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Tech Week Ahead: Touch Screen Keyboards

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Audie Cornish.

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

I'm Melissa Block. And it's time now for All Tech Considered.

(SOUNDBITE OF THEME MUSIC)

BLOCK: First in All Tech, a quick look ahead to the keyboard market. Researchers in Scotland, at the University of Saint Andrews, have developed a new touch-screen keyboard for small, handheld devices.

STEVE HENN, BYLINE: It's designed for thumb typers.

BLOCK: That's NPR's Steve Henn. Move over, QWERTY. Here comes KALQ. That's K-A-L-Q.

HENN: It breaks the keyboard into two groups. The left side has, like, 16 keys. The right side has 12 keys.

CORNISH: According to the report, KALQ allows a person to thumb type more than 30 percent faster than the old QWERTY setup. The keyboard will be available as a free app on Android.

Now, if you'd rather not text at all, there's hope.

HENN: Samsung is apparently working on some sort of ski hat that will actually read your thoughts, so you don't even have to say anything.

CORNISH: You just have to wear a ski hat.

BLOCK: And that's our quick look ahead with NPR's Steve Henn. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.