App Stores In The Way

Tux, the Linux penguin (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Bringing about the demise of the app store would be a welcome innovation. And with HTML5 the browser is at your service even when you are offline. But that is not to say Android can not swim into a HTML5 reality. Of course it can and will. Google is all about the web. But I am glad it is being pushed in that direction by the competition.

This development is a much bigger threat to Apple than to Google. If Apple loses the app store, what is it left with? Even the demand for iPhones - hardware - is on the decline. Lesson: Soviet control is not a good thing.

The phone will be lighter and correspondingly cheaper. That's good.

New Mobile OSs May Mean the End of the Closed App Store

Firefox OS from Mozilla, Tizen (which came out of Nokia’s MeeGo platform but is now the brainchild of Intel and Samsung), and Ubuntu Phone, based on the wildly popular Ubuntu desktop Linux distribution .... These operating systems are all open source, which means vendors can tinker with them as they see fit and create entirely unique offerings for their consumers. But what’s most important about them is that all will provide for HTML5 applications. Developers will have the ability to quickly port their apps between the platforms, creating a much easier path to revenue-generation. ..... Tizen, Firefox OS, and Ubuntu will attempt to eradicate that paper tiger of controls. The Web will become the basis by which all smartphone owners get their applications. And there won’t be a single entity that will ultimately decide the fate of a respective application. ..... Apple and Google, controllers of their domains, might need to accept that open Web standards truly are the future. And in the process, their control over mobile might ease. .... the Web could win the battle over application control.

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Swype's Language Innovations

Image via CrunchBase

Fast typing is not just about keystrokes. It is also about language. It can be argued it is primarily about language. Voice input for text is quite a treat too. It is great for taking quick notes, to be corrected later, or not. A Gmail saved draft is easy to correct later on a laptop.

Smartphone Dictionaries Go Gangnam Style

may also eventually enable Swype to roll out customized dictionaries based on a user’s geographical region or occupation, and add support for smaller languages that are often ignored by technology companies. .... language varies tremendously from person to person and place to place, and it’s hard to keep up with constantly changing jargon and slang—not to mention doing so in many different languages. ..... Swype Living Language .... If Swype sees a critical mass of people adding a word or phrase—such as “MakerBot”—it will push that out to participating users ..... Swype is also trolling popular blogs and websites for new words that can also be added to its collection. This only goes so far, though, as terms like “Gangnam Style” can show up in users’ vernacular well before becoming popular in the media ...... noticed tens of thousands of appearances of the word “Lochte”—referring to Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte ..... very up-to-date dictionaries that include subjects trending in the world around us. .... new Living Language words will expire after six months unless they retain a certain amount of popularity .... A doctor might use one type of Swype dictionary, while a tech journalist would get another

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Swype Installed, Swiftkey Paid For

Image via CrunchBase

I did manage to install Swype. But right before that I paid for the paid version of Swiftkey. I had been using the trial version with weeks to go. But it was only four bucks.

Typing is fast enough on the smartphone for me. But it can always do one better.

I don't seem to able to find Swiftkey Flow that supposedly accepts Swype like, well, swipes.

SwiftKey Counters Swype With A Smarter Version, Makes An In-Road Into Healthcare Market

the market seems to be turning into a face-off fight between Swype and Swiftkey. ..... Swiftkey has also released a custom version for the medical industry called SwiftKey Healthcare, allowing health care professionals take better and faster notes on tablets. This is their first entry into enterprise ..... Swiftkey works by understanding what you intend to type by the context of what you are writing. It both corrects words and suggests the next word. The app can be synced with your email, Tweets, and Facebook status updates to better learn your style and vocabulary. As a result the company estimates it’s saved its users over 65 billion keystrokes. ..... The ability to dictate, rather than type, words may help it in Asia where some languages with non-Roman alphabets have thousands of characters. Nuance bought Swype in October for $102.5m.

Swiftkey adds Swype-like gestures to its Android keyboard. Swell!

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Is There A Swype App?

Image via CrunchBase

There isn't at the Google Play store. There is a Swype website, but I am having a hard time getting to it on my mobile phone browser.

If you could type on the smartphone as fast as on a laptop, you might even be able to blog. I mean, you can. But traditional typing is such a slow process you'd rather wait until you get in front of a laptop. Come to think of it, reading news is a better experience on the laptop.

Smartphone Dictionaries Go Gangnam Style

add support for smaller languages that are often ignored by technology companies

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