After being in closed beta since early this year, alternative text input software Swype has moved to open beta, giving most Android users a chance to try the application.
For those that have not used the software or seen commercials, Swype lets users slide their finger over the touchscreen to spell words, allowing for typing speeds much faster than normal input, or even physical keyboard input.
Using predictive design, the software will determine what word you are trying to type, even if you spell it wrong when sliding.
Current beta users will get a nice upgrade, as well. Reads the Swype site:
First and foremost - We’ve resolved an accuracy issue that was introduced in the last beta update. Refer to the changelog for more detail on this critical fix.
Second - Swype BETA for Android now supports Double-Tap-to-Edit! Swype choose a wrong word? Just tap the word twice to bring up the word choice window, pick the correct word, and the cursor will return to wherever it was before. It doesn’t get any simpler! See a video demonstration, and check out our other tips and tricks.
And Third - Swype BETA for Android now includes a Voice-to-Text button (available for QWERTY layouts ONLY)! You MUST have Google Voice Search pre-integrated in your ROM for this feature to work. We wish everyone could access it, and are working to adapt our existing code to support versions of Voice Search downloaded from the market, as well as other voice search providers, in our next update.
Result for: demonstration
Cheng Jianping, a 46-year-old woman from China has been sentenced to a full year of “Re-education Through Labor” after she retweeted a joke her fiance had posted.
Her soon-to-be husband tweeted the following:
Anti-Japanese demonstrations, smashing Japanese products, that was all done years ago by Guo Quan [an activist and expert on the Nanjing Massacre]. It’s no new trick. If you really wanted to kick it up a notch, you’d immediately fly to Shanghai to smash the Japanese Expo pavilion.
The tweet was in regards to China’s recent dispute with Japan over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. Nationalists in China began smashing Japanese products in protest over the situation.
Jianping retweeted her fiance’s message and added the following words: “Charge, angry youth.”
Both Jianping and her fiance “disappeared” a week after the tweets went up, and the news came out this week that Jianping had been sentenced to one year of labor camp without trial, for “disturbing social order.” Her fiance was released without any charges.
Twitter is banned in China.
Result for: demonstration
Sky has purchased 15,000 3D televisions from LG Electronics and plans to install them in pubs around the country to promote its 3D broadcasts. Back in January, Sky broadcast a Barclays Premier League match between Arsenal and Manchester United and held screenings of the event in nine pubs to show off the technology.
The broadcaster is set to launch a 3D service for wide use in the UK in April, while consumer electronics manufacturers are pushing out new 3D flat-panel televisions. The industry hopes that growing interest in 3D movies in theaters will spur interest in 3D TV at home.
Sky hopes that showing football matches and other sports events in pubs in 3D will generate some interest in it. LG also benefits from the deal in that its televisions are being promoted as part of Sky’s demonstrations.
