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Kittens for SPAM control ?

An executive at Microsoft has an unusual idea for beating spammers. Powerful software tools and supercomputers aren't involved, but kittens are.
 Or rather, photos of kittens. Kevin Larson, a researcher at Microsoft's advanced reading technologies group, has found that asking a user to identify the subject of a photo, like a kitten, could help block spam programs.
 Currently, services like Microsoft's free e-mail service Hotmail require new users to type in a string of distorted letters as proof that it's a human signing up for the account and not a computer. Called Human Interactive Proofs (HIP), Microsoft, Ticketmaster and a host of other companies have been using the system for around five years, Larson said. He spoke in Seattle on Friday at TypeCon 2007, an annual conference put on by the Society of Typographic Aficionados for type enthusiasts and designers.
 When Hotmail first started using HIPs, the number of e-mail accounts generated on the first day dropped by 20 percent without an increase in support queries, Larson said. That was a sign that the HIPs were fooling the computer programs that spammers use to automate signing up for new Hotmail accounts from which spam is sent. However, spammers learned how to tweak their programs to better recognize the HIPs, he said.
 Now, it's a race for Microsoft to continue to alter its HIP system to fool the computers, which ultimately seem to catch on. Larson's group at Microsoft experiments with different ways to distort the text used in HIPs in a way that is easy for humans to read but difficult for computers.
read More at NetworkWorldAsia

Cat in the cab leads to networking site

Posted in Uniquely Singapore, Web2.0 by the(new)mediaslut on the August 7th, 2007

Remember the days of Web1.0 that saw ideas come out of paper napkins at coffee joints.
How about a social networking site from a taxi?
Yes, taxi drivers can be smart.
So the tale of this networking site starts with a catlover boarding a taxi in good old Singapore.When the catlover’s mobile rang, it went MEOW.. a very loud MEOW.
The taxi driver jumped in a panic and ask if the cat lover had a cat in the cab (What you expect, cat in the hat?). Catlover had to explained that it was from his mobile phone.
Catlover shared with the taxi driver the MEOW ring tone and soon they were talking about cats that lead to a pet show.
Few days later, catlover gets a call from taxi driver and they still talked about cats.
As a result, catlover and taxi driver sets up http://catbasket.wetpaint.com/
Viva Web2.0?



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