New touch keyboard promises to simplify and revolutionize typing

By Joshua Sherman March 20, 2013

minuum — Image used with permission by copyright holder

A new keyboard has surfaced on YouTube that, contrary to what you may think, wants you to mess up your typing. The keyboard app, Minuum, is a sleek and slim way to type quickly and sloppily. You’ll make a lot of mistakes, but that’s what autocorrect is for, right?

While most keyboards take up as much as half the screen when you’re writing a text message or entering a search inquiry, Minuum is (per its namesake) a discrete and minimally-sized keyboard that sits on the bottom of your screen. While most keyboard brag about accuracy, Minuum instead takes your jumbled text and predicts your words based on a pattern. The “fast and sloppy typing” Minuum offers is what they claim to be just as fast and accurate as any other keyboard, but offering so much more real estate on your phone to work with.

Minuum’s predictive writing relies on a special algorithm that guesses your words based on the combination you type. Minuum isn’t really meant for those who prefer to hunt and peck for letters. While typing, the keyboard will open up a magnified mode that lets you more easily select individual letters. The keyboard technology can also be integrated with a variety of sensors to allow typing on a variety ways aside from the screen. In the video below, several new ways to enter text are shown.

Minuum is currently running a Indiegogo fundraiser and expects to have a beta out to backers by June. You can back it yourself with a $5 or greater donation. However, there’s no way to know just how effective the keyboard will be until its beta reaches its backers. Then again, if you’re already sick of Swype or Swiftkey, it might be worth a try.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Joshua Sherman is a contributor for Digital Trends who writes about all things mobile from Apple to Zynga. Josh pulls his…

Computing

The most common Skype problems and how to fix them

best mac apps for small business skype

Skype is an excellent option for video chats with your friends and family or conducting a videoconference call with your colleagues. However, Skype is not without its bugs, hiccups, and issues that can make getting face-to-face with someone seem like an ordeal. To make things easier on everyone, we've compiled a selection of the most common Skype problems and how to fix them.
Video not working
If you can't get your camera to work or experience issues seeing other's connections, you might as well be using an actual telephone instead of Skype. Thankfully, these issues can usually be resolved with a bit of tinkering on your end, or they may just be service disruptions on Skype's end.

One of the more common problems that crop up is visual issues due to Skype not having access to your PC or phone's camera. For desktop users, open the Skype application and select the Three horizontal dots near the notification bell icon to access the Skype menu. Select Settings > Audio and video. If your picture fails to appear in the Skype camera preview window, you'll know there's a connection issue.

Mobile

The most common iPad problems and how to fix them

Several iPads on a table together.

Apple's iPad has consistently marked among the best tablets, and is considered to be a sort of trailblazer in the field in its own right. As a logical result, your first encounters with common tablet glitches are likely to be iPad glitches. If you're not sure what to do to fix your device, that's okay, as you have to start somewhere. Here are some somewhat common problems that we've found plague iPads again and again, as well as some related iPad troubleshooting advice. Take care and read through the issues related to your problem to get started troubleshooting your iPad.

Mobile

The 5 best ring lights for phones in 2024

The Lume Cube Ring Light Pro with a phone.

There are lots of different types of ring lights, but they all have the same primary purpose -- provide a steady light source that will illuminate your subject, whether that's an object, another person, or yourself. If you need a ring light for your phone, there's also an overwhelming number of options, so to help you out, we've rounded up the best ring lights for phones right here. We're going to take you through our recommendations, their advantages over other ring lights for phones in the market, and our selection process that resulted in our top five choices below.

Whether you're a travel vlogger, a video game streamer, or any other kind of content creator, and you prefer using your phone over a dedicated camera or webcam, then you should check out the best ring lights for phones that we've gathered here. Even if you're only going to use it for your personal photos and videos, it's always better to have nice lighting that will simply make everything look nicer, especially in low-light environments. Not everyone needs a ring light for their phone, but for those who do, read on to determine the one that would be perfect for you.
The best ring lights for phones in 2024