<p>I wrote an OCR a few years ago that read those pesky "Word Boxes" that sites have when you try to register and stuff. It was pretty neat.</p>
<p>Cool, do you still have the program? Please send it to me! </p>
<p>adnan(dot)esmail(at)gmail(dot)com</p>
<p>go down to mailing</p>
<p>That's so cool! I guess I should think twice before criticizing USPS ;-).</p>
<p>Wow, wikipedia really does come in handy!</p>
<p>Anyway, here's an exerpt which discusses the pertinent info:</p>
<p>Additionally, machines with a recent Optical Character Recognition (OCR) upgrade have the capability to read the address information, including handwritten, and sort the mail based on local or outgoing ZIP codes.</p>
<p>Mail with typed addresses goes to a Multiline Optical Character Reader (MLOCR) which reads the ZIP Code and address information and prints the appropriate bar code onto the envelope. Mail (actually the scanned image of the mail) with handwritten addresses (and machine-printed ones that aren't easily recognized) goes to the Remote Bar Coding System, a highly advanced scanning system with a state of the art neural net processor which is highly effective at correctly reading almost all addresses, no matter how badly written. It also corrects spelling errors and, where there is an error, omission, or conflict in the written address, identifies the most likely correct address. When it has decided on a correct address, it prints the appropriate bar code onto the envelopes, similarly to the MLOCR system. RBCS also has facilities in place, called Remote Encoding Centers that have humans look at images of mail pieces and enter the address data. The address data is associated with the image via an ID Tag, a fluorescent code printed by mail processing equipment on the back of mail pieces.</p>
<p>I can when I get home (Boarding school now). I should note that the OCR worked only for a specific formatting of the boxes used on one website. But it could "learn" new letters and fonts.</p>
<p>I'd assume DHL, as Ann got hers through it. Also, from past experiences, USPS takes FOREVER to deliver packages overseas. Since it subcontracts the other half of the journey, the package is routed to a local company--usually leading to tremendous delays. DHL, on the other hand delivers the packages FAST! I sent my MIT secondary school report to MIT and the tracking showed receipt in 2 days (3 if you don't account for the time difference)! Ironically, I had a friend who's at MIT recieve my MIT decision letter and it still hasn't arrived!!!</p>
<p>^^^^ haha... wrong thread. Sorry!</p>