Filed under: Humor, Software, Odds and ends, Developer, iPhone, App Store
Clever iPhone app prevents calculator pR0n
When I was in high school, calculators were expensive (US$200 for a six-function calculator with memory, for example) and just starting to make it into the hands of students. In those more naive times, anything that could be construed as even mildly suggestive got a lot of chuckles. One of the more amusing pastimes was to perform certain calculations that would come up with a result like 5318008 or 3104558 which, when the calculator was turned upside down, would spell a "dirty word."
Well, TLA Systems wants to make sure that its PCalc RPN [iTunes Link, US$9.99] and free PCalc Lite [iTunes Link] calculator apps for iPhone are used only for good purposes, so they've built in a special smut filter that will block these words when the calculator is turned upside down by displaying the word "CENSORED." Their blog entry is very tongue-in-cheek, asserting that they developed the filter to avoid getting a 17+ rating in the App Store.
Personally, I think TLA Systems developer James Thomson is just brilliant at getting blogs to write about his products. Well done, James!
Tip of the Tweet to @timhaines
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jonathan said 9:35AM on 10-01-2009
James Thomson has a very good point. The Apple official App reviewers are notorious for finding any reason to reject apps or give them 17+. Such as eBay, Wikipedia, etc.
The fact an eBook reader was rejected (pre 17+ days), because the reviewer had done a very advanced search to get the Kama Sutra show up is absurd! I would not be surprised at all if they start giving calculator apps 17+!
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Shadow08 said 11:38AM on 10-01-2009
It's a disgusting abuse of power filled with hypocrisy.
With Apple's logic, Safari should be removed because there is a ton of adult content on the internet. SMS should be removed because I can type the f-word. Do I even need to mention why Apple should disable the camera according to their own logic?
I hope someone puts their foot down on Apple and does it hard.
Dan Ridley said 2:15PM on 10-01-2009
The screenshots of the Eucalyptus e-book editor were deceiving. Apple's reviewer did not need to search for the Kama Sutra — searching for 'sex' or 'love' would do it, since those are its Library of Congress subject headings and Eucalyptus appears to search those. The way the Eucalyptus search interface is designed, clicking on a result places the name of the result in the search field. Try it yourself — search for something, then click on a book.
I'm not saying that having the Kama Sutra available in an ebook reader is a bad thing, and it was an absurd rejection on that basis. But the truth is that the Apple reviewer did not have to search on 'the kama sutra of vatsyayana transl…' as it appears at first glance in the screenshots, they probably just searched for 'sex'.
mykl said 11:33AM on 10-01-2009
BOOBIES! There, I said it.
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Lorenzo said 12:19PM on 10-01-2009
To bad no amount of app store rejection or censoring can stop the user from turning his or her own head upside down to read boobies.
Amusing though.
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Snaab4 said 10:04AM on 10-01-2009
Easter Egg Alert: If you try 5318008 on Calc Zero and turn the iPhone upside down, a sheet slides down with an explicit photograph and the statement "You've spelled...."
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William Jackson said 10:05AM on 10-01-2009
Calc Zero Says "you spelled boobies" and shows a picture of a cute girl
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Snaab4 said 10:09AM on 10-01-2009
More Easter Egg: If you just enter 8008 in Calc Zero and turn upsdie down the photo that's displayed is hilarious!
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dino said 10:15AM on 10-01-2009
maybe i'm just dumb but wtf does 3104558 spell? BSSGOIE?
how about 55378008?
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Grant said 10:20AM on 10-01-2009
3104558 is a dumb one. 8 = A (somehow), 4 = h, 1 = L.
dino said 10:48AM on 10-01-2009
kids....
the next step was the TI-83 and playing drug wars!
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brian said 10:44AM on 10-01-2009
Happily, TSA's security can be easily defeated by setting the phone down on a flat surface and then turning it away from you, much to the delight of 4th-graders everywhere. :-)
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jb510 said 11:30AM on 10-01-2009
For just a momment I thought this $10 app cencored the built in calculator...
Frankly I'm surprised that Apple allows calculator apps, don't peoe get confused by this duplication of core functionality...
Yes. This is brilliant marketing to get people to talk about an otherwise non-noteworthy app.
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Harold De Armas said 5:13PM on 10-01-2009
Came to comment almost the exact thing, except I said in my mind:
For just a moment, I considered checking out this app, until I saw it was $10
I'm a consumer whore, but not for $10!
Dustin said 2:01PM on 10-01-2009
I guess (big and small) kids are not smart enough to turn their heads upsidedown...
Is there an app for that?
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Blazeblaster said 7:22PM on 10-01-2009
do they censor 77342006?
or how about 1337...
wait the last one is just me
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Joseph said 10:21PM on 10-01-2009
Blazeblaster, no.
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jt2552 said 12:00PM on 10-02-2009
Ok this is the dumbest think I've ever heard of. If making dirty words via numbers would give a 17+ rating why doesn't all applications which allow you to type words not get a 17+ rating. I can type Boobies in 'Notes' easily. I'm sure apple didn't impose this on them, they must have had too much extra time to code that into the program.
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Kristanna said 2:52AM on 10-05-2009
Hi...
This is such an informative info here.I was not having any idea regarding this article.Thanks for sharing it here.I would like to say Thinks iPhone users should go to the app store and get PING now!....
acai berry
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