Saturday, May 19, 2007

Computers will rule the world

I had occasion to attach a PC keyboard to one of our Macs a couple of days ago. The Mac immediately informed me that it didn't recognise the keyboard and gave me some instructions with which I could help it understand what was plugged into the USB port.

It told me to press the inboard key of the left hand shift key and then press the inboard key of the right hand shift key. It then told me that I had attached a PC keyboard and that it had configured it for use with this Mac. Smart!

Many years ago I saw the first glimmers of artificial intelligence when a spell check remembered and 'learnt' a new word. Google tells you what it thinks you meant to type in the search box when you do a typo and the Altzheimers aid; the autofill feature on forms is very smart. I am constantly amazed at these machines. What will they be like in 20 years time?

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