Smash Notes
reCAPTCHA and Duolingo: Luis von Ahn
In 2000, Luis von Ahn was starting his PhD in computer science when he attended a talk and happened to learn about one of Yahoo's biggest problems: automated bots were signing up for millions of free Yahoo email accounts, and generating tons of spam. Luis' idea to solve this problem became CAPTCHA, the squiggly letters we type into a website to prove we're…
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Why Did He Spend Weekends At The Candy Factory?
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What Happened When His Aunt Was Kidnapped?
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How Do You Stop Programs From Opening Free Email Accounts?
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What Happened When People Typed Captures For The New York Times?
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How Did They Plan To Make Free Language Lessons Pay For Themselves?
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How Much Outside Money Did They Raise In That First Round?
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What Happened When News-translation Contracts Could Not Work In The App?
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How Did Paid Subscriptions Compare With Advertising?
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