New Gesture-based Input for Mobile Devices

The team over at the8pen.com have developed a new method to enter text on mobile devices that they hope will replace the virtual keyboard. 

The system divides the input area into four quadrants with letters and symbols in each quadrant.  The user starts his finger in the center, swipes toward the desired quadrant, then sweeps their finger around to select the letter.  8pen claims that once the user has mastered the location of letters and swiping method, text entry is faster than with the traditional virtual keyboard.

After watching the intro video, it works a bit differently than I expected.  I thought that once your finger entered a quadrant, that quadrant would zoom in to give you an enlarged target from which to select.  Instead, you have to sweep your finger (like the hands of a clock) the number of quadrants equal to the distance of the desired letter from the center (the video explains it better).

Regardless, it is a really neat system (patent pending) and to see totally new innovation like this make me really happy that thinking outside of the box is not dead.

See the 8pen Web site and video here:  http://www.the8pen.com/

Prehistoric Diets More than Just Meat and Berries

This post is less tech and more paleontology science, but cool nonetheless. 

Scientists have found proof that 30,000 years ago, prehistoric man was grinding roots down to a flour-like substance and making bread to go along with the Kill of the Day dishes.

According to this story from Wired, archeologists have found primitive grinding tools and "cooking stones" used to create the flatbread like treats.  They were probably not very tasty, but their ability to do this is pretty amazing.  Plus, they have found that this practice was fairly widespread, with evidence found in Russia, Italy, and the Czech Republic.

Read the entire article here.

(http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/10/revised-paleolithic-diet/)

Toshiba Unveils World's First 3-D Display (With No Glasses Required)

Announced at today's CEATEC in Tokyo, Toshiba unveiled the "world's first" 3-D display that does not require viewers to wear any special glasses. 

The technology is based on multiple images being displayed through a lenticular lense layer which shows different angles of the image depending on the angle of the viewer.

This is a huge step in 3-D display technologies, but without seeing one first-hand, I am hesitant to sing high praises yet.  The human brain does a great job of "filling-in the blanks" to accommodate some visual "tricks", but if not done properly, the whole effect is ruined.

Maybe we will get a closer look at it at the 2011 CES in Las Vegas this January.

Links:

• ZD-Net article here.
• Toshiba Press Relase here.
• CEATEC Japan 2010 Web site here.