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Textblade: https://waytools.com/ https://waytools.com/ Single row keyboard that has minimal finger movement. It was to be delivered March 2015 or so, but it ha

Textblade: https://waytools.com/ https://waytools.com/ Single row keyboard that has minimal finger movement. It was to be delivered March 2015 or so, but it has yet to be released. They have testers who rave about it and it looks incredible, but it is perpetually around the corner. Originally designed as an ultra-portable phone keyboard, those who have used it tend to use it for all their machines. It has jump slots to quickly switch from device to device.

devrandomguy 9y ago
Wow, that is brilliant! But it's not on the market, you say? Well, it looks like something I can draft and print. I won't be competing with them, that would be rude, but I must have this for myself. They should remove the unresponsive Buy button, that just looks bad.
- jostylr 9y ago
  You can take a look at some forum posts to get a sense of where they are at: https://forum.waytools.com/t/tech-update-la-la-state-drill-down-july-4/5074/60 https://forum.waytools.com/t/tech-update-la-la-state-drill-d... They keep tweaking and iterating and keep saying another couple of months.
kmicklas 9y ago
I don't know if this is the solution, but I agree improvements in human-computer-interaction is one of the big things holding back tech for a lot of problems. Obviously a non-invasive brain interface would be the holy grail.
- goatlover 9y ago
  Do you really want to hook your brain directly up to the internet? I'd have serious reservations about that.
  - elliotec 9y ago
    Some people would do it in a heartbeat.
    - goatlover 9y ago
      No doubt they would. Just like some people will base jump and put magnets under their skin.
      - kweks 9y ago
        Hi ! Very strange juxtaposition of your examples of "irrational" or "stupidity without established merit". Subdermal magnets aside, BASE comes in many forms. You may think of it as guys in wing suits zooming past the ground and 5' clearance and killing themselves in droves - and you could be forgiven for this perspective, as it's the one most focused on by media / movies / etc. It's a sport, performed on the overwhelming whole by highly trained, cogniscent people, in a legal context, in situations well within tolerance, and that's that. Instead of jumping from a plane, it's a fixed point.
  - williamscales 9y ago
    I wouldn't necessarily hook it up to the internet but I'd consider hooking it up to a non-network connected computer.
  - blacksmith_tb 9y ago
    That makes it sound like it'd be a two-way street - like an Ono-Sendai from Neuromancer, and not just an input device. To offer an analogy, are Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant, or Cortana "hooking your voice directly to the internet?" In a sense, yes, but that isn't going to take over your voice...
tjbiddle 9y ago
Not available? I didn't go through the full check-out process; but what happens when you go to buy it? I don't see any reference that it's unavailable.
- evolve2k 9y ago
  I just tested it; eventually you get to the end of the shopping cart that asks for credit card details. The submit button says "Pre-order Now".
  - jostylr 9y ago
    Yes, you can pre-order it. I have. They will charge you right away and then you will probably wait months, maybe years, until they are ready to release it. Given how amazing it seems, it was worth it to me to take this gamble for $100. Unlike a kickstarter, they do offer a full refund if you ever get tired of waiting. I went through that process once when I bought an iPad Pro with the keyboard case; this was before people were testing the Textblade. They did promptly refund my money. I then decided I really did not like the Apple keyboard case, returned it to Apple, and re-pre-ordered the Textblade. That was over a year ago. The really annoying thing is that they do not do any push notifications, such as emailing status updates. To get their randomly timed updates, one has to be on their forums.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
MildlySerious 9y ago
I have been using Minuum on my phone for about three years now, which seems to be a digital version of a similar concept. Couldn't be happier.
mintplant 9y ago
When I load it in Firefox for Android, that link pops up with an alert that reads "Please view with Chrome, Firefox, or Safari," and then just presents a blank white page. Using "Request desktop site" seems to fool it.
kstenerud 9y ago
I'm one of the testers, and yes it is awesome. They severely underestimated the development time required for it, but considering where they're at, I'd expect it to be released first quarter of 2018.
bhnmmhmd 9y ago
I saw the videos and it looks really innovative and great. Although, my concern is that it will not catch on, because people don't usually like to learn "two" keyboards, even though Textblade is essentially a QWERTY keyboard. The same happened with Dvorak and other variations of the keyboard. While it's easier to type on Dvorak (my own experience), you're going to have to type in QWERTY on other computers. Sometimes you'll get confused about where keys are. This is also true when switching from Mac to PC and vice-versa. I spend an hour on a PC and when I switch back to Mac, I automatically press Fn instead of CMD.
- gcb0 9y ago
  and worse: learn another keyboard that can only be used on a desk, where space is not limited. this product is a flop. why people even know about it?! wake me up when I can use it as a real phone keyboard. like the priv already does.

devrandomguy 9y ago

Wow, that is brilliant! But it's not on the market, you say? Well, it looks like something I can draft and print. I won't be competing with them, that would be rude, but I must have this for myself. They should remove the unresponsive Buy button, that just looks bad.

jostylr 9y ago
You can take a look at some forum posts to get a sense of where they are at: https://forum.waytools.com/t/tech-update-la-la-state-drill-down-july-4/5074/60 https://forum.waytools.com/t/tech-update-la-la-state-drill-d... They keep tweaking and iterating and keep saying another couple of months.

kmicklas 9y ago

I don't know if this is the solution, but I agree improvements in human-computer-interaction is one of the big things holding back tech for a lot of problems. Obviously a non-invasive brain interface would be the holy grail.

goatlover 9y ago
Do you really want to hook your brain directly up to the internet? I'd have serious reservations about that.
- elliotec 9y ago
  Some people would do it in a heartbeat.
  - goatlover 9y ago
    No doubt they would. Just like some people will base jump and put magnets under their skin.
    - kweks 9y ago
      Hi ! Very strange juxtaposition of your examples of "irrational" or "stupidity without established merit". Subdermal magnets aside, BASE comes in many forms. You may think of it as guys in wing suits zooming past the ground and 5' clearance and killing themselves in droves - and you could be forgiven for this perspective, as it's the one most focused on by media / movies / etc. It's a sport, performed on the overwhelming whole by highly trained, cogniscent people, in a legal context, in situations well within tolerance, and that's that. Instead of jumping from a plane, it's a fixed point.
- williamscales 9y ago
  I wouldn't necessarily hook it up to the internet but I'd consider hooking it up to a non-network connected computer.
- blacksmith_tb 9y ago
  That makes it sound like it'd be a two-way street - like an Ono-Sendai from Neuromancer, and not just an input device. To offer an analogy, are Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant, or Cortana "hooking your voice directly to the internet?" In a sense, yes, but that isn't going to take over your voice...

tjbiddle 9y ago

Not available? I didn't go through the full check-out process; but what happens when you go to buy it? I don't see any reference that it's unavailable.

evolve2k 9y ago
I just tested it; eventually you get to the end of the shopping cart that asks for credit card details. The submit button says "Pre-order Now".
- jostylr 9y ago
  Yes, you can pre-order it. I have. They will charge you right away and then you will probably wait months, maybe years, until they are ready to release it. Given how amazing it seems, it was worth it to me to take this gamble for $100. Unlike a kickstarter, they do offer a full refund if you ever get tired of waiting. I went through that process once when I bought an iPad Pro with the keyboard case; this was before people were testing the Textblade. They did promptly refund my money. I then decided I really did not like the Apple keyboard case, returned it to Apple, and re-pre-ordered the Textblade. That was over a year ago. The really annoying thing is that they do not do any push notifications, such as emailing status updates. To get their randomly timed updates, one has to be on their forums.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

MildlySerious 9y ago

I have been using Minuum on my phone for about three years now, which seems to be a digital version of a similar concept. Couldn't be happier.

mintplant 9y ago

When I load it in Firefox for Android, that link pops up with an alert that reads "Please view with Chrome, Firefox, or Safari," and then just presents a blank white page. Using "Request desktop site" seems to fool it.

kstenerud 9y ago

I'm one of the testers, and yes it is awesome. They severely underestimated the development time required for it, but considering where they're at, I'd expect it to be released first quarter of 2018.

bhnmmhmd 9y ago

I saw the videos and it looks really innovative and great. Although, my concern is that it will not catch on, because people don't usually like to learn "two" keyboards, even though Textblade is essentially a QWERTY keyboard. The same happened with Dvorak and other variations of the keyboard. While it's easier to type on Dvorak (my own experience), you're going to have to type in QWERTY on other computers. Sometimes you'll get confused about where keys are. This is also true when switching from Mac to PC and vice-versa. I spend an hour on a PC and when I switch back to Mac, I automatically press Fn instead of CMD.

gcb0 9y ago
and worse: learn another keyboard that can only be used on a desk, where space is not limited. this product is a flop. why people even know about it?! wake me up when I can use it as a real phone keyboard. like the priv already does.