typing

View text in large type in the OS X calculator and more

While not an extensive or complex tool, Apple's Calculator application is a useful utility for quickly punching out calculations or converting measurement values; however, sometimes you might need to use the calculator to quickly look up something while performing a project elsewhere, or display the results to another person who cannot come close to your computer.

For whatever reason, if you would like to make text viewable from a distance, then there are a couple of options to do so in OS X.

Large Type Part of Apple's Cocoa programming framework library is an option to display text … Read more

How to clear custom application associations in OS X

When you open a document or click a link in OS X, the system launches a program that can read it. While OS X provides options to change the programs associated with documents, there is no option to clear all application associations for a file type.

The resource that OS X uses to associate file types (e.g., TXT and PDF) or protocols (e.g., HTTP or FTP) with applications that can handle them is the launch services database. When an application is launched for the first time, the system scans its file-handling abilities and stores them in this database … Read more

Is that the new iPod? No, it's my insulin pump

Insulin pumps, which deliver fast-acting insulin continuously through a catheter and are often preferred over injections, are still only used by only 20 to 30 percent of the 1.5 million people in the U.S. who are diagnosed with Type I diabetes.

Pumps might start getting more popular as the systems are get smaller, sleeker, and easier to use. Take Tandem Diabetes Care's t:slim, an insulin delivery system that has just been cleared by the FDA.

It's not only the smallest, but also the first to employ touch screen technology. Friends just might get gadget envy.… Read more

Adobe: We've got the Touch for tablets

After dipping its toes in the water with some limited-scope mobile apps, Adobe Systems is taking the plunge today with six programs for Android Honeycomb tablets, including the company's flagship brand, Photoshop.

The programs, each to debut in November with a $10 introductory price, fall under the new Adobe Touch Apps brand. And they tie in with the new Adobe Creative Cloud, a service for sharing files, finding services, and transferring works from the tablet apps to Adobe's Creative Suite apps running on traditional computers.

Along with Photoshop Touch, the other apps are Collage, Debut, Ideas, Kuler, and … Read more

Adobe buys PhoneGap, TypeKit for better Web tools

Using a tried and true method to make up for lost time, Adobe is acquiring two companies, Nitobi and TypeKit, to give it more strength in a fast-moving area where it's playing catch-up.

For years Adobe advocated its Flash Player technology for advanced Web design, but now it's wholeheartedly on board with the biggest alternative, Web standards including HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Today, in conjunction with its Adobe Max developer and designer conference populated with the very people wrestling with that transition, the company announced the two acquisitions.

Overall, both acquisitions make sense strategically. Each gives Adobe a solid new starting point for aspects of new-age technology. Terms weren't disclosed, though, so it's not clear whether Adobe had to pay a premium for the companies. The TypeKit acquisition is complete, but the Nitobi buy is subject to closing conditions that should be met this month, Adobe said.

Nitobi makes PhoneGap, an open-source programming tool for creating Web apps that run on a variety of mobile phones. That aligns well with the cross-platform approach Adobe has favored with Flash: give programmers the ability to create what they want, and let the tools worry about the differences from one system to another. … Read more

It's about time: Nike sneakers go back to the future

Twenty-two years years after their onscreen debut, Nike is set to finally release the Air Mag 2015 sneakers Marty McFly wore in "Back to the Future II." A few lucky sneakerheads just received an invite to a Nike event scheduled for tomorrow in West Hollywood, Calif., where Nike's head designer Tinker Hatfield will announce the shoe. And yes--it will have power laces.

Nike sent a box of goodies over to the lucky folks at HighSnobiety and NiceKicks to drum up excitement for the announcement, and it's working. Inside they found an iPod shuffle with a message from Dr. Emmett Brown, a preserved bottle of Pepsi from 1985, and a replica pair of the Doc's metal shield glasses.

Last year, Nike patented an early design for a light-up shoe operating on built-in batteries that would also automatically fasten the strap into place. Most speculated that Nike would stick with the "Back to the Future" story arc and keep the original release to 2015, but they may arrive fashionably early.

This trailer showing Marty McFly's closet popped up yesterday and gives a preview of the Air Mag 2015. More pictures of the promotional invite goodies after the jump.… Read more

Typing tutor to go

RapidTyping is a popular typing tutor program. RapidTyping Portable is a fully portable version of the educational freeware, one that runs directly from a portable device such as a USB drive on any Windows machine, but without having to be installed or leaving files, folders, or registry entries behind when you close it. This makes it a great choice for students, who can use the same program at school and at home.

We downloaded and extracted the program's zipped executable and associated files, which we saved to a Portable Apps folder on the desktop that we use specifically to … Read more

Netspeak no more

Abbreviations have become a pretty common part of online communication, but so-called Netspeak is not without its detractors; linguistic purists insist that it's an affront to the English language. If you want the economy of keystrokes provided by abbreviations without sacrificing proper word use, try InstantType. This simple utility will automatically paste the full text of whatever abbreviations you type, allowing you to save time and still sound literate.

There's not much to InstantType, really; when it's running it appears as an icon in the system tray, and right-clicking on it brings up a Settings menu. Here, … Read more

The 404 883: Where the PATH to success is paved with delays (podcast)

Why are schools no longer teaching typing? Typing class used to be a sanctuary for nerds, but now that everyone has a smartphone and a Facebook profile, some school districts are making a case against teaching standardized touch-typing lessons.

But before we dive into the technology lessons we think should be taught in all grade schools, we start today's episode of The 404 Podcast with a recap of the past week's metaprotesting in San Francisco and the flames that ignited Anonymous to shut down public transit.

The 404 Digest for Episode 883

SF subway closes stations during Anonymous protest. Why are schools no longer teaching typing? A video voice mail from Andrew in Ontario!

Episode 883 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Guinness World Record for iPad typing broken

Just months ahead of when Apple is set to make tweaks to the software keyboard that ships with its iPad, the Guinness World Record for typing on it has been broken.

Fox News reports that the 15-year-old son of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili is the proud new owner of a Guinness World Record for typing the entire English alphabet (A-Z) on the iPad's software keyboard. His time? 5.26 seconds, which beats out former record-holder Charlie Joseph McDonnell's 6.31 seconds set in late June of last year.

Fox says Saakashvili "spent months getting ready" for … Read more