

BlindType has been acquired by Google - Uncle_Sam
http://blindtype.com/blog.html?entry=temp

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csallen
Their website looks like it was created by BlindDesign...

From the videos, they do have pretty killer technology, although they haven't
even released it yet, and there are competitors aplenty. I'm curious, does
anyone know what an "acquisition" like this usually amounts to in terms of
money? At this scale, it's almost never talked about (ex. reMail's
acquisition).

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points
Can you explain what the killer technology is?

From my naive POV, it just does a couple of mappings in 2d space fitting a
keyboard over the points you press, until some real words drop out. If that's
all they have, it sure doesn't sound like much. Sounds more like a rainy
weekends work.

~~~
stackthat
Focusing one specific problem and solving it in the best way possible (this
doesn't mean hardcore-awesome-superb-crazy coding) is still a pretty killer
thing to have. That's why it's worthy to Google, do your rainy weekend work
and sell to Google, then pleas submit to HN.

~~~
points
> "do your rainy weekend work and sell to Google, then pleas submit to HN."

Since when was life fair or work rewarded based on merit. These things are
more about who you know than what you create.

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csallen
That brings up another good question (in addition to my earlier question about
how much money is typically involved): Are these super early-stage
acquisitions usually a result of the buyer spotting a diamond in the rough and
reaching out with an offer? Or are they usually a matter of the early-stage
startup just knowing the right people?

I suspect the latter, but it's purely a guess. This is one area of Startup
Land about which very little has been written.

~~~
stackthat
I think spotting, for example lookout outlook plugin acquired by MS, which
seems clearly to me MS needed such solution and lookout already solved it
nicely. So why re-invent the wheel and spend more money when you got a safe
choice.

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ryanpetrich
I think Lookout was a talent acquisition. The current implementation of
Outlook search is much worse than Lookout was.

~~~
stackthat
They didn't integrate into the Outlook though, they did integrate into Windows
Desktop Search

~~~
ryanpetrich
Outlook search is powered by Windows Desktop Search I think.

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hbz
Now all we need is BlindSwype. The functionality of both products aren't
mutually exclusive!

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geluso
Exactly! I was disappointed to see this last part in their mission statement:

"With current systems, focus on the keyboard is always needed. It is almost
impossible to slide the finger on letters without paying attention on the
screen. Focusing elsewhere, even for a split second makes it extremely
difficult to resume the word in-progress."

This is the exact assumption they are battling with tap typing. I wish they
would realize that their same system could infer tap points given a swipe
path.

Let the users type how they want, whether tap or swipe, and let their
algorithms figure out the rest.

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shasta
This technology could be amazing. Currently, about 50% of the time, if I spell
something wrong or type a name that's not in the dictionary, my phone replaces
my entry with something radically and comically different. With four
additional degrees of freedom to play with, I'm sure they can get that
percentage up to over 99%.

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jdrock
Looks like cool technology, but Swype still is faster and provides a better
interface.

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noamsml
What does this mean for BlindType on the iPhone?

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icegreentea
The original implementation of BlindType (the one in all the demos) cannot be
used on current iOS devices cause it violates Apple's terms. Apple doesn't
want people replacing the default keyboard... so yeah.

They mentioned originally that they would submit to the App Store knowing that
it would be rejected, but wanted to force Apple to look at what they were
banning due to their conditions.

Once Apple allows it? I have no idea what would happen. Google does release a
lot of iPhone apps, but those all tie into Google services. This does not. At
all.

~~~
extension
It will drive Apple nuts if Android ends up with an obviously superior typing
experience than the iPhone. This could be a turning point in their patent war.

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mildavw
What will happen if it becomes a standard for input and you have users grow up
with it who never learned QWERTY? It's premise--that you're typing with a
QWERTY layout in mind--then becomes broken.

Someone can then invent QwertyType: an actual keyboard on the screen. This
will be faster for these users because they won't have to guess where the
software thinks they think the keys are.

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aspir
Congrats Kostas and Panos! Enjoy life at the Googleplex!

