Then “Like” TypeRacer on Facebook and spread the word!  We’ve added a new “Like” button under the main menu. When you use it, your Facebook friends will get a news feed saying that you like typeracer.com and hopefully you will have more friends to race against as a result!

In other news, we’ve added lots of new texts from songs, movies, and books like The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan and Urban Tribes: A Generation Redefines Friendship, Family, and Commitment by Ethan Watters.  The latter describes living in one of the most unique cities in the word.  Here’s a little excerpt:

“To drive out of the Central Valley of California on a hot day and into San Francisco is to feel like you’re landing on another planet. Over our two-hour drive, the temperature went from nearly a hundred to the middle sixties. The visual disparity was as dramatic. On one side of the bay was a day so bright you’d have to squint with the visor down and your sunglasses on. Halfway across the Bay Bridge the fog enveloped us, whipping in strands through the rusted girders. As we crossed into the fig, it didn’t seem possible that two such environments could exist side by side.”

Lastly, the Fastest Typists section now remembers each record-holder’s country of origin.  So if you’re fast (or persistent) enough to have your name up there, get your country’s flag displayed by doing another race. Let’s see which country is home to the fastest typists in the world!

Look closely at the new header on the site and you’ll see this little red car typing out the heading.¹ It’s easy to miss it because that car is moving fast, but what if we told you that you can actually learn to type that fast yourself?  Believe it or not, the animation is calibrated to type exactly 165 WPM (825 CPM) — which is the actual average typing speed achieved by Sean Wrona!

If you haven’t seen Sean’s name yet, look him up on the new and improved Fastest Typists section.  Click on the avg. speed link at the top of the list to sort by all-time averages, which is the category totally dominated by Sean Wrona.  The runner-up is almost 15 WPM behind — that’s the equivalent of being able to type up an extra 2 full essays in one hour!

As you can see, the Fastest Typists section now shows 100 results, which you can page through using the links at the bottom.  And now you can also see the top people for 3 different categories: all-time speed, recent speed, and total number of races finished.

As usual, this release includes many other improvements, but the most requested new feature is probably the option to publish your typing speed on Facebook.

When you go to the TypeRacer App on Facebook, scroll down and click  Publish your typing speed on your wall.  After you accept the prompt to allow TypeRacer to publish posts on your behalf, you will see a preview of your scorecard before it gets posted on your wall and news feed.  Or you can just keep racing until you achieve a new personal best, at which point the app will automatically prompt you to share that score.  And while you’re at it, don’t forget to invite more friends to use the app (there is a link for that as well) — we appreciate it when you tell your friends about TypeRacer.  Consider it a way of thanking us for this free app!

Wishing you a great summer!  Keep typing and keep improving!

¹ — the animation will only come up when you’re not logged in  (so it doesn’t annoy people who use the site a lot)

A frequent question raised on the TypeRacer Forum is how to best improve your typing speed.  The typing masters all agree that improving your accuracy is the best way to improve your WPM.  I’m happy to say that we’ve developed a training tool that might help – today we’re launching a new parallel TypeRacer Universe called Instant Death Mode.  As you might remember from this post, different parallel universes let you try things that you wouldn’t normally find on the main site, all without impacting the scores on your primary account.  We already have universes for typing in other languages but now there is a universe that will have you racing under a different set of rules!

Try the new Instant Death Mode by going to http://typeracer.com/universe/accuracy

As you might have guessed, this parallel TypeRacer Universe is all about accuracy, to the extent that it doesn’t allow you to make any mistakes.  You will notice that a single typo will kick you out of the race.  Give it a try for a few hours and then watch your typing speed improve when you go back to standard racing.  I must warn you though, the Instant Death Mode will challenge even the most seasoned veterans – expect to be demoted to Beginner until you gain some practice (don’t worry, the skill level and scores on your primary account will not be affected by this).

You will find other improvements in this release as well.  As a first step toward letting you personalize your TypeRacer experience, I’m happy to say that you can finally you edit your account info.  You can change everything including your first name, last name, email address, and password by clicking on the edit icon () next to the Sign Out link.  Your username, however, is your permanent identity on the site, and, as such, cannot be changed.

As always, this release includes numerous bug fixes, quirk fixes (the Opera browser is now officially supported!) and new texts.  Check it out then leave a comment and let us know what you’d like to see in the next release!

Update:  If you’re looking for something fun to do, create a private racetrack in Instant Death Mode, invite your friends, and then watch them (and yourself!) dropping like flies from each race   That’s how some of us have spent a good chunk of today!