Project PDA

Recognition system after learning through writing by the users own Palm operating system. The language Graffiti is a set of symbols more or less similar to the letters of the alphabet that must be recognized and assimilated so you can enter one-on-one with the stylus.

Allows user to handwrite text into a field on their Palm. Also Known As: Handwrite, Stroke. Graffiti with the system, an advanced user could enter more than 30 characters per minute. Graffiti also runs on the Windows Mobile platform, where it is called "Block Recognizer", and on the Symbian UIQ platform as the default recognizer and was available for Casio's Zoomer PDA.

Modern graffiti is often seen as having become intertwined with Hip-Hop culture as one of the four main elements of the culture (along with the Master of Ceremonies, the disc jockey, and break dancing), through Hollywood movies such as WildStyle. However, modern (twentieth century) graffiti predates hip hop by almost a decade and has its own culture, complete with its own unique style and slang. The belief that the two are related arises from the fact that some graffiti artists enjoyed the other three aspects of hip-hop, and that it was mainly practiced in areas where the other three elements of hip-hop were evolving as art forms. In addition, graffiti has been made synonymous with the anti-establishment punk rock movement of the 1970s, with such bands as Black Flag and Crass stenciling to gain notoriety, thus bringing it into punk culture.

Many artists involved with Graffiti also are concerned with the similar activity of Stencilling. Essentially, this entails stencilling a print of one or more colours using spray-paint. Graffiti artist John Fekner called "caption writer to the urban environment, adman for the opposition" by writer Lucy Lippard, was involved in direct art interventions within New York City's decaying urban environment in the mid-seventies through the eighties. Fekner is known for his word installations targeting social and political issues, stenciled on buildings throughout New York. In the UK, Banksy is the most recognisable icon for this cultural artistic movement and therefore keeps his identity secret to avoid arrest. Much of Banksy's artwork can be seen around the streets of London and surrounding suburbs. A number of exhibitions have also taken place since 2000.

Grafitti 2

Graffiti 2 is a new version of the Palm OS handwriting system, Graffiti, that was introduced in 2003. In January of that year PalmSource announced the change and explained that Graffiti 2 was based on CIC’s Jot and would replace the "old" (original) version of Graffiti. Graffiti 2 debuted in Palm OS 4.1.2 for Motorola DragonBall-based handhelds and Palm OS 5.2 for ARM-based ones.

The primary reason for the change was the fact that in April 1997 Xerox had sued PalmSource, Inc. over its use of Graffiti. After a legal fight lasting a number of years, and despite the dismissal of the case by a federal judge, Xerox won a reversal late in 2001 in the U.S. Court of Appeals.

The follow up to Grafitti handwriting recognition from Palm. Grafitti 2 is based on "Jot" from CIC (Communication Intelligence Corporation). Palm feels Grafitti is more intuitive and easier to use and is included on all newer Palm PDAs. Also Known As: Grafitti, Jot, handwriting recognition, Character Recognizer.

Eventually a "hack" circulated among Palm power users that allowed them to force the OS on their Palms to revert to the old version of Graffiti. This was a simple file copy until the most recent versions of Palm OS, which require hacked Graffiti libraries to be used, which lack a function used in the Blazer web browser, causing some text entry performed via this application to crash the handheld. The hack does, however, work with all other applications flawlessly.