Gizmodo: handwriting

Next-Gen Audi A8 Includes Handwriting Recognition, Bafflingly

Dan Nosowitz — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 20:30:00 EDT

Think texting while driving is dangerous? How about leaning over to the center console to scrawl "NEAREST BATHROOM!!!!!" on your car's navigation system with a stylus? Audi's next-gen A8 includes handwriting recognition to make that dangerous dream a dangerous reality.

We don't know much about the feature, integrated into Audi's MMI navigation system, partly because the Google translation of the source comes up with hilarious gold like "The switch salad on the center console is passé." Is it ever!

The new models will be coming out in November, and it looks like the revamped MMI is focusing on a touchscreen interface to simplify the process of navigation. Hopefully that extends to the odd inclusion of handwriting recognition in a car. [German Car Blog]

Windows 7 Tablet Capabilities Make Tablet PCs, and You, Smarter

Dan Nosowitz — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 13:45:00 EDT

Tablet PCs usually seem like a great idea until you actually use them, but the Windows 7 team has been working hard to make the platform more usable than ever— especially for students.

New features for Windows 7 include recognition of mathematical formulas and East Asian languages, as well as the addition of a soft keyboard with multitouch and a totally revamped method for correcting handwriting. Here's hoping we finally get a droolworthy, sleek, and most importantly, useful tablet to take advantage of the new features. [MSDN, thanks JagsLive]

Mintpad Wireless Post-Its Good For Classroom Note-Passing, Digital-Style

Kit Eaton — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 08:15:00 EST

Digitized Post-It-alike gizmos aren't new, but none I can think of is quite as functional as Mintpass' Mintpad. It's a web-surfing, Wi-Fi, media player with 1.3-megapixel cam, microphone and built-in speaker, 4GB of memory with microSD expansion. Plus it's a 320 x 240-pixel 2.9-inch touchscreen note-taker.

It won't handwriting-recognize your scrawls though, it simply replaces Post-Its for reminder notes. And you can send your notes over the net to other Mintpad owners. Will it replace crumpled paper-notes bearing "Steve fancies you!" messages thrown between desks in class—or displace the humble SMS? Could do, but since it's out in South Korea for about $156, probably not. [Pocketables via Engadget]

Asus Working on Handwriting-Pad Add-on for Eee PC

Kit Eaton — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 09:00:00 EDT

While modders are busily adapting the Eee PC for touchscreen capability, it seems that Asus has been working on an official handwriting recognition add-on. Demoed at last weeks Computex show, the Asus pad accepts English and Chinese (traditional and simplified) characters and simply plugs into the Eee's USB port. It measures 4.3 x 4.4 x 0.7 inches, with the touch pad being a little over 2-inches across. If you're an eager hand-writing fan, you'll have to wait though, as there's no launch date or price info. [Aving via Pocket Lint]

iPhone 2.0 Firmware Will Have Handwriting Recognition, Go to Japan and China?

Jason Chen — Mon, 05 May 2008 12:46:28 EDT

A blog on the Wretch.cc network (kinda like a Chinese blogspot) has screens from the Chinese version of iPhone's 2.0 firmware, detailing the new handwriting recognition. If it's real, which it seems to be, the new firmware will let people draw in characters with their fingers, then pick the closest approximation among choices that pop up.

For the Chinese version, you've got the choice of either handwriting or using Pinyin, which is like spelling out the word you want and choosing the correct character. Would Apple add all this Chinese and Japanese support if the iPhone wasn't coming to China and Japan officially? No, probably not. [Wretch via Macrumors]

Question of the Day: Does Typing Make Your Handwriting Worse?

Sean Fallon — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 20:20:00 EDT

Thanks to a first grade teacher who had a boot camp approach to handwriting, my cursive remains elegant despite the fact that I haven't written as much as a letter in at least 5 years. However, it has come to my attention that in an age of email, text messages and electronic documents, handwriting skill can deteriorate when unused. So, the question is: has typing made your handwriting worse?

A1Pro Keyboard Has Handwriting Pad With Character Recognition

Jason Chen — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 14:00:10 EDT

This A1Pro keyboard isn't that useful for us, who can type just fine with the standard QWERTY keys, but is incredibly useful for, say, Chinese people who want to write characters the way they're used to writing on paper (typing takes a lot longer to learn). The keyboard looks normal on the left, but instead of a numpad, it has a smallish glowing tablet. If we ever wanted to write in Chinese—which we haven't done in about 14 years—we'd pick up one of these for $25.48. [Dealextreme via Crave via Gearfuse]