4 ms·

If it works well, the demand is there, but we all know that, don't we? The question is whether it works well in real use, and no landing page can show that. I

If it works well, the demand is there, but we all know that, don't we? The question is whether it works well in real use, and no landing page can show that. I can likewise put up an email subscription page for a $20k flying car. Making this product work 50% of the time takes some serious work, but making it work the 99.5% of the time which would make it qualify as a keyboard replacement is something else entirely. I wouldn't waste potential customers time with a landing page like that, and their video is downright insulting. Spend your time and resources making something that works instead. Anyway, with all the buzz around hardware startups, I would expect more landing pages like this to crop up. People simply don't realize how difficult making good tangibles is, but they will find out soon enough.

cwe 12y ago
Agree completely, just wanted to point out that 99.5% accuracy would mean 5 typos within the length of your comment. For any significant amount of typing it would need to be way more accurate. But then again, all this thing really is is a super-charged autocorrect, so they could probably fix those errors.
- mey 12y ago
  Or spawn a whole new class of damn you auto-corrects.
  - bsimpson 12y ago
    People who type a lot may be interested in moving away from the keyboard-and-screen model for ergonomic reasons. "This is how you don't fuck up your body while working" is a lot stronger selling point than "Wouldn't not carrying a keyboard with your tablet be nice?" People who type a lot are likely to be working with some level of jargon (variable names for programmers, macros and cell codes for data analysts, etc.) rather than the pure prose autocorrect is designed for. AFAIK, there aren't any good demos of autocorrecting keyboards for technical domains. That said, TextMate's autocomplete works pretty well most of the time. If you could seed the autospell dictionary with a combination of language-specific keywords and the variables that have already been defined in your project (ala TextMate), that could be pretty powerful for technical people trying to be productive with alternate input methods.
    - Argorak 12y ago
      I am not sure of that. This might be fueled by a lot of negativity, but many people I know care 0 about ergonomic reasons, even if it fucks up their body while working. Chair too low, not configured, table not at the correct height, although easily changeable... I could go on. Also, I am not sure how this thing makes anything better: you still have to do hand movements correctly and most people will need some kind of surface to orient their hands on. Same problem, without a keyboard.
    - goblin89 12y ago
      > "This is how you don't fuck up your body while working" As an aside, “Using Python to code by voice”[0] is quite an inspiring presentation on the topic. [0] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SkdfdXWYaI#t=542 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SkdfdXWYaI#t=542
      - johnzim 12y ago
        That talk is why I switched to a standing desk and changed my keyboards.
the_watcher 12y ago
I've worked with a few of the mentors, as well as Capital Factory and Longhorn Startup, and it definitely seemed obvious to me that UT has some fantastically talented hardware engineers around there. Lynx Labs is one of the cooler hardwares I've seen in person, and it was built by students there.
- cshimmin 12y ago
  Great, they can add this testimonial to their vacuous landing page. And I still won't believe anything till I see it.
Cakez0r 12y ago
> If it works well, the demand is there, but we all know that, don't we? We do? I don't think I'd replace my keyboard with this even if it worked flawlessly. I like to have tactile feedback when I type.
- benburton 12y ago
  You don't think you would, but there were a whole lot of people saying that about the keyboards on their Blackberries 5 years ago as well.

cwe 12y ago

Agree completely, just wanted to point out that 99.5% accuracy would mean 5 typos within the length of your comment. For any significant amount of typing it would need to be way more accurate. But then again, all this thing really is is a super-charged autocorrect, so they could probably fix those errors.

mey 12y ago
Or spawn a whole new class of damn you auto-corrects.
- bsimpson 12y ago
  People who type a lot may be interested in moving away from the keyboard-and-screen model for ergonomic reasons. "This is how you don't fuck up your body while working" is a lot stronger selling point than "Wouldn't not carrying a keyboard with your tablet be nice?" People who type a lot are likely to be working with some level of jargon (variable names for programmers, macros and cell codes for data analysts, etc.) rather than the pure prose autocorrect is designed for. AFAIK, there aren't any good demos of autocorrecting keyboards for technical domains. That said, TextMate's autocomplete works pretty well most of the time. If you could seed the autospell dictionary with a combination of language-specific keywords and the variables that have already been defined in your project (ala TextMate), that could be pretty powerful for technical people trying to be productive with alternate input methods.
  - Argorak 12y ago
    I am not sure of that. This might be fueled by a lot of negativity, but many people I know care 0 about ergonomic reasons, even if it fucks up their body while working. Chair too low, not configured, table not at the correct height, although easily changeable... I could go on. Also, I am not sure how this thing makes anything better: you still have to do hand movements correctly and most people will need some kind of surface to orient their hands on. Same problem, without a keyboard.
  - goblin89 12y ago
    > "This is how you don't fuck up your body while working" As an aside, “Using Python to code by voice”[0] is quite an inspiring presentation on the topic. [0] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SkdfdXWYaI#t=542 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SkdfdXWYaI#t=542
    - johnzim 12y ago
      That talk is why I switched to a standing desk and changed my keyboards.

the_watcher 12y ago

I've worked with a few of the mentors, as well as Capital Factory and Longhorn Startup, and it definitely seemed obvious to me that UT has some fantastically talented hardware engineers around there. Lynx Labs is one of the cooler hardwares I've seen in person, and it was built by students there.

cshimmin 12y ago
Great, they can add this testimonial to their vacuous landing page. And I still won't believe anything till I see it.

Cakez0r 12y ago

> If it works well, the demand is there, but we all know that, don't we? We do? I don't think I'd replace my keyboard with this even if it worked flawlessly. I like to have tactile feedback when I type.

benburton 12y ago
You don't think you would, but there were a whole lot of people saying that about the keyboards on their Blackberries 5 years ago as well.