5 ms·

I wouldn't want this as a keyboard, I'd want one hanging from my right front pocket while looking at my phone with my left hand. It's the touchscreen interfaces

I wouldn't want this as a keyboard, I'd want one hanging from my right front pocket while looking at my phone with my left hand. It's the touchscreen interfaces that are terrible and need replacing, not the qwerty keyboard. The backlash against touchscreens has started with interior car controls and I'd like to see that spread everywhere else. (Yes I have RSI problems.)

bangonkeyboard 7y ago
Like this? https://www.tapwithus.com/ https://www.tapwithus.com/
sp332 7y ago
A character in Asimov's "I, Robot" (the book) had one of these. He even kept it in his pocket so he could type discreetly with his hand resting on his leg.
- jolmg 7y ago
  Interesting. Was that only in the book? because I don't remember seeing that in the movie.
  - sp332 7y ago
    Yeah, the book is... quite different. It's a series of little stories told to the point-of-view character, a reporter, who has this device and records the stories as notes from an interview. The stories are basically illustrations of how great the Three Laws of Robotics are, which is not surprising since Asimov invented them himself.
    - frandroid 7y ago
      You mean how faillible they were? I recall many stories were about how someone died or had an accident because of overzealous or faulty interpretation of the laws... :)
      - sp332 7y ago
        Huh, maybe. I interpreted it as Asimov showing how perfect the rules were, in that the slightest tweak could lead to disaster.
        humanrebar 7y ago
        No, the point was that they were detective stories about robot bugs. People who don't understand why people like "sitting in front of screens all day" should read that book to get a sense of how exactly looking at a core dump could be fun.
jstewartmobile 7y ago
Touchscreens: cheap to design around, easy to rearrange into the latest fashion, hateful to use, and here to stay--and I don't even have an RSI! Don't have a child's fingers and a eagle's eyes? Suck it grandpa! You weren't part of our hyperconsuming target demographic anyway.
- shadofx 7y ago
  Ancient China had foot-binding. Perhaps in the future we'll have finger-binding, where teens wrap bandages around their fingertips so they'll still be able to manipulate small electronics in their later years?
  - jstewartmobile 7y ago
    With all of the soylent, tea tree oil, BPA, dairy hormones, and other xenoestrogens, they'll get delicate feminine fingers (and breasts!) the easy way.
ttul 7y ago
How about a pair of gloves that can sense the muscle movements in your fingers and hands and learn to associate those movements with letters on the keyboard as you type. Then when you're away from the keyboard, the gloves just use the model to infer what your movements intend as you "air type". Surely this is possible with modern machine learning techniques and hardware.
- ilikehurdles 7y ago
  This reminds me of the wired hand interface in Children of Men[1]: [1]: https://youtu.be/sJO0n6kvPRU?t=122 https://youtu.be/sJO0n6kvPRU?t=122 (minute 2:02)
- Something1234 7y ago
  I had a toy called hand band that was a similar concept you could move your fingers to produce different sounds but it was only one sound per finger.
- maxander 7y ago
  At least one company is working on that general concept: https://www.ctrl-labs.com/ https://www.ctrl-labs.com/
- vphantom 7y ago
  The problem with gloves only would be the lack of tactile feedback to tell your fingers that the key press has registered. I used a Datahand for several years and while it was very easy on fingers (the activation pressure was much less than typical keyboards, even Topre's), the tactile feedback from the switches was I think essential for typing efficiently. I miss that thing...
- mrspeaker 7y ago
  Years ago I was trying to prototype something like this (the "typing gloves" part) with accelerometers. I wanted them so I could see if I could type while lucid dreaming. Alas, my hardware skills were not up to the task!
- jodrellblank 7y ago
teddyh 7y ago
Sounds like the Twiddler keyboard. It’s been around since at least 1991.

bangonkeyboard 7y ago

Like this? https://www.tapwithus.com/ https://www.tapwithus.com/

sp332 7y ago

A character in Asimov's "I, Robot" (the book) had one of these. He even kept it in his pocket so he could type discreetly with his hand resting on his leg.

jolmg 7y ago
Interesting. Was that only in the book? because I don't remember seeing that in the movie.
- sp332 7y ago
  Yeah, the book is... quite different. It's a series of little stories told to the point-of-view character, a reporter, who has this device and records the stories as notes from an interview. The stories are basically illustrations of how great the Three Laws of Robotics are, which is not surprising since Asimov invented them himself.
  - frandroid 7y ago
    You mean how faillible they were? I recall many stories were about how someone died or had an accident because of overzealous or faulty interpretation of the laws... :)
    - sp332 7y ago
      Huh, maybe. I interpreted it as Asimov showing how perfect the rules were, in that the slightest tweak could lead to disaster.
      - humanrebar 7y ago
        No, the point was that they were detective stories about robot bugs. People who don't understand why people like "sitting in front of screens all day" should read that book to get a sense of how exactly looking at a core dump could be fun.

jstewartmobile 7y ago

Touchscreens: cheap to design around, easy to rearrange into the latest fashion, hateful to use, and here to stay--and I don't even have an RSI! Don't have a child's fingers and a eagle's eyes? Suck it grandpa! You weren't part of our hyperconsuming target demographic anyway.

shadofx 7y ago
Ancient China had foot-binding. Perhaps in the future we'll have finger-binding, where teens wrap bandages around their fingertips so they'll still be able to manipulate small electronics in their later years?
- jstewartmobile 7y ago
  With all of the soylent, tea tree oil, BPA, dairy hormones, and other xenoestrogens, they'll get delicate feminine fingers (and breasts!) the easy way.

ttul 7y ago

How about a pair of gloves that can sense the muscle movements in your fingers and hands and learn to associate those movements with letters on the keyboard as you type. Then when you're away from the keyboard, the gloves just use the model to infer what your movements intend as you "air type". Surely this is possible with modern machine learning techniques and hardware.

ilikehurdles 7y ago
This reminds me of the wired hand interface in Children of Men[1]: [1]: https://youtu.be/sJO0n6kvPRU?t=122 https://youtu.be/sJO0n6kvPRU?t=122 (minute 2:02)
Something1234 7y ago
I had a toy called hand band that was a similar concept you could move your fingers to produce different sounds but it was only one sound per finger.
maxander 7y ago
At least one company is working on that general concept: https://www.ctrl-labs.com/ https://www.ctrl-labs.com/
vphantom 7y ago
The problem with gloves only would be the lack of tactile feedback to tell your fingers that the key press has registered. I used a Datahand for several years and while it was very easy on fingers (the activation pressure was much less than typical keyboards, even Topre's), the tactile feedback from the switches was I think essential for typing efficiently. I miss that thing...
mrspeaker 7y ago
Years ago I was trying to prototype something like this (the "typing gloves" part) with accelerometers. I wanted them so I could see if I could type while lucid dreaming. Alas, my hardware skills were not up to the task!
jodrellblank 7y ago

teddyh 7y ago

Sounds like the Twiddler keyboard. It’s been around since at least 1991.