NuCaptcha takes on Google’s ReCaptcha
Modern captchas are effective at keeping bots and algorithms from accessing Web sites made for humans. They also generate collateral damage and keep up to 25 percent of humans out, too, according to Ron Moravek, COO of NuCaptcha. He says he has a better, more flexible technology for filtering humans from bots.
NuCaptcha is a replacement technology for the free, Google-owned ReCaptcha service. There are two major differences between NuCaptcha and ReCaptcha. First, NuCaptcha displays moving text against a moving image. While this makes it harder for computers to discern text from background, it makes it much easier for humans. We use relative motion as additional information that helps us see patterns, not as noise to be processed out. This effective processing gap means that captcha text can be shorter—three characters is enough—and that it’s much less painful for humans to read the text and proceed past the challenge. “It can be solved in three seconds,” Moravek says.
I sure hope this proves to be easier to use. Captchas are getting harder to use all the time. I find myself frequently having to hit the refresh button several times before I see a captcha that I can figure out. Look at this one, for example. Sheesh.
A Google ReCaptcha (Credit: Screenshot by Rafe Needleman/CNET)