HandwritingRecognition
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Now Android devices can understand your chickenscratch
Tired of typing on your tablet? Sick of speaking to your phone? Well, if you've got Android 4.0.3 or higher, you are in luck because Google Handwriting Input for Android has just hit the Play Store. This utility app supports both printed and cursive writing styles, understands 82 languages and can even decipher hand-drawn emojis. What's more, it doesn't require you to use a stylus -- though for languages not based on the Roman alphabet (like Japanese, Korean or Hindi), a writing implement definitely helps. I just downloaded this to a Nexus 6 and it understood my scrawlings reasonably well. The only issue of immediate concern is the warning that Google will be saving all of the input text -- including any passwords and credit card numbers -- so take care with what you write.
Notes Plus is a terrific note taker for iPad
Notes Plus (iPad only, US$9.99) is an app for taking notes. It sounds simple enough, and you'd expect that it's certainly a needed app for people who are drawing, scribbling and writing down anything from lecture notes to making diagrams or designs. Of course, Notes Plus goes far beyond just taking notes. This latest update adds some features and makes the app iOS 8-friendly. The app lets you write naturally with either a finger or a stylus, with smooth and readable vector graphic strokes. You can also create a text box to type inside, with a wide choice of type styles and colors. Once anything is on the Notes Plus screen, it can be resized or moved. Scaling is smooth and shows no artifacts. The app supports both left- and right-handed users. Notes Plus also lets you record audio, and the recording continues in the background if you leave the app. Notes Plus also allows you to import a PDF or Word document for annotation. The app supports pre-drawn shapes, and images can be imported from your iPad. Notes Plus gives you automatic backup using Dropbox, as well as a folder structure that lets you define places to put things. You get a nice choice of notebook designs, and many styles of paper to write on. Handwriting recognition to turn your words into text is available as a $2.99 in-app purchase. I used the app quite a bit over the last few days, and it really is terrific. However, don't expect to simply pick up your iPad and start taking notes right away. The app requires you to learn special gestures, and you'll need to accommodate the structure Notes Plus offers. That's not a negative -- the app can't be powerful and yet have no learning curve to overcome. Once you do learn Notes Plus, helped by a well done quick-start document and extensive detailed help, you'll be on your way. I did not try the app with a stylus, and it probably feels more natural to write with one. Once I adjusted, it worked fine with my finger as a "pen". If I was still a student and taking lots of notes, this app would be indispensable. It's great for business use, and even creative writers or just list makers will find it extremely useful. I wish there was an iPhone version of this app, because I always have my iPhone with me but don't usually run around with my iPad. It wold be challenging to do this app on an iPhone, but as we know, iPhone screens are getting bigger so the conversion should be easier. Notes Plus is not a cheap app, but the $10.00 price is fair given the power and flexibility. I'm not happy about the extra in-app purchase, as I think handwriting recognition should be a basic built-in feature. Apps that you purchase that keep asking for more just irk me, and I really wish the practice would diminish. Notes Plus is a terrific app that deserves a look if you have the need for its many features. It requires iOS 7 or greater, and was very smooth under iOS 8. Highly recommended.
PhatPad offers decent handwriting recognition and numerous sharing options for digital inkers
PhatPad is a note-taking app from PhatWare with a long history that extends back to the early days of Windows Pocket PC. It transitioned to the iOS platform with an iPad app that debuted a few years back. The company is known for its digital inking solutions, which let you write on a tablet device with a stylus and then convert the handwritten notes to plain text. This handwriting recognition is the selling feature of PhatPad and it really shines. The latest iterations of the app build upon this solid handwriting foundation and add niceties like cloud syncing, voice recording and presentation mode. PhatPad opens with a plain white slate that you can use for taking notes with a stylus. The app is geared towards inking and includes palm rest rejection technology, which tells the app to record your writing and ignore the marks from your palm resting on the screen while you write. There's also a setting that'll ignore single point strokes, which are usually made by your fingers briefly touching the screen as you write. The stylus is your main tool for input, though you can turn on a keyboard option if you need to type. The pencil is your main writing tool in PhatPad, and you can change its color and thickness. There are five thicknesses ranging from fine point to marker size and five colors including red, green, blue, yellow and traditional black. There's also an eraser and a lasso tool to select blocks of writing. When you select an area, you can chose to copy, cut or delete the item. You can also convert the handwriting to plain text or change the ink options. Handwriting recognition is good, but not perfect. I write in chicken scratch, and the app was able to detect about 75 percent of my scribbles. When there was a mistake, it was very easy to tap on the text and let auto-correct fix the mistakes. You can also use the keyboard to type in the corrections. PhatPad is not all about writing, though, and lets you insert images or record voice notes that you can use in presentations. The app supports multiple pages within each document so you can get as wordy as you would like and not skip a beat. When you are done writing, you have several options for sharing your document. If you are preparing a presentation, you can use the presentation mode to export the contents to a VGA monitor. The app will send over the text, images and audio recordings. You can also save the document as a PDF, export it as an image, print it via AirPrint, share it directly via WiFi or send it as an email attachment. And that's not all --- PhatPad supports several cloud syncing services like Box, Dropbox, Google Docs and Evernote. PhatPad is for anyone who prefers to write instead of type on their iPad. The app has a robust multilingual handwriting recognition algorithm that's been under development for many years and it shows. There are numerous cloud storage options, so digital inkers can write to their heart's content and always have a copy of their documents backed up somewhere in the cloud. You can download PhatPad from the iOS App Store. It costs US$4.99 and is compatible with any iPad running iOS 6 or later.
Google Handwrite gets better at interpreting your multi-lingual finger scribbles
When Google's Handwrite feature launched this past summer, we welcomed the ability to compose our queries instead of pecking keys. Problem is, Handwrite had a bad habit of confusing our 1's and l's -- and despite the growing size of smartphone screens, it's still difficult to fit written words on them. Well, Big G has solved those problems with the latest Handwrite upgrades. The system now provides alternative interpretations of ambiguous characters so you can choose what's propper, and it lets you write letters on top of one another instead of spelling them out across the width of the screen. Not only that, folks who search using Chinese characters are no longer limited to single-character input. Want to know if it can interpret your chicken scratch? Head on over to Google.com and enable Handwrite under settings on the iOS or Android device of your choosing.
Panasonic mobile devices to use Anoto's pattern-based pen input technology
Panasonic is pushing further into touchscreen technology at CES, and it's not content with finger control alone. Thankfully, Anoto is more than willing to help with a deal to drive the pen input behind multiple Panasonic mobile devices. Its technique, which tracks a stylus' position across a near-invisible grid of uniquely positioned dots, lets would-be artists draw on Panasonic's 4K tablet and other hardware with higher accuracy and fewer worries about the touch surface's size or composition. Anoto hasn't said how long the partnership will last, but the initial scale suggests that it's more than just a short-term union.
IRISNotes 2 is like a cheap version of Livescribe minus the special paper
Companies have been trying for years to make it easy for users to write on a standard notepad and capture that text in a digital format. I.R.I.S., a company that specializes in optical character recognition software, is back at it again with its new IRISNotes 2 lineup of digital pens. The battery-powered pens capture text and drawings using a receiver clipped to a sheet of standard paper. The receiver records the motions of your hand as you write and uses OCR technology to convert the handwriting into electronic text. Each pen can store up to 100 pages of text and can download the data to your computer or iOS device. The IRISNotes system is similar to the LiveScribe smartpens, but is less expensive and lets you use your own paper. The IRISNotes pens are available now in two different models. The $99 Express 2 uses standard batteries and includes an aluminum carrying case. The Executive 2 costs $149 and has rechargeable batteries, an executive design and a 30-pin cable to connect to your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. Executive 2 owners can also use the IRISNotes app to mock up a photo taken with their iOS device and share that image on Facebook or Flickr. [Via Engadget] Show full PR text Just in Time for Back-to-School, I.R.I.S. Digitizes Writing with IRISNotes 2 Intelligent digital pens that transform handwritten notes into editable text Delray Beach, Fla. – August 21, 2012 – I.R.I.S., a leading innovator in optical character recognition (OCR)software, is excited to announce the availability of their IRISNotes 2 lineup, digital pens that capture handwritten notes and convert them into edible text on a computer. "Our IRISNotes 2 lineup saves time by eliminating the countless hours it takes to transcribe notes," said Jean-Marc Fontaine, Director of Sales and Operations, Americas at I.R.I.S. "IRISNotes 2 are the perfect solutions for students taking notes, businessmen transcribing meeting minutes, designers quickly sketching a new concept and more." As simple as putting pen to paper, the IRISNotes 2 captures notes and drawings anytime, anywhere without a computer. Using a battery-powered pen and receiver clipped to the top of a standard sheet of paper, hand movements are tracked and recorded. No special paper needed! The receiver stores up to 100 pages of text, downloads the information to a computer and then I.R.I.S' Optical Character Recognition application converts handwriting into electronic text that can be sent to Word, Outlook, Notepad, etc. It's available in two different versions: Express and Executive. The IRISNotes Express 2 is a battery powered pen that comes with 4 replacement batteries and aluminum carrying case. The IRISNotes Executive 2 has an executive style finish and comes with rechargeable battery, leather carrying pouch and 30-pin connector to share notes directly to your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. With IRISNotes Executive 2, users can write and draw on photos taken with their iOS device and can be shared immediately on Facebook or Flicker. The IRISNotes 2 Express and IRISNotes 2 Executive are now available for $99 and $149 respectively at www.irislink.com/usa.
Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 launches stateside August 16th starting at $499
If you didn't see this one coming from a mile away, then it's clear you haven't been paying much attention. After countless leaks and even an early August availability from online retailers, Samsung's ready to make its S-Pen slate, the Galaxy Note 10.1, official for the U.S. market. The TouchWiz-skinned Android tablet is set to hit retail shelves tomorrow, August 16th, and will be offered up in 16GB and 32GB WiFi-only configurations priced at $499 and $549, respectively. For the money, you're getting an ICS tab outfitted with a 10-inch 1,280 x 800 TFT LCD display, quad-core Exynos 4 CPU clocked at 1.4GHz, 2GB RAM, microSD storage expandable to 64GB, 1.9-megapixel front-facing / 5-megapixel rear cameras and a 7,000mAh battery. The device, first introduced this past February at Mobile World Congress, stands apart from its capacitive rivals thanks primarily to the addition of a Wacom-like digitizer panel optimized for the company's handwriting recognition software and a slew of stylus-specific, pre-loaded apps, like Adobe's Photoshop Touch and Samsung's own S Note. Prospective owners will be able to choose from two neutral launch colors, grey and white, when it goes on sale this Thursday.
Google Handwrite lets us scribble our way through mobile searches (video)
Not eager to hunt and peck on a keyboard? Google Handwrite is here: the search engine's mobile pages will now let you draw letters on the page to conduct searches with the writing method you learned before this whole computer fad took hold. There's no special plugin required -- it's just the flick of a settings switch. As long as you've got an Android 2.3 or later phone, an Android 4.0 tablet or an iOS 5 device of any sort, you can immediately remind yourself of just how much you've forgotten about handwriting since elementary school while you're searching for the local sushi restaurant.
N-Trig pen tech whittled down to single DuoSense chips and sensors, shrinks scribblings to travel size
As much as N-Trig is an old hand at supporting styluses, it's had to focus on tablets and other larger devices due to technology limits: the HTC Flyer is about as small as the company has gone to date. A new version of N-Trig's DuoSense chipset family could be the ticket to going to much smaller sizes. The new 4000 series condenses both pen input and multi-touch finger gestures into a combination of one chip and one sensor, letting any entrepreneurial device maker stuff the two control methods into a handheld device with as little as a 5-inch display. Naturally, the chip line scales all the way to 15.6-inch panels for creatives poking at the screens of laptops and larger Ultrabooks. We're told that both Android and Windows slates will get N-Trig's tinier touch tricks before the end of the year -- whether or not that includes phablets with the same girth as the Galaxy Note or Optimus Vu, however, is left to our wild imaginings.
KeyPoint's Adaptxt keyboard enters beta for Android tablets, adds handwriting for that extra touch
Aftermarket keyboard layouts are still relatively rare among tablets, which makes KeyPoint Technologies' new Adaptxt beta for Android tablets that much more valuable. Along with optionally splitting up the keyboard to make thumb typing that much gentler, it expands on the stock keyboard formula with aggressive word prediction and shortcuts for words or whole sentences. The wait for a tablet version has also rewarded the patient with a handwriting recognition extra, just in case they'd like to revive cursive writing as an art form. The beta is is free to use for anyone who's running at least Android 2.3 on a big-screened slate, although only for a "limited period" -- if you're willing to accept a few rough edges, we'd recommend hitting the source links before there's a price tag attached.
Evernote buys Penultimate app developer Cocoa Box
Evernote is on the move, reporting a US$70 million financing round last week and plans to "grow its user base in new regions, expand its offering into new verticals and enable the company to make strategic acquisitions." One of those strategic acquisitions was just announced -- Evernote has purchased Cocoa Box, the developer of iPad note-taking app Penultimate. It's a perfect match of two products. Evernote (free, paid subscriptions available) brings not only storage and access of "everything" (notes, business cards, photos, drawings, web pages, food experiences, travel documents, ad inifinitum) to the Web, but also provides cross-platform apps to search and add to the data store. Last fall Evernote added Skitch to its stable of apps, and now the acquisition of Penultimate ($0.99) brings even more power to the Evernote ecosystem. Penultimate was recently listed by Apple as the fourth-best selling iPad app of all time in the United States. Considering that two of the best sellers are Angry Birds editions and the other is Apple's own Pages, you could say that Penultimate is simply the best-selling productivity app for the iPad. I had a chance to talk to both Evernote CEO Phil Libin and Cocoa Box founder Ben Zotto last Friday, and both are ecstatic about the marriage of the two firms. Both Evernote and Cocoa Box are located in the Bay Area, which made the acquisition even more convenient. Phil noted that handwriting is about a quarter of all of the content on Evernote. Cocoa Box added Evernote integration to Penultimate in January, and many Evernote staffers use the app on a daily basis. Now that Penultimate is part of the Evernote family, it will be much easier for Ben and his team to add Evernote functionality. One of the early benefits of the acquisition should be improved handwriting recognition. At this point in time, Penultimate users can send their handwritten notes to Evernote, where they're transcribed to editable text via picture-based handwriting recognition. Now Penultimate can be tweaked to capture handwriting stroke information and send it to Evernote for faster and more accurate recognition. Ben mentioned that up until now, Penultimate has been a fairly self-contained piece of software. Plugging it into a system like Evernote will make the app a view into an Evernote world, bringing along such improvements as better search capabilities. He also noted that their plans include getting Penultimate onto more platforms; unfortunately, I neglected to see if the iPhone was one of those platforms. Along with the many other apps that are part of the Evernote ecosystem -- Evernote Food, Evernote Hello, Evernote Clearly, Skitch, Evernote Web Clipper, Evernote Peek, and a growing number of third-party apps -- Penultimate adds to the overall usefulness of Evernote. Phil Libin once noted that he wants Evernote to last for at least one hundred years, and with tools like Penultimate added to the mix, that dream is getting more likely every day. Show full PR text EVERNOTE ACQUIRES DIGITAL HANDWRITING APP PENULTIMATE Penultimate is the Fourth Best-Selling iTunes App of all Time in the US Mountain View, CA – May 7, 2012 – Evernote, the company that's helping the world remember everything, today announced the acquisition of Penultimate, the most popular digital handwriting application for iPad, and the fourth best-selling iPad app of all time. The acquisition will allow Evernote to expand its handwriting capabilities, while also making Penultimate available on more platforms and devices. "Digital handwriting has been around for decades, but it has never gone mainstream because the hardware and software simply weren't aligned. Thanks to Penultimate and the iPad, that's all changing," said Phil Libin, CEO of Evernote. "For the first time ever, writing on a tablet is really great, which is why we chose this moment to make the acquisition. We have big plans for Penultimate that will both enhance the app and bring more capabilities into Evernote. It's already the best handwriting app out there, and it's only just getting started." The Penultimate app is designed to resemble a physical notebook. Individuals can use a finger or stylus to take notes wherever they like. The application allows users to choose from a variety of paper types, ink colors and line thicknesses. Notes taken in Penultimate can be saved directly to Evernote with a single tap. "Technology often distances us from things that feel natural and human. With Penultimate, our goal was to use the most advanced tools to enable something that was at once powerful and familiar," said Ben Zotto, creator of Penultimate. "I'm thrilled to join the Evernote family. Their vision and expertise will help bring exciting improvements to Penultimate, and together we'll elevate the importance of handwriting within Evernote." Availability Penultimate is available for $0.99 from the iTunes App Store. About Evernote Evernote is helping the world remember everything by building innovative products and services that allow individuals to capture, find and interact with their memories. Evernote apps are available on all major computer, web, mobile, and tablet platforms. For more information, please visit: www.evernote.com
Google Translate app update adds handwriting recognition, breaks barriers
The Google Translate app for Android received a pretty significant update yesterday, bringing handwriting recognition to its bullpen of functionalities. The app, which added voice recognition back in October, can now recognize handwriting in seven different languages, including English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish. It's probably most important, however, for Chinese- and Japanese-speaking contingents, who can now use their handsets to translate characters that aren't typically featured on English keypads. The update to version 2.3 is available now, at the source link below.
Qualcomm takes sci-fi one step closer to reality at Computex 2011 (video)
While flying cars are still a pipe dream, other technologies are quickly transitioning from the stuff of sci-fi movies into the very tangible realm of reality. This was definitely the case at the Qualcomm booth here at Computex where we got to experience two interesting new technologies -- zero shutter lag and the ultrasonic pen. What if when you pressed the shutter button on your phone the camera captured 2 frames before, one frame during, and 2 frames after that instant? That's the idea behind Scalado's zero shutter lag and Rewind, which speed up the process of taking pictures on a phone by letting the camera continuously sample images and allowing the user to create a composite shot from the content available in up to 5 frames.Also on display was Qualcomm's ultrasonic pen that we already played with at MWC. By using an ultrasonic transducer attached to a pen and a phone with 3 microphones (like the MSM8660 Mobile Development Platform), the ultrasonic signal can be triangulated to determine the location of the pen. Once calibrated, the phone is able to accurately capture handwriting either on the screen itself or on a standard sheet of paper up to 30cm away. We noticed that accuracy and distance appear to have improved since February -- at this pace, perhaps we'll all have flying cars soon after all? Check out the gallery and hit the break for our hands-on video.%Gallery-125105%
Livescribe Connect upgrade lets you share doodles in several ways, just not wirelessly (video)
Pen pushers who took a chance on Livescribe's note-recording smartpen have benefited from some nice apps, hacks and upgrades along the way. Now the company's latest productivity-booster is a software update called Connect, which lets you share your scribbles via Email, Google Docs, Facebook and Evernote, as well as through Livescribe's own Pencast platform. Some of these sharing options were already available but Connect tries to speed things in an interesting way: by letting you set sharing instructions even as you jot down a note. Simply draw a double line and write, say, 'Facebook' or 'Google Docs' somewhere on the page, and the sharing will take place automatically the next time you sync to your Mac or PC. Most of the sharing options are free, but if you own an older Pulse model or the new entry-level $99.95 2GB Echo you'll need to buy a $15 upgrade before you can share via Email or Google Docs. Heck, we'd pay way more than that if only Livescribe would come up with a way to sync and share wirelessly -- docking this thing feels about as cutting edge as a quill. Video and full PR after the break.
Qualcomm's ultrasonic pen demo transcribes from paper to device (video)
LG's Netflix-lovin' Revolution wasn't the only standout demonstration at Qualcomm's MWC booth -- the company also cut out a bit of space to showcase a wild new ultrasonic pen that's able to transcribe writing on paper directly into one's phone, tablet or laptop. The gist of it is simple: the pen can be equipped with an actual ink pen or a simple nub, and there's a battery-powered transceiver inside. Using standard, off-the-shelf microphones on a mobile device, your future phone or tablet could pick up vibrations from the pen with a radius of around 30 centimeters. Underlying Epos software is used to convert vibration and coordinate information into text, and from there, any 'ole text app can be used to field the results. We were even shown a brief demo of a prototype language translation app that enabled the demonstrator to write a sentence on paper beside the phone, and have the phone itself take in the English phrase, convert it to text, and then translate into a foreign tongue. It's a fairly impressive feat, and there's some pretty obvious usage case scenarios here -- this could easily reinvent the art of note taking in class, where those who prefer to jot down reminders on paper will be able to log those same bullet points on their laptop as they scribble. Vid's after the break, per usual. %Gallery-116712%
PhatPad: a Newton-like note-taking app for iPad
There are so many good note-taking apps out for the iPad that it's hard to believe that someone just came out with one that will probably take the place of the ones we've already installed. That's the case, though, with PhatPad (US$4.99). From PhatWare, a long-time developer of apps for handhelds and smartphones, PhatPad brings the best of Newton MessagePad note-taking to the iPad. That's right -- I just compared the ahead-of-its-time Apple Newton MessagePad of the 90s with the sleek and powerful iPad. Two things that the later models of the Newton did very well were to convert handwriting to editable text, and to provide a way to sketch diagrams freehand and have them "cleaned up." By that, I mean that the built-in Newton software was able to take a scrawled circular shape and turn it magically into a perfect circle. It did the same for squares, rectangles and triangles. PhatPad provides the same capabilities, and then it adds in the sharing capabilities that weren't available even in 1998 when the Newton product line was canceled by Apple. You can take handwritten notes and convert them to text later on, enter text via handwriting into text boxes placed in specific places on a blank page and annotate photos or other images with text or drawings. PhatWare's long experience in the handheld arena definitely shows in PhatPad. The app has many features that haven't been added in other note-taking apps.
Einstein brings Newton OS to the iPhone, handwriting recognition and all
Palm OS on the iPhone? Check. Android on the iPhone? Quasi-check. Newton OS on the iPhone? As of today, that's a trio of affirmations. Developer Matthias Melcher has wisely used a good bit of his free time to port one of the world's forgotten-but-not-forgotten operating systems onto Apple's iOS platform, and while things are understandably sluggish right now, he's currently working on performance optimizations that'll hopefully have it running like a clock before long. He's also made the source code available to anyone willing to tinker with the emulator, and somehow or another, he's even managed to bring over the much-hyped handwriting recognition aspect. Don't believe us? Hop on past the break and hit play.
Samsung's sliding, handwriting-recognizing SNE-60K e-reader hits South Korea
Well, here's one e-reader that won't have too much trouble standing out from the pack -- not only does Samsung's SNE-60K boast a 6-inch touchscreen with support for handwriting recognition, but it has a fairly unique slider design that hides some of the additional controls (no QWERTY keypad on this one, though). Otherwise, you can expect built-in WiFi and Bluetooth, MP3 support (no word on storage) and, judging from the icons on the screen, at least a few other basic applications. Still no indication of a release over here, but this one is now available at Kyobo Bookstores in South Korea for 429,000 won (or about $375).
Pen input faces off against hardware and software QWERTY keyboards: there can be only one (maybe)
It's completely anecdotal and lacking in what some might call "scientific rigor," but we're digging the, ahem, relevance of Phil Gyford's little text input faceoff he performed for his blog recently. The piece pits an Apple Newton, Palm Vx, Treo 650, and Apple iPhone up against each other, with regular pen and paper and a laptop's full QWERTY keyboard thrown in for reference. The results may or may not surprise you, but (spoiler alert) after the MacBook Pro took top honors in blazing through a 221 word passage twice, the iPhone beat out the rest of the competition, with the three pen-related inputs (pen and paper, Newton MessagePad and Palm Graffiti) all taking up dead last. The iPhone, Treo and pen and paper all were relatively close in speed, and naturally your mileage may vary. That said, where do you think you fall? Drop in your results in comments (the full text he used can be found at the source link) or hit up the poll below with your best guestimate. We're dying to know! %Poll-40521%
Audi A8 MMI adds handwriting recognition to list of 2011 features
The A8's Multi Media Interface (a fancy name for a nav unit with media player attached) is already a pretty sophisticated piece of tech, but Audi has opted against resting on those laurels and has pushed out a new feature for the luxury saloon's next iteration. The 2011 A8 (available in Spring 2010 -- crazy, we know) will benefit from the same handwriting recognition as promised for the next-gen R8, wherein the user is able to scribble his destination all John Hancock-like and then use the touchscreen to complete his instructions. With Cyrillic, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean character support, this could be a particular boon for gadget lovers of a more Eastern persuasion. And just in case you're fretting that the rest of your gear won't get as much love, there are further plans afoot for connecting the car via UMTS and distributing WiFi goodness to the devices inside it. The only thing this is missing is a Snoop Dogg voiceover for the ultimate in convergence tech. Video after the break.
