An Invisible Keyboard Aims to Improve Touch-Screen Typing

A Jerusalem-based start-up is trying to eliminate a problem that you didn’t know existed: the visibility of a keyboard.

At the International Consumer Electronics Show, the company, Snapkeys, demonstrated its invisible keyboard, which it is hoping will become the default typing method on smartphones and tablets, replacing the traditional qwerty layout.

“We wanted to get rid of the qwerty keyboard, because all these technologies have changed, and qwerty is the only thing that hasn’t changed,” said Ryan Ghassabian, a business development manager at Snapkeys. He added that typing on a touch-screen device, especially a tablet, is too cumbersome, and an invisible keyboard would increase speed and comfort.  Full story

Apple Says Pre-Orders of iPhone 4S Break Record

Apple says first-day pre-orders of the iPhone 4S topped 1 million, breaking the record set by last year’s model. Apple Inc. and various phone companies in the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Britain started taking orders for the phone last Friday. It hits stores this Friday.

The base model of the iPhone 4S costs $200 with a two-year contract. It has a faster processor and an improved camera compared to last year’s model. However, some customers and investors were disappointed that Apple didn’t launch a more radical new model. It’s been more than a year since Apple since the previous model was released.

Despite the record-breaking pace of iPhone 4S pre-orders, it’s hard to determine whether consumer demand is stronger for the new device than it was for previous versions. Although first-day orders for the iPhone 4 were 600,000 when it launched last year, Australia and Canada weren’t among the launch countries then — they got the phone a month later.  Full story

Apple to Announce New iPhone

Finally, it’s here. After months of speculation about timing, shape and sizes, Apple sent out media invites Tuesday for a special event on Apple’s campus next week. The invitation was sparse, with the headline simply saying: “Let’s talk iPhone.”

The event is Oct. 4 and will be at Apple’s campus in Cupertino, Calif. The invitation says it will begin with a “breakfast and coffee bar at 9 a.m.,” followed by an “executive presentation at 10 a.m.” According to sources and rumors sprinkled all over the Web, the event will be held to announce the next generation iPhone 5.

The next generation iPhone is expected to have completely revamped hardware. The camera, processor and other internal organs will all receive drastic upgrades, according to reports. The design of the phone will be different too. Last month, images of an alleged iPhone 5 case appeared online, although only for a short period.  Full story

Helping Drunken Drivers Avoid Tickets, but Not Wrecks

FRIENDS don’t let friends drive drunk. If they can’t take their friend’s keys away, they take their smartphone. Why? The phone may have an app that can help them avoid sobriety checkpoints.

Last month, Senators Harry Reid, Charles E. Schumer, Frank R. Lautenberg and Tom Udall asked Apple, Google and Research In Motion, the maker of BlackBerrys, to remove apps from their online stores that help drunken drivers evade sobriety checkpoints.

On March 23, the day after the letter went out, the group said BlackBerry agreed to pull the apps and thanked the group for bringing them to its attention.

Apple and Google? Nothing.

An Apple spokeswoman said the company would not comment. A Google spokesman said the apps did not violate the company’s content policies.

Full story

Eric Schmidt Predicts a Smartphone-Fueled Future

BARCELONA, Spain — In a keynote address here Tuesday evening at the Mobile World Congress, Eric E. Schmidt, chief executive of Google, outlined his vision for the future of search, which he said would become easier, more intuitive and more serendipitous.

He called the concept “autonomous search,” and described a scenario in which a smartphone might ping a person wandering around Barcelona to alert them that a building designed by Antonio Gaudi was within walking distance, because Google knows the person has a love of Spanish architecture and history.

Full story.

10 Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Technology

Your gadgets and computers, your software and sites — they are not working as well as they should. You need to make some tweaks.

Sadly, many people labor under the misapprehension that making adjustments to hardware and software is difficult and time-consuming. It is not.

Below are 10 things to do to improve your technological life. They are easy and (mostly) free. Altogether, they should take about two hours; one involves calling your cable or phone company, so that figure is elastic. If you do them, those two hours will pay off handsomely in both increased free time and diminished anxiety and frustration. Do not be intimidated — you already have the skills you need to make significant and radical improvements.

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Would You Wear a Camcorder on Your Ear?

If you’re obsessed with sharing your life in video – and equally enthusiastic about multitasking – you might want to take a look at the Looxcie, a $199 camcorder that you wear over your ear to enable hands-free video capture.

The Looxcie connects to a smartphone via Bluetooth to record and share video. (It also doubles as Bluetooth headset for your phone, albeit an inelegant one.) For now, the Looxcie is compatible only with Android 2.0 phones, although the eponymous company says it will add compatibility with BlackBerrys and iPhones later this fall.

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