I was fortunate enough to have the internet at an early age. I believe I was introduced to it sometime in 1996. Those were the days when Altavista and Yahoo competed for your search queries and ICQ was becoming the fastest way to communicate over the internet. Needless to say, I’m familiar with much of the internet slang that’s used. However, aside from lol, rofl, and brb I don’t see a use for most of it. I’ve found that I actually type faster if I just spell out whole words. Unfortunately, kids with cell phones have developed a whole new language comprised of short SMS messages. One has to wonder if they can actually type faster on a phone than a standard keyboard. That is exactly why the Cre8txt was invented.

This crazy gadget very much resembles the keyboard you would find on an ordinary cell phone. You’ve got your standard number keys, directional pad and a few extra buttons. With this you can input text into IM conversations and emails much the same way you send text messages. The difference is that when you input internet slang, it automatically translates it into proper English so your elders can actually understand what you’re saying.

The Cre8txt is compatible with Windows XP and Vista and contains a dictionary of over 140,000 words to be translated. Since the language is always evolving, users can input their own custom words into the dictionary. You can pick one of these up for the teenager in your life for right around $105.

Source: Shiny Shiny