I'm really keen on things like this. I love (in theory at least) the concept of being able to work from literally anywhere, and the concept of some sort of smart display (glasses, lenses, etc) but having a physical keyboard to type out code is always a major barrier. Something like this starts to edge towards that vision which is cool. I wonder as well if there's a way to have some sort of bracelet (but probably some…
Like this? https://www.tapwithus.com/
A different kind of keyboard
81–90 of 152 posts
Re: A different kind of keyboard
#82I've always thought it was a bit odd that for touchscreen phones we just decided to grab the near exact keyboard layout we use with physical keyboards, and just stick them on a tiny touchscreen. Sure, everyone knows how to use it and its fine for early smartphones, but it seems like a really terrible place for a full keyboard to go; imagine using a keyboard the size of your phone keyboard (so about the third the size…
> I've always thought it was a bit odd that for touchscreen phones we just decided to grab the near exact keyboard layout we use with physical keyboards, and just stick them on a tiny touchscreen This happens with technology all the time. When the printing press was invented the first books were designed to look like their handwritten counterparts. Similarly, when electronic maps happened they were just like paper ma…
Google Maps (any many map systems even today) used pre-rendered tiled images, which means you could only zoom at the levels which were rendered and rotating the grid was hard (especially on old hardware)
Re: A different kind of keyboard
#83My favorite phone input method by far is MessagEase, with which you don't need autocorrect. I've gotten pretty fast with it too.
Re: A different kind of keyboard
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
Like this? https://www.tapwithus.com/
I have a Tap2 keyboard. It's really fun. They have a prototype v3 that's just a bracelet instead of the knuckles.
Re: A different kind of keyboard
#85I'm really keen on things like this. I love (in theory at least) the concept of being able to work from literally anywhere, and the concept of some sort of smart display (glasses, lenses, etc) but having a physical keyboard to type out code is always a major barrier. Something like this starts to edge towards that vision which is cool. I wonder as well if there's a way to have some sort of bracelet (but probably some…
Some people already can and do this. See e.g.: - Steve Mann: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Mann_(inventor) - https://chordite.com
Re: A different kind of keyboard
#86iOS actually has a multi-touch based braille keyboard built-in. So you can have a rather similar behaviour, however, without extra hardware, with native iOS. In Settings > Accessiblity > VoiceOver, add "Braille keyboard" to the rotor options, and then use two fingers in a circular motion until you hear "Braille input". You can now hold the screen away from you in landscape mode, and use three fingers from each hand t…
A demonstration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wueLXCbm_KY
Re: A different kind of keyboard
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure, but if you have a few keys to press, why not go all the way and make it a Braille keyboard? It would teach sight-able people how to write braille.
> It would teach sight-able people how to write braille. Is this an interesting goal? I absolutely understand why it would be extremely valuable for most people to know their local sign language for communication with those who can't hear, but I fail to see how wider learning of a very special writing system (one that anyway can't be currently read from electronic devices) would impact the sight-impaired community.
Re: A different kind of keyboard
#88iOS actually has a multi-touch based braille keyboard built-in. So you can have a rather similar behaviour, however, without extra hardware, with native iOS. In Settings > Accessiblity > VoiceOver, add "Braille keyboard" to the rotor options, and then use two fingers in a circular motion until you hear "Braille input". You can now hold the screen away from you in landscape mode, and use three fingers from each hand t…
Re: A different kind of keyboard
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
How about “one day I'll be able to walk around in the forest while working”?
Why not just walk around in the Forrest? I mean, why do you feel it's desirable to shoehorn doing work into any and all type of human activity? GP has a good point: that sounds terribly dystopian.
Outside of that time, particularly on weekdays, I'm generally pretty busy with house and child care. That means that my time for just walking in the forest generally has to be crammed into the weekends. Usually on no more than one day per, since, on the weekends, even if I've got nothing else keeping me busy, I've still got to convince a couple other people who would much rather just play in the yard to come with me before I can go. And then, even if we have done that, I still can't really daydream much, since I've got to pay attention to and manage them.
Not so much the work time, though. A lot of it is spent sitting and thinking and reading and taking notes. The only thing about those tasks that's tying me to a place is the awkwardness of doing them while ambulatory, and that's really just an equipment problem. With the right tooling, that could happen anywhere. I wouldn't even need to sit or stand still to do it. Which means that I could perhaps get much more time walking in the forest than is otherwise possible. I could perhaps even make it a daily thing rather than a once-a-week-if-I'm-lucky thing.
Re: A different kind of keyboard
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oh man I remember ME from when I had my Palm V, it was such an improvement. I think these days swipe input on querty has got it beat, at least for words that are in the dictionary. A one-touch way to switch between the standard keyboard for swipe and ME for the rest would be killer.
Haven't heard of swipe (or swype) before, maybe I will try, thanks.