Human fail of the Turing Test

Perfect proof that the Turing test doesn't really test machine intelligence... it simply tests the ability to hold a decent conversation. This means that some humans will fail. Epically.

I'm not usually one to hold Dilbert (http://www.dilbert.com) up as a noteworthy soothsayer of Artificial Intelligence, however, Scott Adams summed up my bemusement (there are plenty of other less savoury words which could be used instead... but I won't use them here - it'll hurt the Nets) at what some people will say.

(http://dilbert.com/fast/2009-03-16/)

Chickens.

More User Interface Issues... when affordance goes wrong...

One of my fellow teachers reminded me of this pearler of a video... tracked it down on youtube...

Interesting take on help desk support and affordance. Sometimes, while your user isn't you, they're just plain stupid.

Medieval Help Desk:

The Turing Test - Whaaaat???

For all you AI peeps out there.

Taken from: http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/turing_test.png

Sometimes I wonder...

New profile picture

Thanks Ben!!!

Your sneaky snapping of snaps has netted me a great new profile picture. Now, not only do I look cool, I also look more than a little deranged... Hmmm.

But, as Ben said, the old one (red and yellow life jacket) was getting... well, old.

Nuff said.

Back to the real world. Oh. Snap.

PointUI 2 Home is out!

I appear to be a little late (must have missed my email warning) but PointUI 2 Home is out for download. Its a little app that remakes your old dodgy looking Windows Mobile interface into something you can actually show your friends.

Just downloaded it - about to try it. Give it ago yourself:

http://www.pointui.com/

GodTube is dead: Long live Tangle!!!

You may have noticed recently (particularly if you're a subscriber) that the Christian Video streaming place GodTube (http://www.godtube.com) is gone. Like the mythical phoenix, it has been reborn (perhaps I should use a more christian analogy along the lines of 'like Lazarus from the dead', but it's not quite the same image, really) and recast as Tangle (www.tangle.com).

Underneath all the new jazz, it is still essentially the same video sharing site (like youTube - www.youtube.com) as it was, with the same underlying technologies (as far as I can tell). It has simply been rebadged and a new domain was registered.

What does this mean to all of us? Well, the word of tangle:

Our goal is to touch more people than ever, to provide them with not just the place but also the means to connect with others online, to share their faith and lives, and to ultimately portray a Christian angle in everything they do.

(http://www.tangle.com/promo/godtubeisnowtangle)

If you haven't checked it out yet, you will want to. There's a fantastic plethora of Christian goodies, and the first email themed message I've got is all about valentines:

http://info.tangle.com/loveandsex

Back to work

Well, I'm back from Couran Point Island Beach Resort (South Stradbroke Island) after a delightful 5 days of not thinking or doing anything with regards to work. I have a bit of a tan and a bit of a gut and am looking forward to going back to work on Monday (read that with a level of forced happiness).

My plans for this year are to be a bit more organised (am going to spend up to 3 hours today cleaning my desk so that this has even a remote possibility of happening) and to go further to fulfilling my vision of 'creating leaders of character'. This last might be a bit more difficult now that I will only be looking after Year 12, rather than all of 10 -12 as per the last three years. Maybe I'll have a bit more success with that year level after all. Yes Amanda, that includes you.

Oh well. 2009 - I hope you're ready