G.A.U.N.T.L.E.T. trades in keyboard and touchscreen typing for sweaty hands (video)

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Between touchscreens and physical keyboards, you’d thing that handset manufacturers have most of their bases covered. Given the fact that fact that the G.A.U.N.T.L.E.T. isn’t even the first glove keyboard we’ve seen, it seems safe to assume that there’s some cold-handed portion of the populace that just isn’t satisfied with their current options. Jake Liu’s solution is the Generally Accessible Universal Nomadic Tactile Low-power Electronic Typist, a wireless glove keyboard that connects to mobile devices via Bluetooth, letting you type by touching your thumb to your fingers.

The gloves, created when Liu was a student at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, have the corresponding letters printed on the fingers, with Enter, Backspace, Space and Function on the thumbnails, the latter of which allows you to switch between different keymaps like numbers and symbols. There’s also an accelerometer built into the Minority Report-inspired peripherals for added functionality. Check out a quick video demo of the clove in action, after the break.

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G.A.U.N.T.L.E.T. trades in keyboard and touchscreen typing for sweaty hands (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Jul 2012 18:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gauntlet Keyboard: Your Hand is the Keyboard

A team of young engineers have invented a wearable keyboard. They’re calling it the G.A.U.N.T.L.E.T. – the Generally Accessible Universal Nomadic Tactile Low-power Electronic Typist. I can’t decide which is more awkward, the acronym or the G.A.U.N.T.L.E.T. itself.

gauntlet keyboard

The glove was conceptualized by Jiake Liu, who was inspired by sci-fi movies Children of Men and Minority Report. The glove pairs with devices via Bluetooth, which makes it convenient. What doesn’t make it convenient is the position of the letters, which are scattered all over the glove.

It appears that Liu and his peers invented G.A.U.N.T.L.E.T. as part of a school project, so even though the device itself isn’t that practical I am still thoroughly impressed. Liu imagines a future where the glove can be used to operate almost any device: “Need to microwave something? Touch the microwave oven with GAUNTLET (version 10), and through NFC (near field communication) you are paired with the oven, whose interface will pop up on your glasses, and you can use GAUNTLET to set the cook time.  Need to print something? Touch the printer, and now you can control the printer. Etc.” But if you need to type something? Stick with your phone’s keyboard.

[Gauntlet via Ubergizmo]


Gauntlet keyboard-glove is ideal Google Glass finger foil

Text-entry on the move can be tricky, especially when big-screen phones are getting too cumbersome for single-handed use, and fondling your temple with Google Glass isn’t going to make it much easier. Into the fray steps Gauntlet, a DIY attempt to wrap a keyboard around a glove and fire off text to your mobile device via Bluetooth.

The 26-letter alphabet is spread across and in-between the fingers, and selected by tapping them with the thumb. It currently uses an Arduino Lilypad, the version of the trusty prototyper’s board designed to be stitched into wearable electronics, and will eventually be paired with a li-ion battery and a gyroscope for gesture-based controls.

It’s not the first we’ve seen of wearable keyboard alternatives, of course. Chorded keyboards have been around for several decades, trimming down the number of keys by introducing combination presses; although originally desk-bound, they were soon seized upon by mobile gadgeteers as ideal for on-the-move text entry. Long-time AR pioneer Steve Mann used chording keyboards in some of his wearables research, and an alternative approach was funded on Kickstarter last year.

Gauntlet is unlikely to reach the market, at least in its current form, which is being developed as part of a university design project. However, with an estimated price tag of around $99, there’s certainly the potential for it to be commercialized.

[via Ubergizmo]


Gauntlet keyboard-glove is ideal Google Glass finger foil is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Mobile Miscellany: week of July 9th, 2012

Mobile Miscellany week of July 9th, 2012

Not all mobile news is destined for the front page, but if you’re like us and really want to know what’s going on, then you’ve come to the right place. This past week, Motorola debuted the RAZR V in Canada and the Sony Xperia Ion was spotted at Rogers — curiously, the phone has yet to be formally announced for the carrier. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the “best of the rest” for this week of July 9th, 2012.

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Mobile Miscellany: week of July 9th, 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 14 Jul 2012 20:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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DIY Wireless Typing Glove Is The Future Of Michael Jackson Impersonation/Data Entry

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As we were wandering through the Atlanta meet-up last week we stumbled upon a charming young man wearing a glove studded with circuit boards and embroidered with what looked like silver thread. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that it was a wild homegrown glove made by a pair of former design students.

The project is called G.A.U.N.T.L.E.T. (Generally Accessible Universal Nomadic Tactile Low-power Electronic Typist) and is currently in beta stages. However, it would allow a person to type on any smartphone or computer with one hand, opening up interesting possibilities for people with stroke debilitation or a missing hand.

The creator, Jiake Liu, is co-founder of Kabob.it, a menu service for eateries. The glove, on the other hand, was an experiment he built in college and it has gone through a number iterations. Right now it uses electrically conductive embroidered letters to send signals via Bluetooth and they may improve the glove over time. Until then, I suggest that start-up founders wear something odd and cool when they come to our meetups in the future, thereby ensuring immediate attention.


Star Wars Keyboard With LCD Touchpad

The Force is strong with this $259.99 Star Wars Keyboard With LCD Touchpad, where you can do your bit in conquering the galaxy by starting off with your desktop. Sporting 10 dynamic adaptive tactile keys alongside a multi-touch full color LCD track panel that will send Star Wars fans into a frenzy, it will also help you gain a competitive edge in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Just to get a better idea on how the Star Wars Keyboard With LCD Touchpad works, its 10 dynamic adaptive tactile keys will enable you to customize all your skills, macros, and hotkeys for faster accessibility.

Sporting a multi-touch full-color LCD track-panel which you can set it up to either respond to direct gesture input or display interactive information, it is a totally new way of to experience the game like you never did before. Make sure you are able to wipe out your enemies in a jiffy as you can execute more than a single key command simultaneously, now how about that?

[ Star Wars Keyboard With LCD Touchpad copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]


Sony has a pimped up keyboard to usher in the summer

There are three more models of notebooks from Sony which are known as the Vaio C, E and F Series, where it will offer you the chance of enjoying a pimped up keyboard that will feature its fair share of summer inspired drawings. For those who are interested in this limited eidtion offer, do visit the Sony Style online store which will cost you just 3,000 Yen in order to enjoy a unique looking keyboard. It makes perfect sense though to have a more cheery looking keyboard, as this is the summer season which ought to be all smiles – for those who live in countries that “celebrate” summer, of course. On the other hand, such a cute and colorful looking keyboard also brings a smile to your face when you start off the work week.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Sixaxis Emulator lets you play all your PS3 games with your keyboard and mouse, Sony to maintain Sony Ericsson logo for a while more?,

Spike Case Adds a Physical Keyboard for Your iPhone

The iPhone’s on-screen keyboard is forgiving enough as it is, but sometimes, my fatter-than-normal fingers make me type out messages that are garbled, wrongly-spelled, and downright confusing.

I’ve never been interested in getting a separate physical keyboard for the iPhone, since I never found one that was right for what I needed in the market. Until I spied the Spike Case on Kickstarter, that is.

Spike CaseIt might look like a typical case without the keyboard, but snap it on and it’ll instantly transform your iPhone into one with a Blackberry-style physical keyboard!

And when you’re done typing, just swivel it out back and use your iPhone like your normally would with your fingers. Spike protects your phone while offering you the flexibility and convenience of an actual, physical keypad. I mean, really, I think it’s the answer to most iPhone users’ needs, especially those who have trouble with the virtual keyboard sometimes.

Spike Case1

You can find out more about the Spike Case by checking out its project page on Kickstarter. Making a pledge of at least $50(USD) will get you a Spike 2, which is the premium version of the case, while oddly enough a pledge of $49 will get you a Spike 1 case, plus a Spike 1 for the iPhone 5 when it ultimately arrives.

[via Oh Gizmo!]


T-Mobile myTouch and myTouch Q coming August 8th for $50, we go hands-on

TMobile myTouch and myTouch Q officially announced, we go handson

T-Mobile’s myTouch series is back with a new pair of devices — a slate and a slideout QWERTY, to be precise — and the lucky manufacturer this time around is Huawei, following in the footsteps made by HTC and LG in years past. Of course, we can’t say that this is much of a shocker, considering we’ve seen these midrange handsets go through endless rounds of rumors, FCC certification and even our very own hands-ons when visiting Huawei HQ (where the devices are known more officially as the Ascend G312 and G312 QWERTY). But they’re finally ready for the final production line and will be available August 8th for $50 after a $50 mail-in rebate. The myTouch will come in black and dark red, while the myTouch Q will be offered in black and white.

So what kind of specs can we expect to enjoy (or strongly dislike, depending on your personal preference) on the myTouch and myTouch Q? It’s running Android 2.3 on a special customized UI, for starters, which will be a huge disappointment to many potential buyers. Additionally, both devices will offer a 4-inch WVGA screen, 1,500mAh battery, 4GB of internal storage, microSD expansion, 5MP rear camera capable of taking 720p video, 0.3MP front-facing cam, HSPA+ connectivity and an unspecified 1.4GHz CPU (though we reported earlier that it should be a single-core MSM8255T accompanied by 1GB of RAM). Head below to check out our gallery and hands-on video, and then continue reading after the break to hear our first impressions.

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T-Mobile myTouch and myTouch Q coming August 8th for $50, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Jul 2012 00:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Keymonk Keyboard for Android is like Swyping with two fingers

Looking for an alternative keyboard to use on your Android phones? Well, the folks over at Golden Keymonk Ltd have come up with a new keyboard called Keymonk. It works similarly to Swype (where you slide over the characters you wish to use in your words), but instead of being limited to using one finger – users can now “swype” with two fingers. From the demonstration video, the idea seemed pretty interesting, but for someone like me (who only types with the phone in portrait mode) I didn’t find the ability to swype with two fingers anything mind blowing – perhaps it might appeal to those of you landscape-mode users out there. Check out the video demonstration above or head over to the Google Play Store to download it (free) if you’re keen on trying it out.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Word Lens now available on Android, Apple App Store’s first spam sending app pulled,