jswitte01

Could the failure rate be because people "mash" the keys harder since the travel time/length/force is less? But I doubt Apple could figure that out unless they had some kind of accelerometer on each key (didn't one of the patent diagrams detail some kind of light-travel-time based sensor?) I wonder if they could figure out a (reasonably priced..) mechanism that would provide a dynamic resistance as a key is pushed down, to provide a convincing *illusion* of increased travel time/distance? If they wanted to make a "virtual keyboard" MacBook like the concept that has been making the rounds, I'm guessing that would be one of the deal-breakers. That type of "sensation creation" might be the same thing that Taptic does, except it would have to be on a "per-key basis". My guess is you'd need at least 6 independent taptic "zones" to do that. The other thing that I think would be necessary, and would probably be *much* harder would be to (somehow) create the illusion of being able to tell where the *edges* of the keys are by touch. A feature of all QWERTY keyboards I've ever used is the little raised bumps on the F and J keys to be able to locate them without looking. My guess is that such "edge tactile-proprioception" is a lot more important than might be thought. (But then, people type on ipad keyboards, which don't have that.)

I *hope* the shown adapter is a fake image.. If you're going to design a Lighting->Minijack adapter, why have a "cord" in the middle at all? Can a DAC chip really be *that* big? (Of course, it might be that Apple *could* make it smaller, but if they did, the adapter would end up being $75, not $20)