Virtual Keyboard

March 3, 2005 9:46 PM

Somehow I don't see this selling very well. A virtual keyboard?
posted by bluedaniel (25 comments total)

A cool accomplishment, but a huge amount of keyboarding ability comes from the tactile feedback from the keys. Can you imagine how hard it would be to hit the right keys consistently without that?
posted by spock at 9:55 PM on March 3, 2005

That thing is so old. Seriously, I've seen that story passed around for years.
posted by Jairus at 10:07 PM on March 3, 2005

Heh yes, 2002 at least.

They don't call it 'touch' typing for nothing, you have to be able to feel where you are without looking down all the time. Among other things, thats why there's orientation bumps on the home keys (f and j).

I guess the thinking is it's better than a foldout because of size alone?
posted by scheptech at 10:12 PM on March 3, 2005

I don't see it as that horrible. Sure, it's nowhere near as good as a real keyboard, but it's a whole lot better than the little touchpads on PDAs or cell phones.
posted by Bugbread at 10:24 PM on March 3, 2005

When they actually integrate that technology into PDAs or cellphones is when itll be news, i think its pretty practical for that application.
posted by Kifer85 at 10:31 PM on March 3, 2005

Oh I want one. I have a PDA (a Zaurus 5600) on which I can do wordprocessing or even coding*, but the thumb keyboard gets old (even though my typing is more accurate with the thumb keyboard, and I don't really mind it for irc chat).

* except the screen isn't wide enough for serious coding, at least with variableNamesThatAreExplicable.
posted by orthogonality at 11:09 PM on March 3, 2005

Sure, it's nowhere near as good as a real keyboard, but it's a whole lot better than the little touchpads on PDAs or cell phones.

Except you can use touchscreens and keypads anywhere at any time under any circumstances that allow you to touch the instrument.

This can only be used while motionless on a flat surface that doesn't interfere with the ability of the device to read interruptions in the laser. Also you'd need to stare at your hands the whole time, as scheptech pointed out, and not look at your screen.

Frankly, I'm waiting for a practical way to carry a full keyboard around and use it on the go without looking like an ass. Either that or a reliable non-pain-in-the-ass dictation software. Although you'd still have to be talking out loud whenever you wanted to write something, which would be a pain. Damn it, where's my cerebral implant?
posted by shmegegge at 12:01 AM on March 4, 2005

They have them for sale now? Sweet!
posted by loquacious at 1:05 AM on March 4, 2005

Shmegegge: True, but isn't the idea that these are supplemental? That is, you can use the touchscreen or keypad when you've got no flat surface, and when you've got a flat surface, you can switch to the bigger, slightly easier to use virtual keyboard.
posted by Bugbread at 3:25 AM on March 4, 2005

bugbread: you keep making sense like that, and I might have to shut up for once.
posted by shmegegge at 4:14 AM on March 4, 2005

I may be giving away my secrets... but personally I'm waiting for the fully functioning one-handed key board. I say to myself - surely it's possible.
posted by labyrinthinedreams at 5:17 AM on March 4, 2005

I guess if it needs a stable and motionless surface it won’t work in an airline. That would be a place with relevance though since its a nightmare to fit in a regular laptop there.
posted by claus at 5:57 AM on March 4, 2005

I'm waiting for the fully functioning one-handed key board.

Don't wait.
posted by kika at 6:29 AM on March 4, 2005

One-handed keyboard: I envision an ergonomically-shaped squeezable lump, with characters signalled by means of squeezes of various fingers, finger combinations and pressures. You'd have to learn a new skill, but you'd avoid RSI injuries, have the other hand free for whatever, and it would work anywhere without any surface required.
posted by beagle at 6:31 AM on March 4, 2005

I don't get how this works. Surely if I "press" the T key, I'm also covering up F and V and a bunch of others. How does the keyboard work out which one I meant?
posted by Orange Goblin at 7:03 AM on March 4, 2005

The half keyboard that kika linked is very nice. I'm still waiting for an affordable half keyboard, I don't see why they're so expensive - even if you assume the price is high because of low demand due to a bizarre product, that half keyboard is $305 shipped. Their half keyboard seems easier to use (assuming you can touch-type) than the Frogpad, which is $176 - and I thought THAT was expensive.

There's also the AlphaGrip which is a weird gamepad/keyboard thing.

The link Reflection posted - does anyone have any idea if they're actually for sale? The two links from that blog don't seem to go to sites that let you order anything. The first link says they are a "turnkey mobile solutions partner," which sounds like they're selling to manufacturers, and the second says they are providing the solutions to device manufacturers, not end users. Bummer.
posted by drstupid at 7:56 AM on March 4, 2005

Anyone remember that Star Trek TNG episode where Picard is playing his little flute and there's some woman he's romancing playing piano? And she just pulls out this cloth thing - it looks like a small roll of black toilet paper or something, and it unrolls to form a piano keyboard? I don't know where the speakers were.
posted by Sully at 9:01 AM on March 4, 2005

Sully, here you go. It seems that the roll-up keyboard would take up an amount of space comparable to the projection unit, and could offer much more tactile feedback.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 9:20 AM on March 4, 2005

Dr. Evans,

That is fab!
I would wrap it around my thigh like a garter.
If they split it, I could wrap it around both my thighs.
We could add stockings.
I could become a porn star and do
webchats in wild positions.
I could create a keyboard suit and bring in
six touch-typers.
It wouldn't be porn.
It would be weird.
posted by Sully at 10:29 AM on March 4, 2005

I don't get how this works. Surely if I "press" the T key, I'm also covering up F and V and a bunch of others. How does the keyboard work out which one I meant?

Guess work, here, but it knows you're pressing the T because it can't see the F and the V at all. It would know if you were pressing the F because it could see the T but not the V, and it would know you were pressing the V because it could see both the F and T. I may be completely wrong.

Personally I'm with those that like the tactile feedback of a kayboard. If this thing can trim my nails with continued use I'd definitely give it some thought.
posted by nthdegx at 10:45 AM on March 4, 2005

But how does it cope with the coffee??
posted by lagavulin at 11:03 AM on March 4, 2005

The discussion of one-handed typing is the most interesting part of this thread. Any of you geeks know anything about Input Method Editors? I would think that this approach, which makes it possible to enter 1000's of CJK characters from a QWERTY keyboard, would let you design all sorts of nifty ways for entering all of the ASCII characters from half a QWERTY keyboard.

What say you?
posted by Sixtieslibber at 11:11 AM on March 4, 2005

One-handed keyboard: I envision an ergonomically-shaped squeezable lump, with characters signaled by means of squeezes of various fingers, finger combinations and pressures.

There are a lot of these. They're called "chording keyboards" or "chord keyboards". Here's a roundup of a few options; a Google search will reveal a bunch more.

...would let you design all sorts of nifty ways for entering all of the ASCII characters from half a QWERTY keyboard.

The problem with this is that most keys on a standard keyboard (all those except "shift", "alt", and "ctrl") aren't hardwired to recognize simultaneous key presses. You can't really detect "chords" of keys. You might be able to do something in software, but it would be a kludge.
posted by mr_roboto at 2:25 PM on March 4, 2005

orthogonality* except the screen isn't wide enough for serious coding, at least with variableNamesThatAreExplicable.

Just got to brush up on your Real, Bare Metal programming.

Chorders are cool, to bad they tend to be so expensive.
posted by Mitheral at 2:30 PM on March 4, 2005

From the chorded keyboards roundup...

This keyboard reminds me of this bizarre 1960's Japanese sex manual.

[NSFW, of course, on the second link...]
posted by idontlikewords at 4:12 PM on March 4, 2005