Swype: breakthrough keyboard entry method for touchscreens

Ever tried to use the iPhone keyboard for serious data entry? I have. It's a non-starter. My hands are somewhat large and I have a hard enough time keying on my BlackBerry 8320, which has a revolutionary technology called "buttons."

Anyhow, I was checking out CNet's coverage of the TechCrunch and DemoFall new technology conferences. There were several stories describing Swype, a new "keyboard entry method for touchscreen devices."

After checking out the accompanying video, I've come to the conclusion that Swype really is revolutionary.

Rather than trying to tap individual keys, the user simply moves the pointing device over the desired keys in the proper order. The software determines the word which best fits the path traced by the pointer.

Swype's inventor, Cliff Kushler, also dreamed up the popular T9 mobile keyboard technology that's represents our current generation of phones. With the new Swype approach, Kushler claims he might get 50 words-per-minute on a touchscreen.

That's impressive.

Graphics: CNet News.com.

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Ukraine and Poland both want missile defense systems that Obama says are 'unproven'

Deutsche Welle reports that the Ukraine is prepared to join Poland in implementing the U.S. missile defense shield.

Perhaps it was the couple of dozen SS-21 Ballistic Short Range missiles that Russia fired into Georgia that convinced them.

Or the fact that Poland that was threatened with a "nuclear attack" by Russia if the former country implemented a missile shield.

You know, that's the same missile defense system that Senator Obama says is "unproven" and whose funding he promised to cut...

...the same missile defense system that 87% of Americans support in polling conducted by Opinion Research and CNN.

And the very same missile defense system that's achieved a 97% success rate since the decision to deploy was made in 2002.

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Holograms on handsets by 2010

I'd heard that tiny projectors will soon be built into mobile phones (3M is working on one), but not that holographic displays will soon be possible as well.

Holographic mobile handsets capable of projecting, capturing, and sending 3D images have been developed by Indian tech giant Infosys... By 2010, the devices will routinely beam 3D films, games, and virtual goods into our laps, according Infosys, which has patented the handset.

The portable machines will capture and send 3D snapshots of the surrounding world, helping accident investigators, teachers, and doctors work remotely by instantly relaying realistic depictions of car damage, injuries, medical scans, or educational aids... The powerful onboard processor on the Infosys machine would build a series of 2D shots taken, for example, from a digital camera, into 3D holograms using algorithms called 'Fourier' transformations to calculate the extra third dimension.

The patent, granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, says this allows complex 3D holographic images to be squeezed through the narrow pipes of existing communications networks by sending only the unprocessed data to be translated into the 3D hologram at the other end.

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Top iPhone Disappointments

Is the new 3G iPhone the be-all and end-all of smartphones? Not according to Forbes' Brian Caulfield.

...imperfections still lurk, in spite of Chairman Steve Jobs' maniacal attention to detail. Even before its release, there are some niggling issues--some minor, others major--that make the iPhone a mere gadget, just like any other. Just ask those pesky bloggers:

The Cost

Those crafty phone companies! Yes, at $199, the new iPhone is cheaper up-front than the original, which first went on sale starting at $499 last year. It is not, however, less expensive to own. Do the math you find out and the iPhone will cost $160 more over two years than the original iPhone because AT&T put together a pricier data plan for the phone to help it subsidize the up-front cost of the handset. The gadget fiends at Gizmodo called that "a small price to play," but Bits, the technology blog at The New York Times, called it "a step backwards for consumers"...

No Voice Dialing
No blogger we've seen has complained about this yet. Maybe that's because all the geeks who might whine about how tough it is to dial the iPhone died in fiery auto wrecks first, seeing as the iPhone doesn't have the voice-recognition smarts to let users dial verbally--the one feature makes the BlackBerry, with its nubby little plastic keyboard, usable on the road...

The battery replacement issue -- basically, you can't replace batteries -- still exists and is a significant problem in my view.

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In-flight Internet access: because we're not connected enough

Crotchety old Walter Mossberg (and I mean that in a good way) got to try out the new in-flight Internet access offered on some airlines.

The Gogo service will cost a flat fee of $12.95 for flights of three hours or longer, and $9.95 for shorter trips... The service operates at respectable, if not blazing, speeds -- similar to what you'd get on a cellular broadband service or a slow home DSL line. On my test flight, download speeds varied from 266 kilobits per second to about 1.4 megabits per second, with the most typical speeds hovering between 500 and 600 kbps. Upload speeds were between 250 and 300 kbps. I found that most of the tasks I tested, except for streaming video, felt smooth and normal.

Speeds could degrade on a large plane with scores of people online simultaneously. But Aircell claims it has the technology to make my experience representative for anyone doing common tasks, such as Web surfing and email. During my test flight, eight laptops and six Wi-Fi-enabled smart phones were using the system simultaneously. All registered decent speeds, except for a couple of minutes when the plane was crossing between the zones controlled by the company's ground-based towers.

Aircell gets Internet access to the planes through a network of 92 towers scattered across North America. These essentially are cellphone towers, carrying a high-speed cellphone data signal, except that the Aircell antennas point up, into the sky. A receiver on the underside of the aircraft picks up the signal, which is then distributed through the plane via Wi-Fi.

It's only available in the U.S. (for the time being).

And as for using Skype or otherwise bypassing the brutally expensive Airphones? Gogo reportedly blocks all voice services, so you'll have to stick with IM and email.

Hat tip: Gretawire

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PCs: the beige box goes the way of the Dodo Bird

News.com has an excellent gallery of futuristic PCs.

This FIT device concept, also a finalist in the competition, helps users adhere to a fitness plan with calorie-burn and heart-rate monitors, progress reports, and more...

If the fitness plan is not followed, the device adjusts the user's diet to keep him or her from consuming too many calories. The more calories burned, the more calories he or she is allowed to consume.

Credit: Microsoft/Wes Rhoad

Anyone want to buy a slightly used PC XT running Microsoft Bob?

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The Sky, From Above

Gorgeous photographs of Earth taken during various shuttle missions...

You can find 15 spectacular photos at Boston.com.

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