product groups are busy crafting their reply(s) to the Apple iPad. But Microsoft Groundwork is doing work on slate/tablet-related assignments of its own, which include a way to add bodily keys to your backs of these varieties of mobile-computing products. Research’s RearType project is dedicated to finding a way affix keys on the backs of all forms of tablets and slates, but in a way that users can reach them by gripping the sides of the gadgets. have taken the two halves of a QWERTY keyboard and rotated the keys in a means that a user’s thumbs remain on the front of the surface and the other keys are placed within reach of the thumbs. (Microsoft Research’s shots of the front and back of a prototype device using RearType are featured towards the right and can be expanded by clicking on the images.) An on/off button for activating/deactivating the keys to avoid typing is a must, the researchers note. is described in a new white paper, dated September 2010. That paper, entitled,
buy microsoft windows 7 64bit key, “RearType: Text Entry Using Keys on the Back of a Device,
microsoft office 2007 Standard activation,” is authored by two Microsoft researchers, one author from RWTH Aachen university in Germany and two authors from the University of Toronto. Scott, one of the Microsoft researchers on RearType, also worked on the Microsoft Research Menlo/Greenfield cellular project about which I blogged yesterday. The other Microsoft researcher, Shahram Izadi, has done work on Microsoft’s SecondLight Surface computer, among other device-interaction assignments. RearType paper describes the project as follows: goal is a system that provides the tactile feedback and familiarity of a regular keyboard without cluttering the front of the display, ameliorates the occlusion problem inherent in direct on-screen touch and pen input, does not use the valuable screen real-estate taken up by an on-screen keyboard, leverages users existing skills in touch-typing on a regular bodily QWERTY keyboard, and allows for text entry in highly mobile usage scenarios.” building a prototype, the researchers put it through its paces with 12 study participants who were expert QWERTY typists. According towards the paper, with one hour of training, typing speed in English averaged 15.1 words per minute,
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office 2007 update key, there’s no guarantee when or even if RearType will find its way into shipping products. am not a fan of a soft keyboard on a PC (though the one on the iPad i bought is a lot easier to use than I expected). I don’t mind the mini-keyboard on my Kindle 2, though it does take up an awful lot of room on the device. Still,
discount win 7 license, I’m not sure I’m ready for keys on the back of my slate. You?