Apple just patented MaSfPRTFfK, which stands for "
Methods and Systems for Providing Real-Time Feedback for Karaoke". It detects when a singer is singing off-pitch according to some pitch data stored with the karaoke song data. The idea is to give some kind of feedback to the singer so they can learn to sing on key. How this technology will be available to programmers writing karaoke systems, I'm not sure, but I'm going to keep my eye on it. I like to sing (ahem, I mean butcher) karaoke, and I'm thinking of writing a karaoke program since everything out there basically sucks. Maybe when I do write my program with this technology, I'll learn just how bad I really do sing. A singing programmer is usually not a good thing.
Will this eradicate bad karaoke at the bars? Probably not as long as alcohol is still involved. Now, if they added a breathalyzer as well....