Skip to main content

You won’t have to retype fuzzy words with Google’s Invisible ReCAPTCHA

Soon Google will know if you’re a “you” or an “it.” If you’re concerned with Google knowing too much about your behavior, this news may be disconcerting. If all you want is to be able to get to the website you clicked on or selected as quickly as possible, though, an upcoming change to Google’s “humanity test” algorithms will make life easier, as reported by Wired.

Google’s original CAPTCHA test to prove that a human and not a bot was accessing a website asked you to type a word or two and sometimes identify images. That was exceedingly annoying and a time waster, and then robots learned how to read, so two years ago Google killed CAPTCHA and replaced it with No-CAPTCHA ReCAPTCHA. All you have to do now is click a checkbox next to the statement, “I am not a robot,” and you’re in. A speed bump still but not so annoying as re-typing fuzzy words. Now even the robot denial affirmation will go away.

Recommended Videos

No date is set for the change and details are sparse, but Google announced Invisible ReCAPTCHA is “coming soon.” The gist of the latest version of Google’s robot checker is the machine will be able to detect you’re actually a human without you needing to do anything.

The electronic doorman will rely on algorithms in Google’s Advanced Risk Analysis technology. The algorithms will assess the user ‘before, during, and after’ encountering a CAPTCHA screen. When the Advanced Risk Analysis system was introduced in 2014, the company said ReCAPTCHA would “actively consider a user’s entire engagement with the CAPTCHA — before, during, and after — to determine whether the user is a human.”

So now the world’s most widely used website robot filter will have the ability to recognize your humanity based on your behavior. It seems like a win-win. Websites can still use the service to keep spamming bots out while actual humans will be able to get right into sites without extra typing or clicks.

Bruce Brown
Bruce Brown Contributing Editor   As a Contributing Editor to the Auto teams at Digital Trends and TheManual.com, Bruce…
How to change margins in Google Docs
Laptop Working from Home

When you create a document in Google Docs, you may need to adjust the space between the edge of the page and the content -- the margins. For instance, many professors have requirements for the margin sizes you must use for college papers.

You can easily change the left, right, top, and bottom margins in Google Docs and have a few different ways to do it.

Read more
What is Microsoft Teams? How to use the collaboration app
A close-up of someone using Microsoft Teams on a laptop for a videoconference.

Online team collaboration is the new norm as companies spread their workforce across the globe. Gone are the days of primarily relying on group emails, as teams can now work together in real time using an instant chat-style interface, no matter where they are.

Using Microsoft Teams affords video conferencing, real-time discussions, document sharing and editing, and more for companies and corporations. It's one of many collaboration tools designed to bring company workers together in an online space. It’s not designed for communicating with family and friends, but for colleagues and clients.

Read more
Microsoft Word vs. Google Docs
A person using a laptop that displays various Microsoft Office apps.

For the last few decades, Microsoft Word has been the de facto standard for word processors across the working world. That's finally starting to shift, and it looks like one of Google's productivity apps is the heir apparent. The company's Google Docs solution (or to be specific, the integrated word processor) is cross-platform and interoperable, automatically syncs, is easily shareable, and perhaps best of all, is free.

However, using Google Docs proves it still has a long way to go before it can match all of Word's features -- Microsoft has been developing its word processor for over 30 years, after all, and millions still use Microsoft Word. Will Google Docs' low barrier to entry and cross-platform functionality win out? Let's break down each word processor in terms of features and capabilities to help you determine which is best for your needs.
How does each word processing program compare?
To put it lightly, Microsoft Word has an incredible advantage over Google Docs in terms of raw technical capability. From relatively humble beginnings in the 1980s, Microsoft has added new tools and options in each successive version. Most of the essential editing tools are available in Google Docs, but users who are used to Word will find it limited.

Read more