I'd be all thumbs with a non-qwerty keyboard

What's got two thumbs and can type 65 words a minute? This guy! Researchers have designed a new keyboard layout for tablets and smartphones which leaves eight of the standard finger complement hanging, rearranging the letters so that they can be speedily prodded at by the helpfully opposable thumbs of the user.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/29/qwerty-tablet-keyboard-touch-type 

Police-speak: An appreciation

The police have always had their own language. But their often-mocked manner of speaking to the public displays a streak of comic genius, says Charles Nevin.

As we tweet, text, abbreviate and generally truncate our way through this frantic life, it's good to know that there is at least one small area of public discourse where a relish for orotundity and a delight in stately sarcasm still flourish. I refer, of course, to those upstanding upholders of order, our police.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22295624 

TED Talk: Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity

Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.

Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we're educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence.
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

Toddlers becoming so addicted to iPads they require therapy

Children as young as four are becoming so addicted to smartphones and iPads that they require psychological treatment. 

Experts have warned that parents who allow babies and toddlers to access tablet computers for several hours a day are in danger of causing “dangerous” long term effects.

The youngest known patient being treated in the UK is a four-year-old girl from the South East.

Her parents enrolled her for compulsive behaviour therapy after she became increasingly “distressed and inconsolable” when the iPad was taken away from her.

Her use of the device had escalated over the course of a year and she had become addicted to using it up for to four hours a day.

Dr Richard Graham, who launched the UK’s first technology addiction programme three years ago, said he believed there were many more addicts of her age. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/10008707/Toddlers-becoming-so-addicted-to-iPads-they-require-therapy.html 

 

The peril of 'showrooming'

Have you ever seen something you wanted in a shop, tried it, checked the price online on your smartphone, found it was cheaper, and walked out? Welcome to the world of "showrooming".

"The staff at Jessops would like to thank you for shopping with Amazon" read the sign in a shop window shortly after the British camera chain went into administration.

It was a dry reaction to a growing problem for "bricks and mortar"-focused retailers. Showrooming is said to have exacerbated the decline of high-profile brands like Comet.

Gadget stores, bookshops and the cosmetics industry are all losing sales to showroomers, but solutions have proved hard to find.

Kelly Buckle, 23, of Birmingham, sometimes spends more than £200 in a single shopping trip - but never actually gets as far as the checkout.

"I can go in and smell a perfume and then find it online for £30 less," she says. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22098575 

First Printed Book in America Expected to Fetch Up to $30M in Auction

A copy of the Bay Psalm Book, the first printed book in the land that would eventually become the United States of America, will head to auction in late November where it is expected to fetch anywhere between $15 million to $30 million.

http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/04/21/first-printed-book-in-america-expected-to-fetch-up-to-30m-in-auction/ 

50 Must-Have iPad Apps

Fifty must-have apps, from A to Z: Here’s a list of essentials every iPad owner should consider. Each entry features alternative options to check out, too, for well over 150 apps in all. Did we miss something? Tell us about the apps you can’t live without in the comments section below.

http://techland.time.com/2013/04/15/50-must-have-ipad-apps/