Muzman on 19/9/2010 at 06:46

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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9c/Newton_eat_up_martha.jpg

I may be late to this party, but yes, the 'tube are adding some weird auto subtitling feature. Nice idea, but when they say it's beta they aren't kidding.

For instance. Watch this video:
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQw6PoHQPco)

Lightly funny manners sketch.
Then watch it again with the captions turned on (press the cc button, then there's a little pop up menu with 'transcribe audio Beta'; click that and an overlay window comes up and then you go 'ok')

It's like babelfish for English accents

"So how do you try and keep that somehow much much less russians are having children"
"Oh I'm sorry season but I'm going to do all these mental waldholtz has stopped it probably!"

Thirith on 20/9/2010 at 06:30

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You get some beautifully absurd transcriptions, and sometimes the juxtaposition between what is actually said and what YouTube thinks is being said is quite cool. What I find just as cool, though, is the moments when the transcription algorithms get it spot on. It's like the programme constantly veers between random though vaguely grammatical babbling and 85% accuracy.

Aerothorn on 20/9/2010 at 15:29

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"Europe wanted to feel I should be finalized."

"When I mention that we could put him on the priority list for the hemorrhage in fact seen he was so willing it was almost a fifth."

And, in a shocking moment of self-awareness:

"Displaying the writing is intensifying to the point we may not be able to contain it."

This is gold.

And when Page says "Let the bodies pile up in the streets," the horribly racist transcriber says "Let the bodies pile up in the streets of Haiti."