive responses from other users. Other users can express their feelings to search results by drawings. Search itself seems to be one-way communication, but this new feature will enable its users to implement interactive communications.
There are other Websites that enable users to rate the quality of drawings, but the ability to evaluate the search result differentiates GazoPa from other services. This feature is one of the applications that similar image search is used.
This new feature is the first step that Hitachi has released to provide social and interactive functions of GazoPa. In the future, Hitachi plans to release additional new features that use their strength.
For detailed information about new feature at GazoPa, please visit its website at http://www.gazopa.com.
GazoPa is a Hitachi Web image search engine in private beta release, that uses features from an image to search for and identify similar images. In addition to images found using keyword searches, GazoPa enables the use of users' own photos and drawings, and images found on the Web, as search keys to locate similar images. GazoPa can support not only photos but also the search of video thumbnails.
Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE: HIT / TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 390,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2007 (ended March 31, 2008) consolidated revenues totaled 11,226 billion yen ($112.3 billion). The company offers a wide range of systems, products and services in market sectors including information systems, electronic devices, power and industrial systems, consumer products, materials, logistics and financial services. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at http://www.hitachi.com.
