Power of 3 - Computer Says Doh!

Predictive text is a big pain. For example when I try to write HR on my blackberry or phone the computer things I want to say HOUR. I then spend hours repeating it till the predictive software accepts it.

The tech savvy among you will be saying why doesn't he just turn it off? In Finland some researchers have decided that far from turning off the pesky predictive function they will harness the unintentional humour of predictive text.

They are developing some software to capture predictive howlers. That may be something to do with Finish humour and possibly great deal of Vodka at the last engineers social, but they might be onto something. They aim to remind you not to worry when CIPD becomes CUPID for example by who knows reminding you its Valentine's Day. Anyway this is how it will work:

 1. The computer will randomly insert off beat predictive puns into a message for example a woman referring to someone as a knight will find he is in a shining armpit rather than armour.

 2. These messages will then be cycled into things like reminders to make them more memorable. Sound science supports that idea. We remember the quirky and offbeat better than the dull and dare I say it predictable!

 3. Lots of other applications for example sat navs (saturated navels) could become even more infuriating and maybe the subtitle in the news could be randomly made funny. Though not so sure about that one.

It's easy to scoff at this but remember many ICT innovations came from this very kind of seemingly pointless playfulness and people like me said what's the point?!