the QWERTY keyboard is [and was intentionally designed to be] a square wheel.
We should move to the DVORAK keyboard. the only reason we use QWERTY is because typewriters used to jam because people were typing too fast w/ early DVORAK versions. QWERTY slowed us all down, and has led to millions of repetitive use injuries.
I would like to try it but since you can't realistically tear apart your MBP keyboard and rearrange the keys, it is not practical to have one layout on your desktop machine and another on your notebook.
Looks fantastic but is this thing actually on the market yet? They've been floating these concept designs around for a few years now.
Yeah, the old giant one with the huge keys has been available for years and the one I linked second is available for preorder now. It's just over $1,000.
The one I wanted, the fully touchscreen one, is just a concept still.
There needs to be a "full stop" feel when you press your finger on a key and it hits bottom.
For you. But yours is not a universal opinion or a fact. There are many folks that are just fine with rubber keys and even touchscreen 'no feel' keyboards.
Apple is patenting everything they can think of, even though they have no plans to ever manufacture it.
Their strategy seems to be to prevent these technologies from ever seeing the light of day.
Hey - if the patent trolls do it, why not Apple?
Actually no. Apple is NOT a patent troll simply because they patent their ideas that they don't intend to use. How is that, because they will license them if someone asks. And if someone uses it and didn't ask then they deserve to be sued. That isn't patent trolling at all.
Patent trolls don't use their patents and don't license them but rather wait for someone to use it, gain heavy profit from it and then go 'oh we own that so all your base are ours, pay up'
I would like to try it but since you can't realistically tear apart your MBP keyboard and rearrange the keys, it is not practical to have one layout on your desktop machine and another on your notebook.
Interesting point. Once upon a time someone was floating around the idea of a touchscreen keyboard that would have the letters etc on a display. And would change for the needs of the moment. Much like iOS devices do. So why not that for a keyboard and it could change for languages or even perhaps in advanced apps like Final Cut it would show the shortcuts (so you wouldn't need to buy a skin for it).
I knew that one day I would see the ZX-81 and ZX Spectrum keyboards again...
Jokes aside, I personally dislike rubber keyboards.
Not quite:
The image used in the article is a bit misleading as it's just an enlarged drawing of the contact membrane. The key itself is just your usual key stuck to a different lever.
Right now, Apple uses the scissor switch keys, which give the right feel but wobble a bit and still click when typing.
I quite like the idea of using optical technology where the LED to illuminate the key shines onto a sensor and a key press simply hides the LED from the sensor. This way, no matter how hard you press a key, it responds the same way and reduces the urge some people have of pressing keys harder to make them respond.
I do think they will need to make the key travel vertically but I guess with such low travel distances, you might not notice the key rotation, especially if the fulcrum is far enough away from the key.
Interesting point. Once upon a time someone was floating around the idea of a touchscreen keyboard that would have the letters etc on a display. And would change for the needs of the moment. Much like iOS devices do. So why not that for a keyboard and it could change for languages or even perhaps in advanced apps like Final Cut it would show the shortcuts (so you wouldn't need to buy a skin for it).
My gosh, I want this so much. I can't tell you how much I want this. I'm fine with it being a single touchscreen instead of a bunch of keys with a bunch of screens behind them.
Anything to reduce the keyboard imprint on the glossy MBP screens is a good thing. The Anti-glare screens being slightly recessed, don't seem to suffer from the same problem.
Anything to reduce the keyboard imprint on the glossy MBP screens is a good thing. The Anti-glare screens being slightly recessed, don't seem to suffer from the same problem.
The glossy screens are covered with glass? Just wipe them clean. How can there be an imprint?
This isn't reinventing the keyboard. It's just a different type of membrane.
++ to the person who mocked the older Apple crumb catcher keyboards. Those were terrible.
The new aluminium ones are brilliant however. Replaced all my old ones with them. Solid feel to the keys and thanks to the very narrow gap between the keys and the aluminium grid they are largely immune to liquid spills.
That's what the Optimus Tactus intends to bring to the table
.....ok. What did it take the geniuses at Lebedev to bring the Maximus to reality? 8 Years? And what did they give us when they finally got their act together and actually built something? A Two Thousand dollar input device with one primary function. I could buy a screaming fast MBP or two 64GB 3G iPads for that kind of cash.
I would not bet your money on Lebedev's clowns to bring anything to reality except another ridiculous concept drawing.
And really, what is this "Tactus" you've pictured except an iPad with a different form-factor?
.....ok. What did it take the geniuses at Lebedev to bring the Maximus to reality? 8 Years? And what did they give us when they finally got their act together and actually built something? A Two Thousand dollar input device with one primary function. I could buy a screaming fast MBP or two 64GB 3G iPads for that kind of cash.
I would not bet your money on Lebedev's clowns to bring anything to reality except another ridiculous concept drawing.
And really, what is this "Tactus" you've pictured except an iPad with a different form-factor?
Oh, and don't forget to pick up a wall-wart and USB cable with your cutting-edge Tactus folks....it'll look great next to your brick-phone.
Apple already makes the worst keyboards on the market. Now they're doubling-down on bad. Sad.
Funny I recently bought one of the Apple wired keyboards to replace my old keyboard that still had a Windows key. I find I'm typing faster than I was before and I'm putting it down to the fact that there is minimal travel when typing on it. I quite like it. Plus it's so small on my desk. I hate dealing w/wireless batteries and wanted the keypad tho, so I got the wired one.
Comments
the QWERTY keyboard is [and was intentionally designed to be] a square wheel.
We should move to the DVORAK keyboard. the only reason we use QWERTY is because typewriters used to jam because people were typing too fast w/ early DVORAK versions. QWERTY slowed us all down, and has led to millions of repetitive use injuries.
I would like to try it but since you can't realistically tear apart your MBP keyboard and rearrange the keys, it is not practical to have one layout on your desktop machine and another on your notebook.
That's what the Optimus Tactus intends to bring to the table
Looks fantastic but is this thing actually on the market yet? They've been floating these concept designs around for a few years now.
Looks fantastic but is this thing actually on the market yet? They've been floating these concept designs around for a few years now.
Yeah, the old giant one with the huge keys has been available for years and the one I linked second is available for preorder now. It's just over $1,000.
The one I wanted, the fully touchscreen one, is just a concept still.
There needs to be a "full stop" feel when you press your finger on a key and it hits bottom.
For you. But yours is not a universal opinion or a fact. There are many folks that are just fine with rubber keys and even touchscreen 'no feel' keyboards.
Apple is patenting everything they can think of, even though they have no plans to ever manufacture it.
Their strategy seems to be to prevent these technologies from ever seeing the light of day.
Hey - if the patent trolls do it, why not Apple?
Actually no. Apple is NOT a patent troll simply because they patent their ideas that they don't intend to use. How is that, because they will license them if someone asks. And if someone uses it and didn't ask then they deserve to be sued. That isn't patent trolling at all.
Patent trolls don't use their patents and don't license them but rather wait for someone to use it, gain heavy profit from it and then go 'oh we own that so all your base are ours, pay up'
I would like to try it but since you can't realistically tear apart your MBP keyboard and rearrange the keys, it is not practical to have one layout on your desktop machine and another on your notebook.
Interesting point. Once upon a time someone was floating around the idea of a touchscreen keyboard that would have the letters etc on a display. And would change for the needs of the moment. Much like iOS devices do. So why not that for a keyboard and it could change for languages or even perhaps in advanced apps like Final Cut it would show the shortcuts (so you wouldn't need to buy a skin for it).
FlexiKeys ....
Yum!
I knew that one day I would see the ZX-81 and ZX Spectrum keyboards again...
Jokes aside, I personally dislike rubber keyboards.
Not quite:
The image used in the article is a bit misleading as it's just an enlarged drawing of the contact membrane. The key itself is just your usual key stuck to a different lever.
Right now, Apple uses the scissor switch keys, which give the right feel but wobble a bit and still click when typing.
I quite like the idea of using optical technology where the LED to illuminate the key shines onto a sensor and a key press simply hides the LED from the sensor. This way, no matter how hard you press a key, it responds the same way and reduces the urge some people have of pressing keys harder to make them respond.
I do think they will need to make the key travel vertically but I guess with such low travel distances, you might not notice the key rotation, especially if the fulcrum is far enough away from the key.
I love keyboards with a lot of travel. I use old IBM clicky keyboards for this reason at my desk.
Laptop keyboards are bad enough already. Let's not make them even worse.
Apple should stop trying to make things so thin. They're thin enough already. Work on making it lighter instead.
Interesting point. Once upon a time someone was floating around the idea of a touchscreen keyboard that would have the letters etc on a display. And would change for the needs of the moment. Much like iOS devices do. So why not that for a keyboard and it could change for languages or even perhaps in advanced apps like Final Cut it would show the shortcuts (so you wouldn't need to buy a skin for it).
My gosh, I want this so much. I can't tell you how much I want this. I'm fine with it being a single touchscreen instead of a bunch of keys with a bunch of screens behind them.
Anything to reduce the keyboard imprint on the glossy MBP screens is a good thing. The Anti-glare screens being slightly recessed, don't seem to suffer from the same problem.
The glossy screens are covered with glass? Just wipe them clean. How can there be an imprint?
++ to the person who mocked the older Apple crumb catcher keyboards. Those were terrible.
The new aluminium ones are brilliant however. Replaced all my old ones with them. Solid feel to the keys and thanks to the very narrow gap between the keys and the aluminium grid they are largely immune to liquid spills.
That's what the Optimus Tactus intends to bring to the table:
Removing tactility from the desktop keyboard is no solution at all.
That's what the Optimus Tactus intends to bring to the table
.....ok. What did it take the geniuses at Lebedev to bring the Maximus to reality? 8 Years? And what did they give us when they finally got their act together and actually built something? A Two Thousand dollar input device with one primary function. I could buy a screaming fast MBP or two 64GB 3G iPads for that kind of cash.
I would not bet your money on Lebedev's clowns to bring anything to reality except another ridiculous concept drawing.
And really, what is this "Tactus" you've pictured except an iPad with a different form-factor?
.....ok. What did it take the geniuses at Lebedev to bring the Maximus to reality? 8 Years? And what did they give us when they finally got their act together and actually built something? A Two Thousand dollar input device with one primary function. I could buy a screaming fast MBP or two 64GB 3G iPads for that kind of cash.
I would not bet your money on Lebedev's clowns to bring anything to reality except another ridiculous concept drawing.
And really, what is this "Tactus" you've pictured except an iPad with a different form-factor?
Oh, and don't forget to pick up a wall-wart and USB cable with your cutting-edge Tactus folks....it'll look great next to your brick-phone.
I would not bet your money on Lebedev's clowns to bring anything to reality except another ridiculous concept drawing.
Neither would I, but they're the only ones doing anything new in the keyboard department.
Apple already makes the worst keyboards on the market. Now they're doubling-down on bad. Sad.
Funny I recently bought one of the Apple wired keyboards to replace my old keyboard that still had a Windows key. I find I'm typing faster than I was before and I'm putting it down to the fact that there is minimal travel when typing on it. I quite like it. Plus it's so small on my desk. I hate dealing w/wireless batteries and wanted the keypad tho, so I got the wired one.