st434u Posted February 13, 2015 Posted February 13, 2015 Nowadays nobody takes the time to handwrite letters. Why would you? It takes a lot longer to handwrite a message than to type it. But it does show that you didn't copy-paste it or something. It also shows you took the time and care about that person enough to go through the trouble. But what if you really do want to copy-paste it? Or what if you just want to pretend like you took the time to handwrite something but you just typed it because it's easier and quicker? What if your own handwriting looks horrible and you want to make it look better, but still make it seem like you yourself wrote it? Not a problem, in comes hellobond to the rescue. This robot will fake your own handwriting style and manufacture whatever written messages you want, so that special someone will never suspect that you didn't actually take the time to handwrite it yourself. http://finance.yahoo.com/video/bond-robots-old-way-114700659.html If this isn't a sign of how sick most people are, I don't know what is.
BD91 Posted February 13, 2015 Posted February 13, 2015 So.......they built a bad printer? And then managed to make that the entire marketing premise.
shirgall Posted February 13, 2015 Posted February 13, 2015 Quantization is not a new problem. When people used to write programs to interpret drumming and determine the rhythm, it was difficult to determine what was an error and what was expression. Auto-tuning, for example, makes it obvious that there is too much correction going on... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantization_%28music%29 It's amusing to see how much better quantizing is getting that it can start to emulate the "fist" of a writer for emulating handwritten notes.
nathanm Posted February 13, 2015 Posted February 13, 2015 That is some cool tech, regardless of what you might think about its application.
st434u Posted February 13, 2015 Author Posted February 13, 2015 That is some cool tech, regardless of what you might think about its application. Oh, certainly. I wasn't criticizing the development of the technology. 1
OtherOtie Posted February 14, 2015 Posted February 14, 2015 What exactly is so nefarious about this? Oh no! I thought you handwrote it but in fact you did not... how... evil?
J. D. Stembal Posted February 14, 2015 Posted February 14, 2015 What exactly is so nefarious about this? Oh no! I thought you handwrote it but in fact you did not... how... evil? Not that this is a logical proof, but if you did not want to take the time to hand write a letter (but had the time to teach the printer your handwriting), why don't you just hand write the letter? I could see this service being used by some public figures responding to mail, but that $3.00 per letter charge will add up quickly without a bulk discount. How is this evil? It isn't unless you consider subsidizing the Postal Service unethical.
st434u Posted February 14, 2015 Author Posted February 14, 2015 What exactly is so nefarious about this? Oh no! I thought you handwrote it but in fact you did not... how... evil? I just think it shows problems in relationships if people want to pretend like they spent the time to handwrite a letter to someone when they didn't.
nathanm Posted February 16, 2015 Posted February 16, 2015 There are many factors potentially contributing to the perceived value in receiving a physical message from someone: • computer printed (laser, inkjet, dyesub) • mechanically printed (offset press, letterpress) • handwritten • long message • brief message • typeface used • text contrast (leading, point size) • paper weight and quality • ink color • assumption of time used to create message • physical layout of the text (formal business, casual, sloppy, neat etc.) vs. • the content of the message, the meaning of the words themselves It can go many ways.
Bedouin Posted February 16, 2015 Posted February 16, 2015 As a dyslexic I cannot say that I feel quite so ambivalent about this tech! But I understand where you're coming from. Even as a slow writer I'm not sure I'd use this. Just feels like it would be deceptive. If the person asked, I would have to tell them that I had used a machine and they wouldn't look at it the same way from there on.
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