Very interesting. I suspect this is something you'd have to experience to believe. I'm interested in trying it.
CHP,
Your response to the FW FAQ page is similiar to many traditional touch typists I have queried on this topic. Almost all of them were particularly interested in the potential for reduction of Repetitive Strain Injury (carpel tunnel, tendonitis,etc.). This survey is of course anecdotal.
The ultimate question is--Will these individuals adopt it after giving "zero force" typing a fair try? The answer is confounded by all of the enormous ancillary benefits enabled by MT that do not involve touch typing ,e.g., window/photo/image/graph / web page expansion,contraction,rotation and placement using simple finger gestures, execution of both simple and complex App controls with simple finger taps and gestures and, navigation of of the interface hierarchy (network,HD, folders,files,etc.) with simple finger movements on a touch panel.
Your response to the FW FAQ page is similiar to many traditional touch typists I have queried on this topic. Almost all of them were particularly interested in the potential for reduction of Repetitive Strain Injury (carpel tunnel, tendonitis,etc.). This survey is of course anecdotal.
The ultimate question is--Will these individuals adopt it after giving "zero force" typing a fair try? The answer is confounded by all of the enormous ancillary benefits enabled by MT that do not involve touch typing ,e.g., window/photo/image/graph / web page expansion,contraction,rotation and placement using simple finger gestures, execution of both simple and complex App controls with simple finger taps and gestures and, navigation of of the interface hierarchy (network,HD, folders,files,etc.) with simple finger movements on a touch panel.
Well, let me know if you ever see an opportunity to test these - (e.g., Product Testers Wanted) - to me, it sounds like science-fiction-becomes-reality. After 25 years of touch typing, I guarantee I'll be a tough sell (but the best testimonials are from people like us!)
If I can acquire the ability to type 100 WPM with a system like this, I'll be sold. Otherwise, the sacrifice in speed may not be worth the benefit.
Engadget has an update on a new black LUXEED low-profile keyboard with LEDs by Luxiium: backlit on each character, not glowing the whole keys anymore. Somewhat like MacBook Pro's illuminated keyboard.
And with a dedicated software you can choose the exact color of each key!
What's the benefit of key color? I've seen them on Avid stations, but the benefit still seems minimal.
Video editing, key combination for games, etc.
But you're right. I think the characters illumination in a dark room (ala MBP) is a better reason to buy this thing, rather than its ability to tint keys in various colors. Moreover you can tell this keyboard to have all its keys illuminated in the same color, say, in a soft arctic blue for example. It would be more elegant.
They could take this to the next level. How about a keyboard with assignable functions, printed in different colors so that lighting a different LED will light a different function? That way, you could go from Windows Ctrl-Windows-Alt to Mac Ctrl-Opt-Cmd with the press of a key. Let users print their own labels to go under clear keycaps and you could really make it useful for video editing, games, etc. Or even switch between QWERTY and Dvorak layouts without pulling keys constantly. Three or four LEDs per key (plus a microcontroller and a few circuits to handle the lighting and keycode switching) is a lot cheaper than the vaporware Optimus keyboard with the mini displays on each key.
For those who may have trouble taking in the tactile feedback thing I have a task for you. If you know how to type without looking at your keyboard try to move your hands to your desk and start typing. Not so easy is it?
I don't think your comment makes any sense.
I'm not sure if tactile makes any difference because the typing surface is a screen too. I don't think Jeff Han's multitouch makes sense in any other way. I'd sure love to get away from mice, and Mac OS doesn't make that easy. Maybe this won't do away with a separate keyboard, but I think Multitouch will complement it much better than a mouse can.
watched the video and wasn't super impressed (hart beat cell phone???) - until he got to the PDA
That is genius. at 'enough' pressure, the screen jitters eversoslightly, to give you tactile feedback. If it were jsut perceptible, and in concert with visual change and a audio 'tick' it would work. Very cool.
I"m not sure it would work so well if all your fingers were in 'home position' on a keyboard, but certainly for smaller, palmtop device, where you mostly using 2 or three fingers (tap tap taptpatpatpatp). I want iPhone to have THAT.
That is genius. at 'enough' pressure, the screen jitters eversoslightly, to give you tactile feedback. If it were jsut perceptible, and in concert with visual change and a audio 'tick' it would work. Very cool.
That is not tactile feedback. That's visual feedback.
tactile (adj.): of or connected with the sense of touch
That's sonic feedback not tactile (or visual) feedback. There's an absolutely huge difference.
Rest assured, tactile feedback keyboards are far, far more efficient and accurate than keyboards without such feedback. It's been well studied for a few decades and it isn't even a controversial subject. Pretty much all HCI and human factors people are in agreement on this.
That isn't to say that there's not a place for touch pad interfaces. Rather, they are simply a poor tool for general purpose data input.
That's sonic feedback not tactile (or visual) feedback. There's an absolutely huge difference.
Rest assured, tactile feedback keyboards are far, far more efficient and accurate than keyboards without such feedback. It's been well studied for a few decades and it isn't even a controversial subject. Pretty much all HCI and human factors people are in agreement on this.
That isn't to say that there's not a place for touch pad interfaces. Rather, they are simply a poor tool for general purpose data input.
Yeah I agree, that seems to be the consensus. We need a touch screen Keyboard unit with a flip down keyboard layer/face plate. Not very apple-like though.
That's sonic feedback not tactile (or visual) feedback. There's an absolutely huge difference.
Rest assured, tactile feedback keyboards are far, far more efficient and accurate than keyboards without such feedback. It's been well studied for a few decades and it isn't even a controversial subject. Pretty much all HCI and human factors people are in agreement on this.
That isn't to say that there's not a place for touch pad interfaces. Rather, they are simply a poor tool for general purpose data input.
Could you please provide some references to these studies? Google only turns up a few low sample size non-statistically significant Cornell studies. I'm interested in any studies that showed the effect (if any) on speed and accuracy with increased training on MT keyboards Thanks.
Thank you dfiler. What I'm most interested in is the effect of learning/repitition on ability with non-tactile keyboards. I'll be back (with apologies to the Governator).
Still, this device is huge, and still tied down to the keyboard shape. It's expensive, requires a lot of CPU power, and it not all that beneficial, besides allowing you to see the modifier-key options.
Too much power draw, will require its own power supply, will produce a fair amount of heat.
And aside from it being expensive, the kapton flex circuits aren't rated for more than one-million flexes, and after ten million, I can promise they will fail. I don't know if that is a ton of keystrokes or not, but I do know that I built a machine to test flex circuits, and if we ran it constant, it would take about a week to do one million flexes. It went a little faster than one flex per second. Anyway, I'm not convinced that in regular use this keyboard will last longer than a year.
Despite the myriad of problems, there's no reason that it would require a troubling amount of CPU power. It doesn't need to refresh all that often, and the total pixel count on the whole keyboard isn't very high.
Comments
Very interesting. I suspect this is something you'd have to experience to believe. I'm interested in trying it.
CHP,
Your response to the FW FAQ page is similiar to many traditional touch typists I have queried on this topic. Almost all of them were particularly interested in the potential for reduction of Repetitive Strain Injury (carpel tunnel, tendonitis,etc.). This survey is of course anecdotal.
The ultimate question is--Will these individuals adopt it after giving "zero force" typing a fair try? The answer is confounded by all of the enormous ancillary benefits enabled by MT that do not involve touch typing ,e.g., window/photo/image/graph / web page expansion,contraction,rotation and placement using simple finger gestures, execution of both simple and complex App controls with simple finger taps and gestures and, navigation of of the interface hierarchy (network,HD, folders,files,etc.) with simple finger movements on a touch panel.
CHP,
Your response to the FW FAQ page is similiar to many traditional touch typists I have queried on this topic. Almost all of them were particularly interested in the potential for reduction of Repetitive Strain Injury (carpel tunnel, tendonitis,etc.). This survey is of course anecdotal.
The ultimate question is--Will these individuals adopt it after giving "zero force" typing a fair try? The answer is confounded by all of the enormous ancillary benefits enabled by MT that do not involve touch typing ,e.g., window/photo/image/graph / web page expansion,contraction,rotation and placement using simple finger gestures, execution of both simple and complex App controls with simple finger taps and gestures and, navigation of of the interface hierarchy (network,HD, folders,files,etc.) with simple finger movements on a touch panel.
Well, let me know if you ever see an opportunity to test these - (e.g., Product Testers Wanted) - to me, it sounds like science-fiction-becomes-reality. After 25 years of touch typing, I guarantee I'll be a tough sell (but the best testimonials are from people like us!)
If I can acquire the ability to type 100 WPM with a system like this, I'll be sold. Otherwise, the sacrifice in speed may not be worth the benefit.
http://http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/8193/
I think this unit was used on an episode of CSI: Miami
My bad on the link in the previous post. It should be:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/8193/
And with a dedicated software you can choose the exact color of each key!
Hope it will come in a Mac version.
What's the benefit of key color? I've seen them on Avid stations, but the benefit still seems minimal.
Video editing, key combination for games, etc.
But you're right. I think the characters illumination in a dark room (ala MBP) is a better reason to buy this thing, rather than its ability to tint keys in various colors. Moreover you can tell this keyboard to have all its keys illuminated in the same color, say, in a soft arctic blue for example. It would be more elegant.
For those who may have trouble taking in the tactile feedback thing I have a task for you. If you know how to type without looking at your keyboard try to move your hands to your desk and start typing. Not so easy is it?
I don't think your comment makes any sense.
I'm not sure if tactile makes any difference because the typing surface is a screen too. I don't think Jeff Han's multitouch makes sense in any other way. I'd sure love to get away from mice, and Mac OS doesn't make that easy. Maybe this won't do away with a separate keyboard, but I think Multitouch will complement it much better than a mouse can.
http://www.immersion.com/
[Add to Mr. Jobs' shopping cart]
watched the video and wasn't super impressed (hart beat cell phone???) - until he got to the PDA
That is genius. at 'enough' pressure, the screen jitters eversoslightly, to give you tactile feedback. If it were jsut perceptible, and in concert with visual change and a audio 'tick' it would work. Very cool.
I"m not sure it would work so well if all your fingers were in 'home position' on a keyboard, but certainly for smaller, palmtop device, where you mostly using 2 or three fingers (tap tap taptpatpatpatp). I want iPhone to have THAT.
good find....
I thought I may aswell post it here too.
(Click For Larger Pic)
The bare bones 1st step of the video can be viewed here:
Flash Version
Quicktime (HD) Version
There will be more added to the video soon. It's only about 10% complete.
That is genius. at 'enough' pressure, the screen jitters eversoslightly, to give you tactile feedback. If it were jsut perceptible, and in concert with visual change and a audio 'tick' it would work. Very cool.
That is not tactile feedback. That's visual feedback.
tactile (adj.): of or connected with the sense of touch
Rest assured, tactile feedback keyboards are far, far more efficient and accurate than keyboards without such feedback. It's been well studied for a few decades and it isn't even a controversial subject. Pretty much all HCI and human factors people are in agreement on this.
That isn't to say that there's not a place for touch pad interfaces. Rather, they are simply a poor tool for general purpose data input.
That's sonic feedback not tactile (or visual) feedback. There's an absolutely huge difference.
Rest assured, tactile feedback keyboards are far, far more efficient and accurate than keyboards without such feedback. It's been well studied for a few decades and it isn't even a controversial subject. Pretty much all HCI and human factors people are in agreement on this.
That isn't to say that there's not a place for touch pad interfaces. Rather, they are simply a poor tool for general purpose data input.
Yeah I agree, that seems to be the consensus. We need a touch screen Keyboard unit with a flip down keyboard layer/face plate. Not very apple-like though.
That's sonic feedback not tactile (or visual) feedback. There's an absolutely huge difference.
Rest assured, tactile feedback keyboards are far, far more efficient and accurate than keyboards without such feedback. It's been well studied for a few decades and it isn't even a controversial subject. Pretty much all HCI and human factors people are in agreement on this.
That isn't to say that there's not a place for touch pad interfaces. Rather, they are simply a poor tool for general purpose data input.
Could you please provide some references to these studies? Google only turns up a few low sample size non-statistically significant Cornell studies. I'm interested in any studies that showed the effect (if any) on speed and accuracy with increased training on MT keyboards Thanks.
tactile feedback keyboard study
I'm not sure it's the best search string but it'll get you started and point to other jargon that returns good search results.
P.S. Go Panthers in the NCAA!
Perhaps you're heard of the Optimus Keyboard, shown here:
Still, this device is huge, and still tied down to the keyboard shape. It's expensive, requires a lot of CPU power, and it not all that beneficial, besides allowing you to see the modifier-key options.
Too much power draw, will require its own power supply, will produce a fair amount of heat.
And aside from it being expensive, the kapton flex circuits aren't rated for more than one-million flexes, and after ten million, I can promise they will fail. I don't know if that is a ton of keystrokes or not, but I do know that I built a machine to test flex circuits, and if we ran it constant, it would take about a week to do one million flexes. It went a little faster than one flex per second. Anyway, I'm not convinced that in regular use this keyboard will last longer than a year.
Despite the myriad of problems, there's no reason that it would require a troubling amount of CPU power. It doesn't need to refresh all that often, and the total pixel count on the whole keyboard isn't very high.