Samsung’s ‘invisible keyboard’ lets you type on a cafe table

By Noah Manskar, New York Post, January 7, 2020

https://nypost.com/2020/01/07/samsungs-invisible-keyboard-lets-you-type-on-a-cafe-table/

Samsung’s ‘invisible keyboard’

In the realm of traditional technology, CES 2020 continues to deliver gadgets both revolutionary and bizarre.

Samsung unveiled a new, experimental smartphone feature that can create an AI-powered “invisible keyboard” on the surface of any desk or tabletop.

The South Korean tech giant’s “SelfieType” keyboard app uses a phone’s front-facing selfie camera to track the movements of a user’s fingers as they tap out words and sentences on any flat surface. An artificial-intelligence engine analyzes the movements and converts them into text on a smartphone, tablet or laptop.

Samsung also demonstrated “Ballie,” a softball-sized gizmo that follows you around the house and keeps you company. The pint-sized butler, which has built-in smart assistant capabilities, roams the house investigating messes and spills and communicating with appliances like Roombas to clean them up. Ballie can also allow users to play with their dog or cat while away from home.

TP-maker Charmin came to CES with the RollBot — designed to bring you toilet paper from across the room when you’re stranded on the toilet with an empty roll. SmellSense, meanwhile, is a sensor that tells you how the bathroom smells before you step inside. The sensors detect carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide responsible for bathroom stink, and let you know if it’s safe to go in.

A real folding computer display: The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold is a $2,500 folding touchscreen. The laptop-sized screen is expected to ship at some point this year, and represents a four-year collaboration between the PC maker and LG, which created the display. The display folds into a neat, notebook-sized form when not in use.