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Showing posts with label typing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label typing. Show all posts

Eyes-Free Typing App Fleksy Coming to Android With One Major Advantage Over iOS Version

Posted by Unknown Friday, May 31, 2013 0 comments

Fleksy the eyes-free typing app that originally debuted for iOS is now available in beta for Android. Fleksy uses gestures and text prediction to allow users to type without looking a the screen. Fleksy can be extremely helpful for the blind and visually impaired and can dramatically increase typing speed people who cannot see the screen. Unlike the iOS version the Android version can replace the default keyboard and be used with any app. In iOS you cannot use Fleksy in an email app or with the messages app but on Android you can. Besides integration with Android apps the Android version will be similar to the iOS version. Android users can try the Fleksy by visiting the Fleksy Beta Google+ page.


Click read more below to view a video about Fleksy.


Researchers Find Faster Eyes-Free Typing Solution for Touch Screens

Posted by Unknown Wednesday, February 22, 2012 0 comments


Researchers have developed and faster way to type on touch screens with out seeing the screen. The solution, called BrailleTouch, is perfect for blind smart phone users. BrailleTouch uses the three dots on each side of the screen to represent Braille alphabet. BrailleTouch is designed to be used with the touch screen facing away from the user. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd fingers of both hands are used to touch the six dots. Researchers claim that BrailleTouch allows users to type eyes-free with 92 percent accuracy and 32 words per minutes. BrailleTouch is a prototype app and is not available to the public.

Click read more below to read the press release.
GEORGIA TECH DEVELOPS BRAILLE-LIKE TEXTING APP

ATLANTA - Feb. 17, 2012 - Imagine if smartphone and tablet users could text a note under the table during a meeting without anyone being the wiser. Mobile gadget users might also be enabled to text while walking, watching TV or socializing without taking their eyes off what they're doing.

Georgia Tech researchers have built a prototype app for touch-screen mobile devices that is vying to be a complete solution for texting without the need to look at a mobile gadget's screen.

"Research has shown that chorded, or gesture-based, texting is a viable solution for eyes-free written communication in the future, making obsolete the need for users to look at their devices while inputting text on them," said Mario Romero, Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Interactive Computing (IC) and the project's principal investigator.

The free open-source app, called BrailleTouch, incorporates the Braille writing system used by the visually impaired. It has been conceived as a texting tool for any of the millions of smartphone phone users worldwide.

Early studies with visually impaired participants proficient in Braille typing have demonstrated that users can input at least six times the number of words per minute when compared to other research prototypes for eyes-free texting on a touch screen. Users reach up to 32 words per minute with 92 percent accuracy with the prototype app for the iPhone.

"We are currently designing a study to formally evaluate BrailleTouch through both quantitative and qualitative methods," said Caleb Southern, an IC graduate student. "We will measure the typing speed and accuracy of visually impaired users and capture the feedback from study participants in areas such as comfort, ease of use and perceived value."

For sighted users, the research team is exploring how BrailleTouch could be a universal eyes-free mobile texting app that replaces soft QWERTY keyboards and other texting technologies.

"BrailleTouch is an out-of-the-box solution that will work with smartphones and tablets and allow users to start learning the Braille alphabet in a few minutes," said Romero. "It also reduces the need for expensive proprietary Braille keyboard devices, which typically cost thousands of dollars."

The researchers have designed BrailleTouch to address the limitations of soft keyboards, which do not provide tactile feedback, as well as physical keyboards, which often use small and numerous fixed buttons. BrailleTouch is the only iPhone app in existence that uses a six-finger chording process that replicates the traditional Braille keyboard.

The app uses a gesture-based solution by turning the iPhone's touchscreen into a soft-touch keyboard programmed for Braille and requiring only six keys, making it a practical solution for the limited screen real estate on smartphones.

The key feature of the BrailleTouch technology is the use of the six-key configuration so that the keyboard fits on the screen and users keep their fingers in a relatively fixed position while texting. This design allows users to hold their device with the screen facing away from them ¬– cradling the device with their palms or pinkies and thumbs – and to type with a majority of their fingers, identical to typing Braille on a standard keyboard.

The team behind BrailleTouch is led by Romero and IC Professor Gregory Abowd, co-principal investigator. Former IC affiliate Brian Frey conceived the original idea and developed the first prototype and Southern created an improved design. They are conducting usability studies together with James Clawson, a Ph.D. candidate in IC, and Kate Rosier, a master's graduate in Digital Media and bachelor's graduate in Computational Media.

The research group has developed iPhone and iPad versions of BrailleTouch and is currently working on Android versions. The app recently won the MobileHCI 2011 competition for design at the MobileHCI conference in Stockholm, Sweden.

BrailleTouch will be demonstrated at the Abilities Expo-Atlanta 2012, taking place Feb. 17-19 at the Georgia World Congress Center. A video of BrailleTouch in action is available at the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIEO1bUFHsI

This project was supported in part by the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center for Wireless Technologies (Wireless RERC), which is funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), United States Department of Education, under grant number H133E110002. 

Tools to Make Typing on iPad Easier

Posted by Unknown Monday, June 27, 2011 0 comments
Typing on the iPad's touch screen can be difficult and slow compared to a physical keyboard. While typing on the iPad you must look at the screen because you can not feel the keys. For people that can not see the screen typing on the iPad is slow. There are a couple of tools to solve this problem. The first solution is the iPad keyboard dock. The keyboard dock plugs into the iPad's dock connector and works with the iPad and iPad 2. The keyboard is similar to desktop and laptop key boards but has function keys specialized for the iPad. The keyboard dock costs $69 from Apple. Another option is a Bluetooth keyboard which connects to the iPad wirelessly. There are many Bluetooth keyboards on the market. Bluetooth keyboards can improve your typing experience on the iPad. Yet another solution is Keyguard which is a clear piece of plastic with holes cut  where the virtual keys are. Keyguard fits on the iPad so it does not slide off. Keyguard allows you to feel the location of the virtual keys. Keyguard comes it portrait and landscape views. Each orientation of Keyguard costs $19.95 from Lasered Pics. With these tools you will be able to type faster and more accurately on the iPad. 

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