“iDitDahText is a keyboard alternative for the iPhone and iPod touch that allows you to enter characters by tapping their Morse code.” This is just an informational post, I have not purchased this application because even if I did, I wouldn’t be able to tell you how to use it because I know nothing about Morse code. However, I figured some of you might and therefore might be interested in iDitDahText. It is actually a pretty crazy application. Below is a description of the application and a demo video.

App Description

iDitDahText is a keyboard alternative for the iPhone and iPod touch that allows you to enter characters by tapping their Morse code. The interface is a dual lever touch paddle (which also can be used as single lever paddle), coupled to an iambic keyer and decoder. Please watch the video on youtube for details along with a demonstration of text being entered at 50 WPM. iDitDahText also provides a plugin for a game called Typing Sebastian: a simple, fun way to learn how to use Morse code with iDitDahText. Again, See the video on youtube and FAQ for more details.

Many thanks go to the folks on irc.saurik.com and irc.osx86.hu, in particular : august, BigBoss, Cobra, copumpkin, DHowett, erica, francis, go2, linuxh, Optimo, phoenix3200, Sakurina, and saurik.

Video Demo

ScreenShots

I remember iTypeFastR, an additional keyboard, from the 2.x days (though, I don’t remember it being a paid app back then) and it seems the app has been updated to version 1.2.1 which now supports the 3.0 firmware. Once installed, you have a 21 day trial in which to test out the keyboard after that, the app must be registered for $3.99 USD.

To activate iTypeFastR, open the keyboard and select the Globe icon in the lower left corner. This will bring you to the iTypeFastR keyboard. To get back to your stock keyboard, go into the number section of the iTypeFastR keyboard and then select the Globe icon.

Personally, I just cant do it! The keyboard is just too weird but, maybe it is just the thing you are looking for. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Description of iTypeFastR:
“iTypeFastR is an app for iPhone, that adds a special keyboard. The keyboard allows you to type faster and with less typos, because on average the keys are much larger. This keyboard makes better use of the available room on the screen. Often used letters are used more then less used ones. On average, you therefor hit bigger buttons”

1.2.1 Change Log:
Functional:
- Compatibility with iPhone firmware 3.x (OS 3). This is the most important part, and was quite complicated to get fixed
- We got rid of two emoticons on the numeric screen. Many of you requested to increase the size of the spacebar and decrease that of the emoticons, so we did.

Design:
- We did many improvements on the landscape screen. It is much much better now
- We got rid of the ‘peel back animation’ between the keyboard to give it a more clean look – We introduced a small ‘emboss’ on all the keys to make it look slightly better

Coordinates:
- N : 3 pixels less at the bottom (coordinates file only)
because the ‘N’ was sometimes outputted when ‘space’ was meant

ScreenShots

Ok, this is not new information however, I felt like I should write about it because I am highly confused as to why a $1.99 Emoji app is in the Top Paid Apps when you can get Emoji for free!

For those of you who do not know what Emoji is, according to Wiki, it is “the Japanese term for the picture characters or emoticons.” It basically enables those cute little emoticons on your iPhone or iPod Touch. Just to make one thing clear, Emoji are already technically on your iPhone and iPod Touch, Emoji applications just enable them.

The reason I am confused is because one of the Top Paid apps in an application that enables emoticons when you can do it for free with an application called Spell Number. The paid app does give you a list of the code for each emoticon (though, I’m not sure how useful that is and probably not worth $1.99).

Spell Number can be used on an iPhone or iPod Touch (including the iPhone 3GS) that is on 2.2, 2.2.1 and 3.0. It is extremely easy to enable the emoticons, just follow the steps below.

1. Download Spell Number from the App Store.
2. Open the app and enter the number 91929394.59
3. Close the application using the Home Button (you do not push any buttons, just enter the number and close the app).
4. Open your stock Settings app and go into General > Keyboard > International Keyboard > Japanese and turn of Emji.
5. Close Settings application using the Home Button

To use the emoticons, just go into any application in which you use the keyboard and you will notice a new globe icon next to the number icon. When you select it, it will bring up all the available emoticons. There are 6 categories to choose from (on the lower menu bar) and multiple pages in each category (just scroll from right to left to see more). To get back to your keyboard, just tap the globe icon all the way to the left on the lower menu bar of the emoticons keyboard. You can delete an emoticons from where you are typing by using the arrow all the way to the right on the lower menu bar of the emoticons keyboard.

There are a few things to note. On an iPhone 3G on firmware 3.0, the globe and delete arrow icons do not show up on the emoticon keyboard but, they still work when you tap on them. I’m not sure what the deal is with that…a glitch I guess because it works fine on other devices on the 3.0 firmware (including the iPhone 3GS). Also, only other iPhone and iPod Touch users can view the emoticons.

Definitely a “must have” application! I love my emoticons! 

Note: Once you enable the Emoji keyboard in your settings, you can delete the Spell Number app if you would like…you are still able to enable/disable the keyboard in the Setting without Spell number installed. However, if you would like to keep the applicaiton so that you know how to spell large numbers, that is cool too!

For those of you in the jailbreak community…there are apps in Cydia that enable Emoji that are also free.

ScreenShots

1. Copy & Paste (76.0%, 1,474 Votes)
4. Push Notification (41.0%, 787 Votes)
11. SDK Upgrades (10.0%, 195 Votes)
2. Landscape View (50.0%, 955 Votes)
3. Picture Messaging (48.0%, 920 Votes)
17. In-App Purchase (3.0%, 51 Votes)
7. Peer-to-Peer Connectivity (33.0%, 630 Votes)
14. Embedding of Google Maps (8.0%, 160 Votes)
8. Spotlight Search (29.0%, 550 Votes)
13. Voice Memos (9.0%, 179 Votes)
12. New Options for Accessories (10.0%, 188 Votes)
5. Turn-by-Turn Directions (40.0%, 765 Votes)
15. Scaling Video Streaming (8.0%, 159 Votes)
9. Emailing Multiple Photos (19.0%, 373 Votes)
16. CalDav (3.0%, 62 Votes)
10. Notes Sync (11.0%, 217 Votes)
6. Stereo Bluetooth (34.0%, 659 Votes)

Total Voters: 1,927

It looks like the majority or you are looking forward to copy & paste, landscape view, picture messaging, push notification and turn-by-turn directions. As I noted before, my favorite five include; copy & paste, push notification, spotlight search, the new options for accessories and peer-to-peer connectivity. Doug has updated to firmware 3.0 and he says that the copy & paste is really nice!!

You can still vote on this Poll in our Poll Archive page. You can also vote/view all the past polls on the Poll Archive page as well. Below is the new poll. Thanks to Owen for the poll suggestion!

Note: You can disable your keyboard auto-correction by going into your stock Settings application then the General option then the Keyboard option. You will then see a toggle to turn on/off your keyboard auto-correction.

On a side note, you won’t really need a bluetooth keyboard if this is ever released:

If you hate tapping the button to switch your keyboard between numbers and letters, 5-Row QWERTY Keyboard is for you! It simply creates another keyboard layout that you can enable from your Settings app that has a fifth row of keys at the top. There’s also some other nice features like arrow keys but I’m not sure I’m gonna keep it. I’m so used to tapping the button to switch to numbers & punctuation that I won’t use it. It’s a pretty sweet idea though! Here’s the steps to get it and what it looks like:

1. Search Cydia for 5-Row QWERTY Keyboard and Install
2. Open your Settings application
3. Tap General > Keyboard > International Keyboards
4. Toggle 5 Row QWERTY to ON (should already be set to on during install)
5. When keyboard is present, tap the globe to change keyboards, you should see the following keyboard option:

I’m still trying to get caught up on all the mods that were released this week-end. After looking through quite a few of them (though, I still have quite a few left), here are a few I thought were worth mentioning. The first is a theme, iComplete via BigBoss. The title really does explain the theme…it is very complete. It mods almost every part of your iPhone or iPod Touch including, wallpaper, icons, battery, UI images, dialer…etc. There is also a match SMBSettings theme as well. The next mods are keyboard mods. Macbook White KeyBoard, via BigBoss, and Neutra Keys, via modmyi, both theme your stock keyboard (see screenshots below). All three of the mods mentioned above are activated through WinterBoard. The last two apps are wallpaper packs…both vDay and Changing Times are available via the MacCiti source.

Screenshots:

Well, after a six long days of traveling and family get togethers for Christmas, I’m working my way through the Cydia apps that were released in the last few days. Below are a few notable WinterBoard mods. The first mod is a dialer mod which changes your phone keypad. Apple X Dialer, via BigBoss, does exactly what it sounds like….gives your dialer an Apple X theme. The second mod is a keyboard mod. Carbon Fiber Keyboard, via BigBoss, is a mod that will give your keyboard a carbon fiber look. Both of these mods installed and worked correctly for me. The third mod is my favorite…a Safari Progress Bar mod via BigBoss. This mod changes the loading bar in Safari when loading a web page. It comes in a few different colors including; Dark Blue, Aqua, Red, Orange, Lime, Green and Pink. All of these mods are activated via WinterBoard. SEe screenshots below.

Screenshots:

Below are a few cool WinterBoard mods. The first two mods are themes. Red Art (via iSpazio) is a cool theme but, it only contains about 19 icons which do not include App Store, iTunes or Cydia. But, if you are ok with only modding a few icons…then you might like Red Art. Electric Blue (via modmyi) a theme that is basically made up of clear icons and a wallpaper. What I like about the theme is that the icons are unique…I have not seen transparent icons like the ones in this theme before. I did find that the theme looks the best with the Transparent Dock, No Undocked Icon Lables and No Docked Icon Labels options turned on in WinterBoard.

The next mod is a lock screen mod called Minimal Lockscreen (via modmyi). It changes the “slide to unlock” bar on your lockscreen. This application comes with three options for the unlock bar (light, dark and clear)…check out screenshots below. I personally really like this mod, it is clean and simple. It does come with a lock screen wallpaper so, if you would like to use your own lock screen wallpaper, you will have to select the User Lock Background in WinterBoard and move it above the Minimal Lockscreen mod. The last mod is a key highlight mod, Keyboard Key Highlight (via modmyi) What this mod does is change the color of the keys on the keyboard when you select them. It comes with four different color options; red, blue, purple and green (where’s pink???).

Note: All of the mods mentioned above are activated via WinterBoard.

Screenshots:

Below are a few WinterBoard mods. The first is a theme, iBLOB (via iSpazio), is a very clean theme. It basically mods the wallpaper, dock and icons…it contains 70 icons. The second theme, Elegance (via ModMyi), is very similar to the A8stract Theme. I actually prefer some of the icons from the A8stract Theme a little better. Also, if you like the Elegance theme, you are going to have to do a little work. Most of the stock icons are in Italian and need to be renamed to English in order to work. But, if you don’t mind SSH’ing it just takes a little time to get them right. The next two mods are transparent mods.

The first transparent mod is, Transparent Calc (via modmyi), which changes your Calculator so that it is transparent. This allows you to see a wallpaper behind the calculator. If you put the Transparent Calc mod above your theme in WinterBoard, you will see the wallpaper that comes with the transparent Calc mod…which can be changed by adding a new wallpaper in the Library/Themes/Transparent Calc.theme folder. Or, you can move the Transparent Calc below your theme in WinterBoard and it will display the wallpaper from your theme behind the calculator. The second transparent mod is the Transparent Keyboard (via modmyi). This will do just that, make your keyboard transparent.

The last two mods are dialer mods. Red Carbon Dialer and Blue Carbon Dialer (via BigBoss) will change your dialer keypad. Below are screenshots for all the mods…all of which are activated via WinterBoard.

Screenshots: