David Eberle, Typewise: “if you were to design the optimal smartphone keyboard today – it would not be a QWERTY keyboard”

Even although time consumption whereas writing is essential, content material high quality ought to at all times go first.
The secret behind this job is to know the way to use your time effectively and have the proper instruments. Perfect instance of such – is AI-powered textual content prediction options.
To discover out why most individuals are nonetheless utilizing 150-year keyboard ‘know-how’ as an alternative of leaping into extra digitized choices, Cybernews contacted David Eberle, CEO of Typewise – AI-powered writing and textual content prediction resolution supplier.
How did the thought of Typewise originate? What has your journey been like?
The thought of making a keyboard app that’s optimized for smartphones got here to me and my co-founder – Janis Berneker – a number of years in the past.
We discovered that the legacy QWERTY format was lengthy outdated for smartphone use. We wished to create a keyboard that was higher fitted to the manner folks were truly utilizing their telephones in the current day – ie – one or two-digit typing – moderately than 10-digit contact typing.
To take a look at the thought, we launched a Kickstarter marketing campaign for prototype improvement. This gained hundreds of supporters and led us to construct and launch the first model of the Typewise keyboard in 2019.
Can you introduce us to your sensible keyboard? What are its key options?
Our honeycomb keyboard app is particularly designed for typing on smartphones and has gained a CES Innovation Award, two years in a row.
Most persons are nonetheless utilizing the QWERTY format on their telephones which was designed nearly 150 years in the past, for ten-digit typing on mechanical typewriters. So clearly, it’s time for a rethink.
People sort on their smartphones fully in a different way than on a giant (and relatively luxurious!) laptop keyboard. Typewise keyboard app is completely optimized for one or two thumbs or finger typing, on the small screens of smartphones.
Our design ends in 4x fewer typos, and quicker, simpler smartphone typing. The key options are:

Unique hexagonal keys, that are barely bigger and simpler to hit than on QWERTY keyboards.

Intuitive gestures velocity up typing – for instance, you can delete characters by swiping left anyplace on the keyboard, and swiping proper will immediately restore the deleted textual content.

Patented AI textual content prediction and autocorrection – which outperforms that of Apple and Google.

Multi-language detection – routinely identifies the language you are typing in and switches the dictionary to that language

Privacy by design all our tech occurs in your machine, and no typing knowledge ever leaves your cellphone, not like another keyboards that transmit your keystrokes to the cloud

Why do you suppose folks generally hesitate to check out new and modern options that would improve their every day lives?
When it comes to change, the studying curve is vital. People are far more prepared to follow one thing new, in the event that they see a profit immediately, or at the least fairly rapidly.
One of the challenges we had with Typewise at first, is that though our keyboard is superior to different smartphone keyboards, it takes a while to adapt to it. After 2 million downloads – we’ve discovered a lot and we’re about to launch model 4.0, which is able to – amongst a number of different new options – include a new ‘fast-learn’ key format and improved onboarding movement.
This will vastly shorten the time it takes to get comfy with our honeycomb keyboard so new customers will get pleasure from the advantages of quicker, simpler, personal typing, a lot sooner.
How did the latest world occasions have an effect on your discipline of labor? Were there any new challenges you had to adapt to?
If you are referring to the coronavirus pandemic, then like many firms, it pressured us to transfer to a 100% distant manner of working.
That has in the end been helpful to us, as we were pressured to broaden our seek for new workers past the borders of Switzerland the place we’re headquartered. We have been ready to recruit a top-quality group, primarily unfold out over Europe, from the UK to Ukraine.
What would you take into account the primary points with the keyboards obtainable today?
We’re speaking particularly about digital keyboards used on smartphones; the primary situation is, that the QWERTY keyboard is vastly outdated and was by no means designed for typing with two thumbs or fingers, on the small screens of smartphones.
So, most individuals are nonetheless utilizing 150-year keyboard ‘know-how’ that’s solely nonetheless right here due to legacy causes. If you were to design the optimal smartphone keyboard today – it would not be a QWERTY keyboard.
Recently, sustaining creativity has been a extreme wrestle for some organizations. How can firms foster creativity and innovation when the majority of workers are working remotely?
Keeping a group working properly collectively in an period of distant working is actually a problem. We have discovered that it is more durable to foster private relationships and normal group spirit when you are not seeing one another on a every day foundation.
It takes deliberate effort to construct and preserve such relations, as it is not occurring naturally as it would in the workplace atmosphere.
We have tackled it in a few methods:

Having weekly one-to-one espresso breaks, the place a totally different pair of individuals chat every time.

Quarterly ‘offsite’ co-working get-togethers, the place the complete group assembles for a week in a totally different metropolis in Europe. Earlier this yr we hung out in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and prior to that, in Belgrade, Serbia. We are at the moment planning a summer season session, which is able to be someplace on the Mediterranean coast.

We additionally encourage workers to get collectively at native hubs – for instance, our workplace hubs in Zurich and Belgrade.

And we plan common on-line all-hands conferences, together with quiz and sport nights.

In this age of ever-evolving know-how, what do you suppose are the key safety practices each companies and people ought to undertake?
Data privateness is the massive one for us. The extra personal your knowledge is – the decrease the threat of your knowledge being stolen or used for nefarious practices.
So – be conscious of how a lot of your knowledge is being shared with any firm you work together with, and take a look at to reduce the quantity of information you enable to be shared.
Where do you anticipate to see AI-powered options be used extra typically in the close to future?
AI is shifting into many facets of our lives. We predict that inside 5 years, all textual content entry interfaces – whether or not that’s your smartphone, your laptop computer, or some other machine – will use some type of AI textual content prediction writing assistant.
So, in the identical manner, that spellcheck is just about normal now, you’ll have an AI system serving to you compose mistake-free emails, texts, and different messages, wherever you create them.
In phrases of different AI areas – self-driving automobiles are maybe one among the most impactful purposes. We’re nonetheless not there but, however it’s inevitable that sooner or later, AI will drive our automobiles moderately than us.
Tell us, what’s subsequent for Typewise?
It’s thrilling occasions as we’ve simply launched our AI writing assistant for companies. Using the identical underlying AI that powers our keyboard, we’ve constructed a new browser-based, multi-language resolution, with predictive textual content, a customizable mannequin that immediately learns the writing model of your group or firm. Overall boosts the productiveness of buyer assist groups by enabling quicker replies and guaranteeing high-quality, constant communications.
We’re additionally quickly launching v4.0 of the Typewise keyboard app which comes with a number of new options together with the fast-learn format, 20 new stunning themes, and emoji improve, and quicker load occasions.

https://cybernews.com/security/david-eberle-typewise-if-you-were-to-design-the-optimal-smartphone-keyboard-today-it-would-not-be-a-qwerty-keyboard/

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