keyboards

A wireless musical glove developed at Georgia Tech not only teaches users to play songs on the piano, but may also improve the sensation and mobility of the hands of people who have suffered spinal cord injuries, researchers report.

The Mobile Music Touch (MMT) device, which works alongside a computer and a keyboard, improved rehabilitation even in patients who had sustained the injury more than a year earlier -- a point at which improvements tend to be minimal at best.… Read more

The DeadMouse extension for Chrome might be the final piece of the puzzle if you are trying to go all keyboard shortcuts all the time. You can perform all manner of task in Chrome with keyboard shortcuts (here are helpful lists for PCs and for Macs), but opening a link still requires a click of the ol' mouse.

If losing your mouse is something you aspire to, give DeadMouse a whirl. With it, you simply start typing the first few letters of a link you see on the page you are viewing and the link will begin to wobble. Hit … Read more

The new features of Android 4.1 are being ported to custom ROMs, but if that's not your scene, there are a few goodies that have landed in the Google Play Store. One of these is the new Jelly Bean keyboard, which boasts better prediction (among other things) -- and that's something all of our fast fingertips are craving.

Ready to check it out on your Android 4.0 devices? Here's how to make it happen:

Step 1: Install a copy of Jelly Bean Keyboard, by Beansoft, on your Android.

Step 2: Open the Settings … Read more

June was cruel to the iPad, which saw its tablet competition grow fearsome.

Microsoft showed off its Surface tablet, which is aimed squarely at stealing iPad lovers away with the lure of its keyboard case (though without pricing, launch date, or any real details, it's hard to know if the iPad has anything to fear). Not to be left behind, Google took the wraps off its much-rumored and ballyhooed 7-inch Nexus Tablet. All that excitement was enough to wake the dead; in this case, it reanimated the iPad Mini rumor, which had been laid to rest.

Not anymore! Analysts … Read more

You've got an important text to send, but you're also trying to flag down a taxi, make a rude gesture at an enemy, or fight off a marauding seagull. It's a nightmare scenario, but possibly not for much longer, as leaked spy-shots suggest Windows Phone 8 devices will feature a one-handed one-screen keyboard.

WMPoweruser got ahold of the picture above, which reportedly comes from a leaked Microsoft Research presentation. As you can see, the keyboard is curved to fit your thumb, with individual characters sorted into distinct blocks.

Read more of "Windows Phone 8 to get curvy one-handed keyboard?" at Crave UK.… Read more

Is Microsoft bringing back the old days of one-thumb typing?

Microsoft-tracking blog WM Power User today published an image of what it claims, is a new keyboard being considered by Microsoft Research. The "one-handed and next-gen soft keyboard" will be designed for Windows Phone 8, according to the blog, and feature a curved design. That curve places the keys in such a way that makes it easier for users to type with a single thumb.

Since the implementation would provide less screen real estate for the keyboard, the image WM Power User published shows each button housing three … Read more

Swype, which was bought by Nuance recently, has released a new public beta for Android. It has some interesting new features, including the capability to learn as you go and built-in Dragon voice recognition. If you're interested in trying it out, here's how to install and enable the new Swype beta for Android:

Install Swype beta

Step 1: Register for the Swype beta at http://beta.swype.com/android/create.

Step 2: On your Android device, go to Settings > Application settings and tap on the box next to Unknown sources. This will allow you to install apps … Read more

If you're not familiar with SwiftKey, it's a Google Play Editors' Choice app, and it won the coveted Most Innovative App award at the 2011 Global Mobile Awards in Barcelona, Spain. What sets it apart from other keyboard replacement apps is its capability to understand not just patterns in your typing, but also how words work together. This makes it scary good at predicting not only the next letter you need to type, but also the next word, sometimes even before you begin typing it. What's more, Swiftkey can continue to learn from your e-mail, SMS, and … Read more

If you're not familiar with SwiftKey, it's a Google Play Editors' Choice app, and it won the coveted Most Innovative App award at the 2011 Global Mobile Awards in Barcelona, Spain. What sets it apart from other keyboard replacement apps is its capability to understand not just patterns in your typing, but also how words work together. This makes it scary good at predicting not only the next letter you need to type, but also the next word, sometimes even before you begin typing it. What's more, Swiftkey can continue to learn from your e-mail, SMS, and … Read more