32 ms·

Brydge, the iPad Keyboard, Raised Over $200,000 on Kickstarter

27 points by michaelkscott 14y ago

rphlx 14y ago
So now you can integrate your own $800 iNetbook with lower performance and fewer capabilities than a $300 Ubuntu netbook from 2008!
- wvenable 14y ago
  Love my netbook, hate the ridiculously low-resolution screen though.
- forgottenpaswrd 14y ago
  Tell me then where I can get a 2008 netbook: with gps, microphones and telephone. with accelerometers, gyroscopes, compass and cameras. a reliable solid state memory so I can use it on the go(jumping or waving it while moving). 10 hours of battery. made in Aluminium and not cheap plastic. Scratch resistant 2048-by-1536 resolution screen. Please tell me because I always wanted this, unfortunately I bought a netbook on 2008 that have none of the above.
tferris 14y ago
I know I gonna be downvoted for this, maybe I am wrong but I dare to say: The success of this kickstarter project shows that there's no real use case for tablets except surfing/reading/consuming/procrastinating on the sofa and thus, people want their keyboard back—anything else can be done more effectively with a computer/notebook and/or a smartphone—there's just no room for a third device between notebooks and smartphones. Don't get me wrong I appreciate all the innovations in application and OS design (iOS and the lean ARM architecture could replace x86 designs) which came with tablets but I doubt that tablets with their clumsy form factor will take over the world. I still don't get the success of these devices. It's so much more convient to type, to keep the finger movements small (with a mouse or trackpad or a small touch screen in devices like smartphones), to have the right viewing angle without holding anything warm or using ugly extra stands. Only when surfing around and reading sites I see a real benefit but then again: moving fingers to 'click' links or to go back is so much more work compared to a small notebook like the MBA and I spend the entire day with the Internet anyway, I have to force myself to do something else in the evening—I don't want to meet again the Internet, Facebook and Google when I should go out, meet friends and family. Or I just want to watch a movie and even this is totally cumbersome with a tablet (compare this use case again to a notebook like the MBA, I just put it on my lap lying in my bed and that's it: no stand, not getting warm, always the right viewing angle, I don't have to hold something). Again: if you disagree reply instead of voting this post down—this isn't gonna be a flamewar—I just want to question, is there really a post pc era coming where tablets replace computers (I would rather guess that smartphones and not tablets will fill the gap and could get the main distribution channel for software).
- jmitcheson 14y ago
  "The success of this kickstarter project shows that there's no real use case for tablets except [...]" I would like to point out, in a non-flamewar-inducing manner, that your assertion above has some severe logical flaws. For example, the success of McDonalds does not show that there's no real use case for healthy food.. At best it shows that Kickstarter is doing very well and some people dislike the iPad on-screen keyboard enough to part with money for the option of having a real one occasionally. Keep in mind you can optionally put a keyboard on an iPad, but you certainly can't remove one from a Macbook!
  - homosaur 14y ago
    That's two posts in a row that began with a disclaimer to avoid downvotes. Not that I blame you since I'll probably be downvoted for pointing that out. Ahhhhhhhh HN. You actually have a very good point about not being able to remove the Macbook keyboard. That clearly has to be a focus of Apple R&D in the future, to make an iPad like device that runs full MacOS and is convertible to usage with and without keyboard. We cannot be far off that, multicore iPads with fancy graphics can't be more than... what, a year away?
    - lloeki 14y ago
      > make an iPad like device that runs full MacOS iOS is designed for touch, OSX is designed for pointer. What you describe is Windows 7/8 and I think this is a mistake. I'd rather have iPad/iOS evolve to allow more things that we take for granted in OSX. Thinks like: - possibility to tell what's my default web browser, mail client, whatever. - possibility for apps to schedule time- and resource-limited tasks (e.g for Sparrow to poll IMAP without need for push+giving my credentials to a third party) and maybe ability to deny that possibility to the app (similar to location). - a full-blown local Unix access so I can run zsh/vim/tmux/python/ssh/whatever, even if it's jailed in a sandbox/chroot. - full keyboard navigation when a hardware keyboard is plugged in (e.g cmd-tab to work for switching apps instead of reaching for the home-button+screen is so obvious). This gap is today filled for me by my MacBook Pro, and for others by connecting remotely to various machines via iSSH/Prompt. There's no technical reason not to do it on an iPad 3. But I'd like, say two to five years from now, to have such a shapeshifting device that I'd carry everywhere. It looks like I would be interested in an Android tablet, but Android really is not there yet at the core (and by far, for a multitude of reasons), while iOS simply nailed it, deeply.
aresant 14y ago
A common thread of these high-grossing kickstarter threads is the production value of the demo vids. My sense is that Kickstarter is less of a paradigm shift than it is another venue for great marketers
- homosaur 14y ago
  Yes, but this is something that's accessible to the masses. The first thing that pops to mind is the Kash Maxwell's Hot Dog Cart where the fellas just wanted to raise 3 and a half grand and get some exposure. The video was hilarious, and you know what, next time I visit my old lady's family in Rockford, IL, I'm taking the 30 minute trip over to Woodstock, IL to get a dang hotdog because they looked DELICIOUS. Yes, some of these are bullcrap. As long as the premiums are fair or exchange for product, I'm okay with it.
ghshephard 14y ago
I've watched their commercial about 20 times now - They hit 100% of the notes, symbolism, sex-appeal, simplicity, emotional appeal. Even the shot of them taking it out of the manilla folder on the white background is appealing to a particular audience that remembers when the Macbook air was introduced. Forget about making keyboards; these guys have a future in advertising.
- epo 14y ago
  It's a very good (albeit overlong) copy of Apple's style of ad-making. However, the advertising industry values originality a bit more than you seem to think.
sturmeh 14y ago
This is not that great tbh. If you compare it to the Transformer Prime keyboard-dock solution: * It doesn't provide a battery extension, yet has it's own battery. * It connects to the iPad via Bluetooth, both using A2DP and as a keyboard. (So it uses the iPad's battery.) * The iPad doesn't clip OR dock in the keyboard, it just sits in it, however secure it is. (A large enough force could knock it out or have it slip out.) * The Apple symbol is sideways! (Serious business this one.)
Zopieux 14y ago
That's funny, not a month ago, somebody on HN said “it seems the only successful Kickstarter products are all related to Apple devices”. This goes a step further in that direction.
rorrr 14y ago
$200,000 to research, develop, design and manufacture something like that is VERY VERY low.
nardi 14y ago
It's funny to me that there are so many people on Hacker News that can't imagine why anyone could actually want/like/love the iPad. Even if it doesn't do what you want/need, it is a serious impairment to think that its success is a fluke, or temporary. If you can't understand the world from the point of view of the non-techie consumers for whom the iPad is a life-changing device because of its sheer simplicity, then the things you make will suffer as a result. Learn to empathize with the rest of the world. These are your customers.
jbverschoor 14y ago
Funny.. I think I saw the exact keyboard, already in production / for sale on something like akihabaranews
shimsham 14y ago
No t-shirts? :-(
junto 14y ago
When I first saw the photo I thought, oooh, a new MacBook Air! Then I proceeded to laugh my socks off.

27 points by michaelkscott 14y ago

rphlx 14y ago

So now you can integrate your own $800 iNetbook with lower performance and fewer capabilities than a $300 Ubuntu netbook from 2008!

wvenable 14y ago
Love my netbook, hate the ridiculously low-resolution screen though.
forgottenpaswrd 14y ago
Tell me then where I can get a 2008 netbook: with gps, microphones and telephone. with accelerometers, gyroscopes, compass and cameras. a reliable solid state memory so I can use it on the go(jumping or waving it while moving). 10 hours of battery. made in Aluminium and not cheap plastic. Scratch resistant 2048-by-1536 resolution screen. Please tell me because I always wanted this, unfortunately I bought a netbook on 2008 that have none of the above.

tferris 14y ago

I know I gonna be downvoted for this, maybe I am wrong but I dare to say: The success of this kickstarter project shows that there's no real use case for tablets except surfing/reading/consuming/procrastinating on the sofa and thus, people want their keyboard back—anything else can be done more effectively with a computer/notebook and/or a smartphone—there's just no room for a third device between notebooks and smartphones. Don't get me wrong I appreciate all the innovations in application and OS design (iOS and the lean ARM architecture could replace x86 designs) which came with tablets but I doubt that tablets with their clumsy form factor will take over the world. I still don't get the success of these devices. It's so much more convient to type, to keep the finger movements small (with a mouse or trackpad or a small touch screen in devices like smartphones), to have the right viewing angle without holding anything warm or using ugly extra stands. Only when surfing around and reading sites I see a real benefit but then again: moving fingers to 'click' links or to go back is so much more work compared to a small notebook like the MBA and I spend the entire day with the Internet anyway, I have to force myself to do something else in the evening—I don't want to meet again the Internet, Facebook and Google when I should go out, meet friends and family. Or I just want to watch a movie and even this is totally cumbersome with a tablet (compare this use case again to a notebook like the MBA, I just put it on my lap lying in my bed and that's it: no stand, not getting warm, always the right viewing angle, I don't have to hold something). Again: if you disagree reply instead of voting this post down—this isn't gonna be a flamewar—I just want to question, is there really a post pc era coming where tablets replace computers (I would rather guess that smartphones and not tablets will fill the gap and could get the main distribution channel for software).

jmitcheson 14y ago
"The success of this kickstarter project shows that there's no real use case for tablets except [...]" I would like to point out, in a non-flamewar-inducing manner, that your assertion above has some severe logical flaws. For example, the success of McDonalds does not show that there's no real use case for healthy food.. At best it shows that Kickstarter is doing very well and some people dislike the iPad on-screen keyboard enough to part with money for the option of having a real one occasionally. Keep in mind you can optionally put a keyboard on an iPad, but you certainly can't remove one from a Macbook!
- homosaur 14y ago
  That's two posts in a row that began with a disclaimer to avoid downvotes. Not that I blame you since I'll probably be downvoted for pointing that out. Ahhhhhhhh HN. You actually have a very good point about not being able to remove the Macbook keyboard. That clearly has to be a focus of Apple R&D in the future, to make an iPad like device that runs full MacOS and is convertible to usage with and without keyboard. We cannot be far off that, multicore iPads with fancy graphics can't be more than... what, a year away?
  - lloeki 14y ago
    > make an iPad like device that runs full MacOS iOS is designed for touch, OSX is designed for pointer. What you describe is Windows 7/8 and I think this is a mistake. I'd rather have iPad/iOS evolve to allow more things that we take for granted in OSX. Thinks like: - possibility to tell what's my default web browser, mail client, whatever. - possibility for apps to schedule time- and resource-limited tasks (e.g for Sparrow to poll IMAP without need for push+giving my credentials to a third party) and maybe ability to deny that possibility to the app (similar to location). - a full-blown local Unix access so I can run zsh/vim/tmux/python/ssh/whatever, even if it's jailed in a sandbox/chroot. - full keyboard navigation when a hardware keyboard is plugged in (e.g cmd-tab to work for switching apps instead of reaching for the home-button+screen is so obvious). This gap is today filled for me by my MacBook Pro, and for others by connecting remotely to various machines via iSSH/Prompt. There's no technical reason not to do it on an iPad 3. But I'd like, say two to five years from now, to have such a shapeshifting device that I'd carry everywhere. It looks like I would be interested in an Android tablet, but Android really is not there yet at the core (and by far, for a multitude of reasons), while iOS simply nailed it, deeply.

aresant 14y ago

A common thread of these high-grossing kickstarter threads is the production value of the demo vids. My sense is that Kickstarter is less of a paradigm shift than it is another venue for great marketers

homosaur 14y ago
Yes, but this is something that's accessible to the masses. The first thing that pops to mind is the Kash Maxwell's Hot Dog Cart where the fellas just wanted to raise 3 and a half grand and get some exposure. The video was hilarious, and you know what, next time I visit my old lady's family in Rockford, IL, I'm taking the 30 minute trip over to Woodstock, IL to get a dang hotdog because they looked DELICIOUS. Yes, some of these are bullcrap. As long as the premiums are fair or exchange for product, I'm okay with it.

ghshephard 14y ago

I've watched their commercial about 20 times now - They hit 100% of the notes, symbolism, sex-appeal, simplicity, emotional appeal. Even the shot of them taking it out of the manilla folder on the white background is appealing to a particular audience that remembers when the Macbook air was introduced. Forget about making keyboards; these guys have a future in advertising.

epo 14y ago
It's a very good (albeit overlong) copy of Apple's style of ad-making. However, the advertising industry values originality a bit more than you seem to think.

sturmeh 14y ago

This is not that great tbh. If you compare it to the Transformer Prime keyboard-dock solution: * It doesn't provide a battery extension, yet has it's own battery. * It connects to the iPad via Bluetooth, both using A2DP and as a keyboard. (So it uses the iPad's battery.) * The iPad doesn't clip OR dock in the keyboard, it just sits in it, however secure it is. (A large enough force could knock it out or have it slip out.) * The Apple symbol is sideways! (Serious business this one.)

Zopieux 14y ago

That's funny, not a month ago, somebody on HN said “it seems the only successful Kickstarter products are all related to Apple devices”. This goes a step further in that direction.

rorrr 14y ago

$200,000 to research, develop, design and manufacture something like that is VERY VERY low.

nardi 14y ago

It's funny to me that there are so many people on Hacker News that can't imagine why anyone could actually want/like/love the iPad. Even if it doesn't do what you want/need, it is a serious impairment to think that its success is a fluke, or temporary. If you can't understand the world from the point of view of the non-techie consumers for whom the iPad is a life-changing device because of its sheer simplicity, then the things you make will suffer as a result. Learn to empathize with the rest of the world. These are your customers.

jbverschoor 14y ago

Funny.. I think I saw the exact keyboard, already in production / for sale on something like akihabaranews

shimsham 14y ago

No t-shirts? :-(

junto 14y ago

When I first saw the photo I thought, oooh, a new MacBook Air! Then I proceeded to laugh my socks off.