20q

I've been lounging around at home for the last 3 days. On Tuesday, I woke up with a rip-roaring sore throat (it must've been that guy that lives alone with his wife). As I had to do a 12 hour on-call, I went to our staffing co-ordinator an hour before duty and coughed and spluttered on her so she could get someone else to cover. It worked, and I've been home since. Yesterday was a shitty day, with lots of headaches and muscle aches etc etc. Today hasn't been too bad still, but feeling grotty now.
Anyhow, back to topic. firebox.com kindly send me a quaterly magazine with all their latest cool stuff, and something that caught my eye was a ball called 20q. It claims to find out what you're thinking of in 20 questions, and you could be thinking of ANYTHING. hmmm, BS I think.
A quick google 20q took me to www.20q.net an online version of the same. It turns out that 20q is an on-going and learning AI that has about 10 million neurosynapses (we have about 100 billion in our brain), that learns the more it's used. Interestingly, someone has shrunk it all into a small toy.
OK, so i gotta outsmart it. How about "WAR", it'll never get that. At question 18 the damn thing said "Are you thinking of a war?". OK, how about "light bulb". Again, round about 17 or 18 it guessed it right. Me and a friend spent nearly ALL of last night trying to outsmart the damn thing, and it just kept getting it right!
The only thing it can't get is specific places, things or people. Everything else it can. By asking simple questions like "is it bigger than a microwave", "will it break if it falls", "can you wash it" it'll effectively figure out 90% of things right (providing you give honest answers). The damn thing is simply amazing. I was even thinking of it and it guessed "Are you thinking of 20q.net?" I kid you not.

Here's an example of something that it guessed right in 20 questions. I won't tell you what I was thinking (answers in comments if you fancy), but it managed to guess it right using just the answers below...

19.Does it use numbers? No.
18.Does it make noise? No.
17.Would you find it in an office? Yes.
16.Is it usually visible? No.
15.Is it a synthetic material? No.
14.Is it straight? No.
13.Does it come in a box? No.
12.Can it be washed? No.
11.Do you hold it when you use it? No.
10.Is it something you bring along? No.
9.Can it fit in an envelope? No.
8.Does it contain a lot of water? No.
7.Is it found on a desk? No.
6.Is it square shaped? No.
5.Does it play music? No.
4.Is it smaller than a loaf of bread? Irrelevant.
3.Is it a common household object? Yes.
2.Does it help accomplish tasks? Yes.
1.It is classified as Other.

I've ordered the 20q ball (from amazon actually, sorry fireball) as it'll prove a good party game to just put on your tea table when someone pops in. Head over to 20q.net and experience it yourself (it even speaks a few more languages, eg German and Spanish!)
Oh, and before I forget. To cash in with the latest StarWars craze, Burgerking and Lucas have made an animated version of 20q. The Sith Sense is the same as 20q but with a very real animated Darth Vader doing the guessing, and playing his force mind games. Good for a laugh, but not as fast as the original site.

"Can you find it in an Church?"