"5318008" is Too Dirty for the iPhone

New app censors grade school potty humor on popular Apple phone

By Sajid Farooq
|  Friday, Oct 2, 2009  |  Updated 7:18 AM CST
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"5318008" is Too Dirty for the iPhone

Pcalc.com

Use your imagination and you can still figure out what "5318008" spells upside down.

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It turns out the innocent calculator toilet humor of middle-school algebra was not that innocent after all.

For generations, bored math students have had a giggle at the upside down expense of "5318008" and now it appears that same humor has offended the gatekeepers of Apple's app store.

Perphaps out of fear of turning into the next Google Voice in Apple's eyes, the people behind the PCalc scientific calculator for the iPhone installed a profanity filter on the latest verion of the app that blocks out anything even mildly offensive.

Now instead of getting a smut word when you type “5318008″ and flip your iPhone upside down, you will get a great big "Censored!" message bold enough to make even George Orwell shudder in his grave.

The company behind the censoring feature says because it takes its "responsibility to protect innocent minds very seriously" it plans to introduce the technology on more apps soon. Math just got that much more boring. 

Posted Thursday, Oct 1, 2009 - 3:39 PM CST
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