Got a Kindle Touch? If so, you’ll want to check out what Seattle-based startup Puzzazz has just come up with: the TouchWrite app. Used in conjunction with Puzzazz’s many puzzles, TouchWrite allows you to write directly on your screen (both letters and numbers) with your finger. That’s right, no need to use the touchscreen keyboard when using TouchWrite. All you have to do is use your index finger to create a letter to add to a puzzle or spell out a word.

While handwriting recognition technology isn’t anything new, no other company has come up with this technology as it pertains to e-readers yet. That puts Puzzazz ahead (way ahead) of the pack. Not only will TouchWrite make it a lot easier to fill in those puzzle answers, but you’ll also find that this technology may soon be applied to smartphones and other devices near you (sorry, Samsung, your new Stylus pen is now, more than before, useless).

The Potential – Oh, the Potential!

Imagine if you could write directly on your phone, tablet, or e-reader using your index finger. Forget about typing on that semi-annoying touchscreen or even using a keypad – nothing is faster than your fingertip! Puzzazz gained a whole lot of funding recently, and this company sure knows how to use those funds. Instead of squandering that cash away, Puzzazz put the money to research use. Now, the company has created a program that really does impress when used. The only drawback to the TouchWrite app is that the current screen you’re writing on won’t refresh (making it hard to see what you’ve written), but this is a minor glitch (and one that Puzzazz is bound to work out sooner rather than later).

While there’s so much potential for the new TouchWrite technology, puzzle enthusiasts will appreciate Puzzazz’s newest creation for what it was meant to do: make filling in puzzles a lot easier. If you want to do those crosswords in style or simply get to the point quicker, there’s nothing quite as novelty as TouchWrite (available now through Amazon).

Index Finger Writing: The Future?

Interestingly enough, today I came across a handy iPhone app called EasySign. Based, roughly, on the same notion as TouchWrite, EasySign allows iOS users to sign documents using an index finger. Is this the direction that technology is now moving in? It certainly appears to be the case, and that’s not a bad thing. After all of the arguing that consumers (and companies) have done when it comes to touchscreens versus tactile screens, it’s about time that some companies start to think differently.

I’m willing to bet that the next biggest tablet or smartphone to come out comes with handwriting recognition built into it. Why fuss with touchscreens or other keyboards when you can just whip out your index finger? And the Stylus pen that Samsung has tried desperately to bring back? Not that it was ever a real threat anyway, but the Stylus has been tried, failed, and done – there’s no going back on that one (thankfully). If you have a Kindle, check out TouchWrite today, and let us know how it works out for you.