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Brain-Computer Interface Smashes Previous Record for Typing Speed

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Re: Brain-Computer Interface Smashes Previous Record for Typing Speed

#101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use swipe-style input (don't know whether it's actually swype) for most things. It's somewhat annoying that it can't tell the difference between words with identical swipe patterns. I find it more annoying that it can't even attempt to render words that it doesn't know. The reason is exactly the same as its inability to distinguish "isn't" from "orange" -- there just isn't enough information in a swipe to identify…

I think Swype could rely more on repeatable patterns. Eg if you're swyping in a straight line and want a letter included from that you should do a little loop on it. Eg with "our" I do a little loop on "u" and it doesn't pick "or" anymore. But it does then also pick "out"... It should be way more accurate on the starting and ending characters. If I'm starting with "i" I'm not going for "orange". One thing that freque…

SwiftKey definitely notices if you do an extra movement on a letter—it's quite easy to differentiate between "to" and "too" with that strategy, even when it doesn't have the rest of the sentence for context.

Re: Brain-Computer Interface Smashes Previous Record for Typing Speed

#102
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can do about 45-50 wpm on my phone with swype typing. It would probably be faster, but words like "our" and "off" are hard because it seems like it's luck whether the keyboard picks "or" or "our", of/off. Swype is pretty great for writing with a phone. I kind of wish there was an improved Swype though.

Swype is absolutely fantastic when it works right. I also agree that it would greatly benefit from having a better algorithm behind it. Given how accurate search suggestion algorithms are becoming, I find it surprising that keyboard suggestions are as bad as they are. If swype could have the same predictive abilities as search engines it would be a major boost in speed and comfort.

I was with my previous girlfriend for ~5 years, and have basically been using Gboard the entire time. We communicated via various messaging services literally every single day. If I was to try swipe-type her name right now, there is a 50% chance that it will suggest a different but similar name that I think I have literally never accepted as a suggestion.

I was expecting this feature when I got my first Android phone over a decade ago, and I am still waiting for it. Is there some engineering step that I'm missing? Model my typing history and use that for prediction weightings. Is this unfeasible on my phone hardware?

Re: Brain-Computer Interface Smashes Previous Record for Typing Speed

#103
post #83
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My average typing speed is 80-110, but I can max out at 121. This is for standard english words, not the crazy blocks of letters and special characters used for competition, which IMO isn't practical for the average user. I actually spend a few minutes every few weeks taking typing tests etc, as it's a valuable skill to me. I figure if the average typing speed is somewhere between 50-80 WPM, if I can type 50% faster,…

Are tasks like responding to emails and adding comments limited by typing speed ? I would have guessed most typing tasks aside from copying text are limited by knowing what to type.

I think it's frequently the case that you determine what you're going to type in a block-wise fashion. You know roughly what the next paragraph/sentence should look like, and then "speak" through your typing. If you type faster, you will almost certainly "speak" faster in this way.

Re: Brain-Computer Interface Smashes Previous Record for Typing Speed

#104
post #95

> A machine learning algorithm then decodes the brain patterns associated with each letter, and a computer displays the letters on a screen. The participant was able to communicate at about 90 characters, or 18 words, per minute. > By comparison, able-bodied people close in age to the study participant can type on a smartphone at about 23 words per minute, the authors say. Adults can type on a full keyboard at an ave…

I can do about 45-50 wpm on my phone with swype typing. It would probably be faster, but words like "our" and "off" are hard because it seems like it's luck whether the keyboard picks "or" or "our", of/off. Swype is pretty great for writing with a phone. I kind of wish there was an improved Swype though.

Did you know that Swype stopped being available on Android in 2018?[1] I just learned this, and I still haven't found a keyboard that lets you do Ctrl+C and Ctrl+Z like Swype did. Tried SwiftKey and Gboard.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swype

Re: Brain-Computer Interface Smashes Previous Record for Typing Speed

#105
post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Swype is absolutely fantastic when it works right. I also agree that it would greatly benefit from having a better algorithm behind it. Given how accurate search suggestion algorithms are becoming, I find it surprising that keyboard suggestions are as bad as they are. If swype could have the same predictive abilities as search engines it would be a major boost in speed and comfort.

I was with my previous girlfriend for ~5 years, and have basically been using Gboard the entire time. We communicated via various messaging services literally every single day. If I was to try swipe-type her name right now, there is a 50% chance that it will suggest a different but similar name that I think I have literally never accepted as a suggestion. I was expecting this feature when I got my first Android phone…

Swype lets you long-press a suggestion and choose to never suggest that again.

Re: Brain-Computer Interface Smashes Previous Record for Typing Speed

#106
post #87

> A machine learning algorithm then decodes the brain patterns associated with each letter, and a computer displays the letters on a screen. The participant was able to communicate at about 90 characters, or 18 words, per minute. > By comparison, able-bodied people close in age to the study participant can type on a smartphone at about 23 words per minute, the authors say. Adults can type on a full keyboard at an ave…

I feel obligated to mention https://typeracer.com

https://monkeytype.com is much cleaner IMO if you're not trying to battle anyone.

Re: Brain-Computer Interface Smashes Previous Record for Typing Speed

#107

Once this read the mind thing matures, so much of the software will have to be rewritten. Even now sometimes I have to joke around in office "PC is slower than me" because I gave certain commands in sequence and it is still performing them one by one while I wait for computer to catch up. Now imaging this, command directly from brain to the machine. In engineering world, It would increase the productivity by at et le…

If you're already able to do input faster than the computer can process your commands, how would a faster input method increase productivity?

Re: Brain-Computer Interface Smashes Previous Record for Typing Speed

#108
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's silly that it's hidden, because 18 WPM for a quadriplegic still seems extremely impressive to me, given that it's just working from brain electrodes and not some muscle the person can control. Yes, the headline is silly, because by hiding it it ended up causing the snark about 18 WPM being slow. I'm surprised, though, that the most efficient way to do this is still to have the person imagine physically drawing t…

> 18 WPM for a quadriplegic still seems extremely impressive to me Honest question: how so? We should expect a direct neural interface to far exceed the speed of any manual input device, especially after 40-50 years of research.

Because I'm basing it on where things were 5-10 years ago (almost nothing like it actually working yet), not some hypothetical place where the research could be after 50 years.

GPT-3 is also very impressive to me, even though 30 years ago I thought we'd have Hal by now.

Some problems just turn out to be way harder than anyone anticipated, and so when they make advances I'm impressed.

Re: Brain-Computer Interface Smashes Previous Record for Typing Speed

#109
post #106
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel obligated to mention https://typeracer.com

https://monkeytype.com is much cleaner IMO if you're not trying to battle anyone.

Cool site! 113 wpm at 95% accuracy... I can live with that.

Re: Brain-Computer Interface Smashes Previous Record for Typing Speed

#110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Touchscreen typing on native keyboards always feels slow to me, but with apps like SwiftKey which remap the boundaries of the virtual keyboard to better match your intended keystrokes I can type significantly faster. Add swiping and completion to that and I'm pretty confident one can easily beat that 23wpm mark

I thought Apple had a patent on this technology, interesting to see others do it

Apple was extremely late to the boat and it was one of first high profile features people said was blatantly copied from Android which had Swype and Swift Key for years
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