Gmail Tap • Hacker News Board

Re: Gmail Tap

#11

Post by defrost » Sun, Apr 01, 2012, 5:42 AM UTC

April fools or not, if we're talking alternative fast input methods then why not remind people of chording keyboards[1]? Nice simple keypads ergonomically designed for comfortable one handed use with multi key combinations corresponding to letters / digits / symbols.

There was a trial a few years back by the University of Queensland marine division of an underwater system with HUD facemask display and a chording keypad so that researchers diving could hold specimans / tools whilst also looking up references / enter data.

Like a number of alternative key entry systems it was surprisingly fast once people became used to it.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorded_keyboard

Re: Gmail Tap

#12

Post by jefe78 » Sun, Apr 01, 2012, 5:43 AM UTC

While I'm tired of these jokes, this is the first time I've actually wanted the product.

Re: Gmail Tap

#13

Post by ronnier » Sun, Apr 01, 2012, 6:16 AM UTC

sebastianavina wrote: post #6

I'm kind of tired of this "april fool" pranks.

It was fun about 8 years ago. It has since grown tiresome.

Re: Gmail Tap

#14

Post by jlees » Sun, Apr 01, 2012, 6:24 AM UTC

HN tie-in: Reed Morse, "lead engineer" for GMail Tap, is one of the founders of Punchd, a 500 Startups company which was acquired by Google last year.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3166030

Re: Gmail Tap

#15

Post by cloudwalking » Sun, Apr 01, 2012, 6:27 AM UTC

xxdiamondxx wrote: post #8

Do you think it would be possible to input morse code through the accelerometers, so i can tap anywhere on the phone?

Don't see why not. We were thinking of using the microphone so you could tap anywhere near/on the phone...

Re: Gmail Tap

#16

Post by MBlume » Sun, Apr 01, 2012, 6:36 AM UTC

sebastianavina wrote: post #6

I'm kind of tired of this "april fool" pranks.

...seriously? They happen once a year.

Re: Gmail Tap

#17

Post by collint » Sun, Apr 01, 2012, 7:03 AM UTC

JoshTriplett wrote: post #5

collint wrote: post #4

I'm not sure if the joke is Morse code on a phone, or using two buttons for Morse code.

Many high-speed CW (Morse) operators use devices with two inputs rather than one (called "iambic paddles"). See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegraph_key for various types of Morse inputs beyond the traditional single key.

Pleased to be educated :)

Re: Gmail Tap

#18

Post by saurik » Sun, Apr 01, 2012, 7:11 AM UTC

cloudwalking wrote: post #3

I put the app we used in the video up on Play Market: http://goo.gl/IZN16 It's a real Android input manager, you can use it (more or less) as a real keyboard :) The code is open-source: https://code.google.com/p/morse-keyboard/

There has actually been something similar (even, a serious and real product that has been actively maintained for years and is being sold for $1.99) in Cydia (for jailbroken iPhones) available on iOS for a while now, in case anyone wants to try it on non-Android ;P.

http://iditdahtext.com/

Re: Gmail Tap

#19

Post by meej » Sun, Apr 01, 2012, 5:57 PM UTC

I find it kind of sadly ironic that morse code could actually speed up input, and perhaps shouldn't be treated as a joke. For example, a pair of telegraph operators beat "the world's fastest SMS texter" on Jay Leno a couple years back.

http://www.flixxy.com/sms-text-messaging-vs-morse-code.htm