Wireless Keyboards, anyone?

agent302 · March 20, 2002 9:25PM

Seems as though this has been mentioned, so I will mention it.

This newfound adoption of Bluetooth seems as though it could bring forth the much hoped for wireless keyboard and mouse that reviewers of the iMac all seem to harp about. If you look at Apple's <a href="http://www.apple.com/bluetooth"; target="_blank">Bluetooth</a> page, you'll notice that, under "Bluetooth Devices," it mentions "Peripherals (keyboard, mouse, etc) Sounds like a good idea to me. Who knows, maybe this is gigawire, after all, since Apple refers to Bluetooth replacing USB/Firewire, just as Airport is supposed to replace Ethernet. Comments?

nostradamus · March 20, 2002 9:36PM

"Grandma, you need to replace the batteries in your keyboard and mouse."

wmf · March 20, 2002 10:01PM

Why would Bluetooth be gigawire?

mje · March 20, 2002 10:09PM

Yeah when I read the ...keyboard and mouse... on apple's website I thought bluetooth in apples next major update and price hike

-MJE

agent302 · March 20, 2002 10:10PM

[quote]Originally posted by wmf:

<strong>Why would Bluetooth be gigawire?</strong><hr></blockquote>

Well, it might not be. But Apple's bluetooth site is touting it as a wireless replacement for usb/firewire. And awhile ago, people on these boards dissected the gigawire patent as dealing with wireless communications, so theoretically, a bluetooth implementation in a mac (integrated into the box, not as a usb add-on) could be considered gigawire. Just blatant speculation though.

As a side note, anyone know the bandwidth of Bluetooth? I'd assume that's higher than the 11 Mbs of Airport (given its reduced range).

max8319 · March 20, 2002 10:40PM

it seems feasible, but there are a couple problems. many people have wireless mice and keyboards; how long does your battery last? a month?

it would be bad if apple would give people a keyboard with their imac/pm that required them to put in new batteries every month. that's a cost that most people wouldn't want to pay.

well then, what about rechargable batteries? the problem with that is that a couple times a month, you would have to plug your keyboard into your computer to recharge, thus negating the whole idea of wireless. this is just a tiny flaw......

but who knows. hopefully apple will use the battery from the ipod for the keyboard/mouse. anyways, i wouldn't think that apple wouldn't release anything till they got a battery like up to 2 months.

wmf · March 20, 2002 10:40PM

Bluetooth is about 1Mbps.

thentro · March 20, 2002 10:51PM

I think apple will make a Bluetooth slot for the next upgrade at NY. Could Bluetooth use the airport antenna with out problems? I would love to just hover my cell pone next to my laptop and get on the 3G internet...

Hmm long ways off....

pendrake · March 21, 2002 10:42AM

Wireless keyboards and mice last longer than you think. I have a Logitech combo at home, and I've changed the mouse once (and it didn't just stop working, it warned about 12 times and I ignored it for the first month or so), and haven't changed the keyboard yet. This is in over a year of moderate computer use.

I think they could do the Bluetooth, with a Firewire/USB cable for recharging a LiON battery. Once in a while, an alarm would go off (please plug your keyboard in with the firewire cable to recharge) - can you do this with USB?

I do have to say, I totally love having a wireless keyboard and mouse. They rock.

outsider · March 21, 2002 11:11AM

There's got to be a way to generate electricity with the constand motions of input devices. A keyboard can use the kinetic enery of the key strokes to power itself and the optical mouse can use a rollerball under it or something similar. How do watches do it (the ones that don't need winding or batteries...)? Themal?

max8319 · March 21, 2002 12:23PM

there's pretty much 2 types of rechargable/never need another battery watches

1)solar power-they have the power collector on the face of the watch. this is very unlikely for for a keyboard or mouse.

2)kinetic- basically have some kind of mechanism that moves back and forth while you walk, move your wrist; this is how they get the kinetic energy to keep the watch powered

those are the only 2 kinds i can remember right now. i think there might be another kind. i've heard people complain about the kinetic being really noisy.

max8319 · March 21, 2002 12:27PM

i think it would be feasible to use the keystrokes as kinetic energy.

i don't know about the mouse. maybe they could put a kinetic energy device inside the mouse, so it moves around, generating power just like the watch. but this isn't a good solution. the mouse would get moved around enough to keep it powered all the time.

i don't know if they would go back to having a roller ball in addition to the "optical eye." it sorta takes away the bragging right by saying it's optical, but then you flip the mouse over and see a roller ball.

if apple does make wireless mice and keyboards, i'm sure they will come up with good solution

masker · March 21, 2002 1:27PM

Duuuuh... They'll all have a little crank on them built in on the bottom.

Sort of like a phone dial. give it 30 turns and your good for a month on the mouse, and 2-3 months on the keyboard.

See ===><a href="http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9701/08/t_t/windup.gadgets/index.html"; target="_blank">CNN windup technology.</a>

Also, remember when it was guessed that the iBooks would be windup???

That's because someone saw a prototype.

or this could all be a bunch of horse $#!?

Who knows..

MSKR

[ 03-21-2002: Message edited by: Masker ]</p>

jasonfj · March 26, 2002 3:34PM

so we're talking clockwork mice then?!