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BlindType — the Amazing Keyboard of the Future

Posted by kdawson on from the do-what-i-mean dept.

kkleiner writes "BlindType has created a new touchscreen keyboard program of the same name that changes size, orientation, and position to match your wandering fingers as they type. BlindType also features some of the most impressive typing correction software I've ever seen. The result is a practical touchscreen interface that knows what you meant to type, even if you make mistakes. Lots of them. In fact, you can type without looking at the screen at all."

32 of 125 comments (clear)

  1. How is that novel? by winkydink · · Score: 4, Funny

    I've been typing without looking at the screen for my entire life!

    --

    "I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey

    1. Re:How is that novel? by DeadDecoy · · Score: 5, Funny

      So sdfgsdhgehaveadgsrgh I!
      I wonder what happens when you want to type garbage or inane abbreviations: e.g. lol omgwtfbbq brb afk QQ.
      A virtual hand probably materializes and slaps you.

    2. Re:How is that novel? by Asgerix · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That was my reaction too, until I RTFA and realized that it is about phones with a touchscreen.
      Summaries published by kdawson ought to have some kind of warning label, perhaps something like "Warning: This summary may not reflect the contents of the related article!"

      --
      Life is wet, then you dry.
    3. Re:How is that novel? by MozeeToby · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Just add 'lol' 'omgwtfbbq' 'brb' 'afk' and 'QQ' to the dictionary. I highly doubt that they didn't realize that people would want to add words, names, and places that they don't know about. Same system to add those can be used to add all the annoying text speak you want.

    4. Re:How is that novel? by Pharmboy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      They do, where it says "Posted by kdawson". Assuming you aren't new here.

      --
      Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
    5. Re:How is that novel? by skids · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I wonder what it looks like if you try to code with it.

      for (i=0; i4; ) {lease(r3,i); go( &i);}

      becomes:

      For I pop Ike. O Pleasure I'll goo You.\n

      maybe?

      --
      Someone had to do it.
  2. Can't believe it hasn't been done by Darkness404 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I really can't believe it took so long for them to make something like that, I figured that the Android/iPhone keyboard would look at finger movements on each key to try to see if you pressed in the center like you wanted that letter or far to the side like you didn't and adjust accordingly much like this. But I guess not.

    --
    Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
    1. Re:Can't believe it hasn't been done by Darkness404 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      True, but the phones I've been buying and have really enjoyed are the ones with a retractable keyboard that I only use the software keyboard if I'm too lazy to open up the phone to use the physical keyboard.

      --
      Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
    2. Re:Can't believe it hasn't been done by Fnkmaster · · Score: 3, Informative

      SwiftKey comes close, and has really good predictive text guesses that are usually right and will let me pick the exact thing I typed from the displayed list if I am typing a formerly unknown proper noun, for example, but it has some minor problems on my Nexus One that are really frustrating.

      First, it tends to recognize keypresses near the lower right corner as backspace or enter and on the bottom row as space keys. It's very smart about character keys, but doesn't apply the same analysis to punctuation keys - it should be obvious that I wouldn't type three characters then space then a garbled half of the word - it's like it stops processing when it thinks I meant to hit a space bar. Duh. Blindtype seems to be smarter about that.

      And second, it occasionally seems to fail to register or filters out the first 1-2 characters of a word I am typing if I type too fast. It's almost like it thinks they were so quick that they were mistakes. This is very frustrating and needs to be a configurable option for fast thumb typists like myself.

      These are the reasons I'm looking forward to BlindType, or at least a fixed version of SwiftKey. It seems from the BlindType demo videos to at least address the first problem because it processes a set of keypresses as a batch. Whether I'm faster in practice with BlindType, SwiftKey or something else will remain to be seen.

      And yes, I've tried Swype too and have it installed but don't use it everyday. It's nice and quite fast if I'm sitting there and looking at my screen, but I can't use it at all when I'm walking around or otherwise multitasking, which is why I'm so eager for BlindType.

    3. Re:Can't believe it hasn't been done by msauve · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You didn't watch the demo video, did you? Adaptation appears to be very fast and dynamic. They don't appear to be doing any per-user adaptation at all.

      --
      "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    4. Re:Can't believe it hasn't been done by Monkeedude1212 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Same here. I actually prefered T9 over my smartphone keyboard, but I definately prefer the physical thing over any touch interface I've encountered.

    5. Re:Can't believe it hasn't been done by clone53421 · · Score: 2

      It didn’t take long to make. It just took a while for somebody to conceive of it.

      It’s not just checking finger position relative to the keys, either. It’s creating a “pattern” for the word that you type, then comparing that pattern to the patterns of known words and picking the best match. It is insensitive to scale or angle, so I’m guessing they’re using distances and angles between each tap. But how...

      I imagine that, just like matching noisy data to a best-fit straight line, an inaccurate crooked line could be matched to the crooked line it’s supposed to fit and the quality of the fit be quantified using a variation of the least-squares method... oh shit, I’ve said too much.

      I just wish I’d thought of it first...

      --
      Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
  3. Feh by Pojut · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I still find a touchscreen keyboard to be a bit wonkey...for me, it isn't an accuracy problem, but a tactile problem.

    --
    Living With a Nerd
    1. Re:Feh by MozeeToby · · Score: 2, Insightful

      With the auto correction on most touch phones these days typing out complete words and sentences isn't really a problem once you get used to it. Especially hard to get past for me was wanting to hit backspace to correct it when you see mistakes, if you just plow on through it will usually fix the errors as you go. The problem is trying to type things that aren't complete words; email addresses, URLs, abbreviations, uncommon names and punctuation are all still very difficult to type and I don't see how this keyboard can improve them.

    2. Re:Feh by haystor · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It might provide an acceptable solution to the person who never learned to type or spell.

      --
      t
  4. Failure in naming the device by slaxative · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If you can't type on a keyboard without looking at it, you're doing it wrong.

    --
    This is not the penguin you're looking for.
    1. Re:Failure in naming the device by rotide · · Score: 4, Informative

      If you had watched the video you would have noticed that this is mainly for mobile devices with no physical keyboard (read: zero tactile feedback). If you can take a mobile device with an on screen keyboard and type perfectly fine without looking at it you've got great motor skills. But what happens if it is slightly askew since your fingers are drifting slightly due to no tactile feedback? This fixes that and allows you to literally have no keyboard displayed on the screen and still type coherent words and sentences.

      This isn't about learning to type on a real keyboard, it's about not needing one all together. Just know the basic layout and type away on the screen with no keyboard visual.

      I'm seriously hoping for one to come out with a small camera you mount on the screen that watches your fingers and allows you to type without the need to project a keyboard. Spacing wouldn't matter anymore and you could just type away with your eyes closed and the software is smart enough to guess what word you meant.

      So BlindType is pretty spot on. You can't see a keyboard (blind) and you can't feel one yet you're typing just fine.

  5. Gee, that's SURELY new... by mfarah · · Score: 3, Informative

    In fact, you can type without looking at the screen at all.

    Gee, that's new! Typists from decades ago were able to do just that. It was called "training" and "expertise".

    Seriously, though, I expect two distinct problems with this:

    1) How well will it handle "non-US slopiness"? Sloppy typing in Spanish (etc.) is quite different from typical english-language slopiness.

    2) IT'S NOT A MODEL M KEYBOARD!!! There, I said it. I don't care for "the keyboard of the future" if the "keyboard from the past" is still alive and well and functioning nicely. Actually, make that "the keyboard from the past and present". :-P

    --
    "Trust me - I know what I'm doing."
    - Sledge Hammer
    1. Re:Gee, that's SURELY new... by easterberry · · Score: 2, Informative

      If you can plug a model M into your smartphone and use it conveniently I will be impressed sir.

    2. Re:Gee, that's SURELY new... by mfarah · · Score: 4, Funny

      If you can plug a model M into your smartphone and use it conveniently I will be impressed sir.

      I'd rather crush my work smartphone that keeps ringing all day with my Model M keyboard. :-)

      --
      "Trust me - I know what I'm doing."
      - Sledge Hammer
    3. Re:Gee, that's SURELY new... by CWCheese · · Score: 2, Insightful

      So true, the craft of touch typing is seldom taught now, nearly everyone I hire recently have been two finger peck typists. While they are rather quick to type, you can see that few of them can compose while typing, they continually watch their index fingers and marvel that I can sit and type notes while engaging them in a meeting. Don't presume that I'm slamming them, I honestly am sad they were not taught proper touch typing skills and had the benefit of it through their careers. Knowing where the keys reside on a QWERTY keyboard compensates a little for the lacking tactile feedback of touchscreens. Alas, my fingers are fat now and can't easily tap just a single key on any screen keyboard, even when I know where it is.

      --
      Have a Day!
    4. Re:Gee, that's SURELY new... by Guspaz · · Score: 2, Interesting

      From what they've said, it appears to be language-independent. It's more to do about interpreting why you touched the screen in a certain place, so what language you're trying to type... it's just a different dictionary to match against.

  6. hrmm by Charliemopps · · Score: 4, Funny

    As standard spell check has already "corrected" my spelling into sending out requests for dates to my entire department, telling my boss I was flatulent and created numerous marital misunderstandings, I'm not sure I'm at all wanting to use this. Sometimes its best just to leave the typo so the reader can wonder what I meant, and not think I meant what the computer wondered.

  7. Swype is better by Karganeth · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I can type on swype without looking with ease.

    1. Re:Swype is better by teh31337one · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Swype is great, and comes pre-loaded on many phones [Droid X, Galaxy S series of phones]. Only problem is that it adds to your dictionary anything that you tap out. That includes garbage from URLs like the end of a bit.ly link. Without manually deleting garbage like that, it starts to become unusable.

      They should allow you to see and edit your dictionary like you can with T9.

  8. Re:Not for me yet by SpeedBump0619 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I've tried this. It constantly replaces VI commands with "I'm an erudite prick". I didn't have the courage to try emacs...

  9. Re:Spelling Nazis Rejoice? by ElectroPrime · · Score: 2, Funny

    As this program appears designed to interpret what you want to say based on actual, English-language words, it would be interesting to see how it would handle poor spellers. Personally, I am probably somewhat of a spelling nazi, as I cannot stand how inept some persons (seemingly the younger generation--get off my lawn!) appear to be at spelling. If this is released, I would imagine that poor spellers would either (a) be forced to finally learn how to spell (again, get off my lawn!), or regrettably more likely (b) be frustrated with the program and write off it's inability to correct their own deficiency as a problem with the software, itself.

    FTFY.

  10. The iPhone kind of does... by SuperKendall · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I figured that the Android/iPhone keyboard would look at finger movements on each key to try to see if you pressed in the center like you wanted that letter or far to the side like you didn't and adjust accordingly much like this

    The iPhone keyboard does actually take a lot of slop into account - if you type and shift to accidentally press other keys, the final word will correct based on keys that were almost where you hit, so that you don't have to be totally precise - the correction is pretty good on the iPhone and lets you type pretty fast as long as you trust the corrections.

    BlindType is more impressive though, since it's all dynamic and doesn't rely on keys to be in a fixed position - yet seemingly works just as well. The only downside to BlindType for actual blind typing is, I'm not sure how many people touch-type well enough already to use it without a visual reference. But you can simply leave up the keyboard in that case.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  11. Re:Not for me yet by greg1104 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Oh, in that case, probably "I'm an erudite GNU/prick".

  12. How I would code it by Bromskloss · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Let's think of how they might have designed the algorithm for this. In the videos, it looks like it is treating one word at a time, so let's consider that scenario here as well. I would define the problem as assigning to every possible word the probability that it is the word the user intended. I would use Bayes' theorem to achieve this.

    First, assume a prior probability distribution over all words. Words not in our dictionary, and words of the wrong length, we give probability zero. The remaining words can be assigned equal probability or, better, a probability proportional to their frequency in the language. If you want to be fancy, you could have more sophisticated models that knows which words are likely to come after others and such things.

    Second, for each candidate word, what is the probability that the user would tap the screen as they just did? A model for this could be that the location of each tap is drawn from a Gaussian probability distribution centred at the intended letter with a known standard deviation and that each tap's deviation from its target is independent of the others'.

    Finally, Bayes' theorem states that the posterior probability (the one we want to calculate) of each word is the word's prior probability (from step one) times its likelihood (the probability of step two).

    To implement the arbitrary position, orientation and size of the keyboard, we redefine the problem from finding the probability of each candidate word to finding the probability of each tuple (intended word, keyboard position, keyboard orientation, keyboard size). Make it simple; have each element of this tuple to be independent of the other and use flat distributions for all keyboard parameters. To choose the most likely word, you could either pick the word of the most likely tuple or, more correctly, for each candidate word, integrate over all possible keyboard parameters (weighted with their prior probabilities) to get the probability of that word. Likewise, you could introduce the standard deviation of the taps as another element of the tuple, with its own prior distribution.

    I suspect this method is a bit to heavy on computation cost and power consumption, so if you cannot find a clever way to do it fast, you might have to cut corners in the rigor (or do something completely different).

    (Can I come work for them now?) :-)

    --
    Swedish plasma phys. PhD student; MSc EE; knows maths, programming, electronics; finance interest; seeks opportunities
  13. Re: both Vi and Emacs by ronubi · · Score: 2, Informative

    Abcd1234 wrote:

    I'm calling bullshit.

    There's no way you use both Vi *and* Emacs.

    One word: viper. See http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_mono/viper.html#Top for details.

  14. passwords? by Maestr055 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    how would this allow you to type a nonsense password? Also, I noticed a lack of special keys and numbers but hey, guess it's still in development.