Combining Bright Banner Ads and CAPTCHAs Actually Makes Sense

Bright, in-your-face ads that prevent you from getting where you want to go online are one of the biggest annoyances on the web. The second big annoyance are CAPTCHA tests to prove that you're a human. A company is now combining the two and claims to do it in a way that pleases both advertisers and users.

Solve Media, a New York-based startup, wants to get rid of the horrible CAPTCHAs that are so common online and replace them with simple tests using plain, easy-to-read text.

That sounds great for a second, but then you realize that the only reason CAPTCHAs are so hard to read is to make them impossible for automated programs to decipher in order to keep out spammers and other online evil-doers.

Make the text easy to read and the test becomes useless. But Solve Media says it has this covered by making the users type just a portion of text from the ad.

In theory, computers won't know what portion to write since they would have trouble understanding the context. It's not first solution like this, but it sound plausible on paper.

But the interesting part comes from the fact that the "plain text" will actually be a part of the ad. Users will have to read the ad and the write whatever it indicates.

This, Solve Media says makes the ad much easier to recall, if you write it you'll remember it easier, the saying goes. Again, this sounds plausible.

So, by combining the two ideas, the startup solves two separate problems. Advertisers have a way of making their ads more memorable online and users don't have to struggle with confusing CAPTCHAs every time they want to post a comment.

The startup is backed in part by AOL's venture capital arm and already lists some high-rolling customers, Microsoft, GE, Toyota, Universal Pictures and, unsurprisingly, AOL. [via All Things D]