{"id":3736,"date":"2014-03-10T10:03:01","date_gmt":"2014-03-10T14:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.library.mcgill.ca\/schulich\/?p=3736"},"modified":"2014-03-11T13:41:41","modified_gmt":"2014-03-11T17:41:41","slug":"a-keyboard-without-a-keyboard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.mcgill.ca\/schulich\/a-keyboard-without-a-keyboard\/","title":{"rendered":"A Keyboard Without a Keyboard"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.library.mcgill.ca\/schulich\/files\/2014\/03\/keyboard.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3737 aligncenter\" alt=\"keyboard\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.library.mcgill.ca\/schulich\/files\/2014\/03\/keyboard-300x143.jpg\" width=\"418\" height=\"207\" \/><\/a>We all know there are apps for everything.\u00a0 But now there is an app that can create something out of nothing.\u00a0 Imagine typing up the next great novel by simply tapping your fingers on a desk.\u00a0 Florian Kr\u00e4utli is an industrial designer living in the Netherlands who has designed an app that can allow you to do just that.\u00a0 His invention can literally turn any surface into a keyboard for your iphone.\u00a0 For his master\u2019s degree in cognitive computing from the University of London, he created the Vibrative Virtual Keyboard, an invention that is less like transmitting Morse code and more like playing air guitar.\u00a0 Unlike similar designs that allow users to type onto a laser-projected keyboard, his app requires no additional hardware other than your nearest flat surface.\u00a0 The app works by taking readings from the iphone\u2019s internal accelerometer which measures vibrations near the iphone.\u00a0 The user spends some time teaching the iphone what certain taps mean, and the software figures out the rest.\u00a0 The app is in its early stages and the readings from the iphone\u2019s internal accelerometer are not always spot on.\u00a0 However, Kr\u00e4utli claims that \u201cif you made the accelerometer more sensitive you could improve the accuracy quite easily\u201d (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/technology\/apple\/9664362\/Apple-iPhone-turns-table-top-into-full-sized-invisible-keyboard.html\">The Telegraph<\/a>).\u00a0 In the meantime, the app relies on a spell checker to get words right.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/vimeo.com\/49780741\">Here<\/a> is the app in action.<\/p>\n<p>How do you get your keyboard without a keyboard installed on your iphone?\u00a0 The app is still in its proof of concept phase and has yet to be commercialized.\u00a0 So for now, you\u2019ll need some hardware or at least a pen and paper to get started on that novel!<\/p>\n<p><i>Image from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gold.ac.uk\/news\/pressrelease\/?releaseID=977\">Goldsmiths, University of London<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We all know there are apps for everything.\u00a0 But now there is an app that can create something out of nothing.\u00a0 Imagine typing up the next great novel by simply tapping your fingers on a desk.\u00a0 Florian Kr\u00e4utli is an &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.mcgill.ca\/schulich\/a-keyboard-without-a-keyboard\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[173],"class_list":["post-3736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.mcgill.ca\/schulich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.mcgill.ca\/schulich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.mcgill.ca\/schulich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.mcgill.ca\/schulich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.mcgill.ca\/schulich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3736"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.mcgill.ca\/schulich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3738,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.mcgill.ca\/schulich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3736\/revisions\/3738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.mcgill.ca\/schulich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.mcgill.ca\/schulich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.mcgill.ca\/schulich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}