typing

Typing on Vision Pro: A scientific test with surprising results

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Hand touching a floating keyboard typing on Vision Pro
Using Vision Pro's virtual keyboard, you just reach out and touch parts of the screen when you need to.
Photo: Apple

The Vision Pro’s virtual, floating-in-the-air keyboard has been nearly universally condemned. There’s no way around it: Typing on Vision Pro sucks.

But people said the same thing about the original iPhone, which ditched a physical keyboard compared to the BlackBerry. And these days, physical keyboards for your iPhone are more of a novelty than a standard accessory that everybody buys.

So to get to the bottom of exactly how bad the Vision Pro keyboard is, I took a bunch of different typing tests across a bunch of different keyboards. And the results I found were incredibly surprising. I accidentally discovered the best way to input text in Vision Pro.

Check out our latest YouTube video or keep reading to see what happened.

Train yourself to type better and faster [Deals]

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Get your typing speed and accuracy up to snuff with dozens of games and exercises.
Get your typing speed and accuracy up to snuff with dozens of games and exercises.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Emails, articles, reports, social media, basically any task that involves typing can turn into a real time drain. So it makes sense to improve your speed and accuracy at the keyboard. In the modern workplace after all, typing is a basic skill worth keeping sharp.

Lego mechanical keyboard is an awesome way to brick your Mac

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Lego keyboard
Yes, it actually works.
Photo: JK Brickworks

If you love Legos and the clicky feeling of using a mechanical keyboard then prepare to meet the keyboard of your dreams.

Lego master builder Jason Allemann revealed his latest creation today that transforms an old school mechanical keyboard into a fully customizable Lego creation. The Lego keyboard uses a Cooler Master Quick Fire Rapid keyboard as a base and replaces the frame and keys using 3D printed Cherry MX Lego compatible keycaps.

Take a closer look:

Microsoft’s one-handed iOS keyboard goes beta

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Word Flow iPhone
Word Flow for iPhone is no more.
Photo: Microsoft

Typing on your iPhone with one hand is about to get a whole lot easier thanks to good samaritans at Microsoft that have invented a custom keyboard for iOS.

Microsoft revealed today that its latest iOS app, Word Flow, just entered the beta testing phase. The new keyboard (which is different than the Hub keyboard introduced last week) brings some of Windows 10’s best typing to iOS users like the ability to swipe out words, and intelligent word prediction to go with its dead simple one-handed mode.

Take a look:

Pocket Keyboard unfolds into traveling text machine

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Plunk the Zagg Pocket Keyboard in your backpack for typing on the go.
Plunk the Zagg Pocket Keyboard in your backpack for typing on the go.
Photo: Milo Kahney/Cult of Mac

Best List: Zagg Pocket Keyboard

The Zagg Pocket Keyboard is for anyone desperate to carry the bare minimum. Well, the bare minimum would be to skip the keyboard altogether, but if you are looking for the convenience of an external keyboard without the hassle of carrying one, look no further.

The iSlider: A Portable, Versatile, And Stylish iPad Stand [Deals]

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At Macworld/iWorld last year, I had the opportunity to get a look at The iSlider by Rain Design. After using it for a bit, the folks at Rain Design decided to let me have one to use for review purposes. And after only a few days of use, The iSlider became my go-to iPad stand.

Cult of Mac has reviewed The iSlider before, and while I’ve used several stands for my iPad in the past (among them are the ZAGGmate and the Kribbit) The iSlider is by far the most versatile and best-designed stand I’ve ever used. It’s made me more efficient and effective when using my iPad, which is exactly the kind of thing I like in my tools. And right now Cult of Mac Deals is offering The iSlider for just $39.99.

Use Typist to Sharpen Your Typing Fingers Till They Bleed [Daily Freebie]

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It’s rarer now, but once in a while I still come across a journalist or blogger agonizingly hunting-and-pecking a story to completion — in a world where a low WPM means starvation (or at least, a diet of Ramen noodles).

It makes me smile, because I used to be like that. I’m much faster now, thanks to an abundance of repetition. But I’m still no maestro — so I’ve employed a secret weapon to help fashion me into a typing cyborg: The free Typist Mac app. Although I suppose it isn’t much of a secret since I’ve blabbed this to practically the entire Internet.

Instantly Type Handy Phrases In Mountain Lion WIth Text Expansion [OS X Tips]

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TextExp

One of the 200 new features touted by Apple for OS X Mountain Lion is a boon to those of us who have to type the same text string or phrase over and over, including email addresses, phone numbers, addresses, and the like. It’s also a great way for people with motor disabilities to be able to type at a much faster rate than otherwise. Here’s how to set it up.

Use Your Keyboard To Filter Launchpad Apps Super Easily In Mountain Lion [OS X Tips]

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LaunchPad Filtering

Launchpad tries to bring an iOS-style app interace to OS X. Whether you like it or not, it’s here to stay. Introduced in OS X Lion, Launchpad arranges the apps you have installed on your Mac in a grid array, much like the apps are arranged on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. Of course, your Mac has a much bigger screen than these iOS devices (hopefully), so there’s even more of a need to filter out the apps you don’t want so that you can find the apps you do want to find.

In iOS, as you get more and more apps installed on your device, you’re gonna end up swiping to the right of the home screen at some point and typing the name of an app into the Search field there. Prior to Mountain Lion, there was no way to do this in OS X. Now, however, there is, and I sincerely hope they bring this concept back to enrich iOS itself.

Touchfire Rubber Keyboard Overlay Does Its Job, But Do You Really Need It? [Review]

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The Touchfire snaps right into place, every time.

 

The Touchfire is a weird little gadget, a silicone skin which covers your iPad’s touchscreen keyboard with a floppy membrane that partially simulates a real, physical keyboard. Launched over a year on Kickstarter, the Touchfire finally goes on sale today. I have been testing one out for the past couple of weeks. Is it worth the $50 asking price? Well, that depends.

Logitech Keyboard Case is The iPad 2’s Soulmate, Baby [Review, iPad 2 Keyboard Case Week]

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I love iPad 2 accessories that follow the guiding principles of the gadget they were built for. I mean, c’mon — d’you really want to lug around a case the size of a large waffle skillet just to have some keys to type on? Of course not.

The Logitech Keyboard Case by ZAGG for iPad 2 ($100) follows those principles to the letter: It’s light, super-functional and ultra-portable, just like the gadget it was made for.

Rocketfish iCapsule Keyboard: This Bulky Case Converts Your iPad Into a Laptop [Review, iPad 2 Keyboard Case Week]

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Note: Although this iCapsule only fits the original iPad, we thought we’d include it anyway; why should iPad 2 users have all the fun?

The Rocketfish iCapsule Keyboard ($49) is a big bulky blob of a hardshell case. But it’s probably the best case on the market for turning your iPad into a laptop.

Adonit Writer for iPad 2: Magnets! Brilliant! [Review, iPad 2 Keyboard Case Week]

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Adonit’s humble origins as a Kickstarter project hasn’t stopped the outfit from taking the iPad-accessory world by storm. Adonit’s Jot styli were radical standouts in our stylus shootout a few weeks back, and their version of an iPad 2 keyboard case, the Adonit Writer for iPad 2 ($100), sparked similar “whoa”s as I marveled at its design.

Here’s How To Type Guinness Record Fast on an iPad [Video]

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httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVXeRe3WlvI&feature=player_embedded

Yesterday, we reported on 15-year-old Eduard Saakashvili, who typed the entire English alphabet correctly on an iPad with one hand in just 5.26 seconds, setting a new Guinness World Record.

Brian Sweet made this video showing how he touch types the English alphabet on an iPad in about three seconds, albeit using a two-handed approach.