IBM's Teri-is-a-Girl-and-Terry-is-a-Boy Patent 277
theodp writes "The USPTO has granted IBM a patent for utilizing naming conventions to assign gender-based avatars for instant messaging. A user named Teri, IBM explains, would be given a girl avatar, while a user named Terry would be provided with a boy avatar. The three IBM 'inventors' were stymied by users named Pat, who as a result will be assigned a 'generic, genderless human figure image as his or her avatar.' Way to honor that significant-technical-content patent pledge, Big Blue!"
Re:So, what did they decide for... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:So, what did they decide for... (Score:5, Funny)
D'oe
Re:English names only? (Score:5, Funny)
You haven't seen many films about US marines, have you?
Re:stupid (Score:2, Funny)
Your mother is so Terry, IBM thought she was a man!
Re:Strange (Score:3, Funny)
Apparently IBM is in a big hurry to start offending people by misrepresenting their genders.
Re:English names only? (Score:5, Funny)
A gay furry.
Re:English names only? (Score:3, Funny)
The application says "anthroponomastic", not "anthropomorphic"! Get it right!
Re:English names only? (Score:5, Funny)
Doesn't matter. Anyone who calls himself "Legolas", l33t-crypted or not, deserves a gay furry avatar[0], and I'll stand by that assertion until the day I die.
[0] Unless his parents gave him that name. Then he can be forgiven if he goes Menendez.
Re:No one uses boring avatar names (Score:5, Funny)
Even then, assigning a male avatar is probably still a safe bet.
Jayne is a girl's name (Score:1, Funny)
...or so I hear.
Re:English names only? (Score:1, Funny)
Re:English names only? (Score:5, Funny)
Doesn't matter. Anyone who can recognise "Legolas", l33t-crypted like that, deserves a gay furry avatar[0], and I'll stand by that assertion until the day I die.
[0] Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Punctuate (Score:1, Funny)
Why didn't they patent gender assignment by semicolon detection?
Re:English names only? (Score:1, Funny)
How about Captain Fantastic Faster Than Superman Spiderman Batman Wolverine The Hulk And The Flash Combined?
Wouldn't it just be easier to... (Score:1, Funny)
Wouldn't it just be easier to look at the browser cache to see if the user is male...?
Terry & Terry (Score:5, Funny)
Both my wife and I are named Terry, and yes, she took my last name. The running joke is that I get all the bills, and she gets all the cheques.