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News & ArtsFriday, January 22, 2010
Life / Tech Someone Is Using One of These...
Posted by David Schmader on Fri, Jan 22, 2010 at 1:46 PM
...on a table top at Po Dog.
The future is now.
Also, I can't wait till they finesse these things to the point where I can use one on my dog's stomach.
1
I can't wait until I can do this on the air or multi-touch:
http://www.flixxy.com/minority-report-in…
http://www.wikinomics.com/blog/uploads/m…
http://www.flixxy.com/minority-report-in…
http://www.wikinomics.com/blog/uploads/m…
3
Even better: http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/14/oblon…
Seriously, it's only a matter of time till we can get RFID-type devices implanted in our fingertips to control our computers remotely, Wii-style.
Or we can implant your dog, so he can feed himself.
Seriously, it's only a matter of time till we can get RFID-type devices implanted in our fingertips to control our computers remotely, Wii-style.
Or we can implant your dog, so he can feed himself.
4
I've not bought stock before, but I had a chance to buy stock in this technology about four years ago. I suspect I'll be kicking myself for not doing so for a LONG time to come...
6
In the far future, I want to see one of these that projects a screen onto a wall, and a keyboard and a touchpad onto a surface in front of you. A whole computer in a box smaller than a can.
9
Ugh. I like throw and resistance on my keys. This thing is going to register brushes as touches. As bad as a touchpad.
10
I've always wanted one of those, never realized they had to move the escape key. Minor I know, but would bug me, I think.
11
Meh, these things are a bitch to use. Personally, I find that they need too much charging time, are inaccurate (especially with faster typing) and the keys are too close for comfort.
They're flashy, sure -- but not as practical as they seem. I'd bet whoever is sitting around using it in public avoids using it when no-one is around to gawk.
If you really have some sort of need for a portable keyboard, get a wireless roll-up one for 1/3 of the price.
They're flashy, sure -- but not as practical as they seem. I'd bet whoever is sitting around using it in public avoids using it when no-one is around to gawk.
If you really have some sort of need for a portable keyboard, get a wireless roll-up one for 1/3 of the price.
14
I can't wait until the iPhone has this built-in.
Projection is gonna be what cameras are now in portable devices. :)
Projection is gonna be what cameras are now in portable devices. :)
15
seriously? hardly better than typing on this. maybe even worse as there's no physical feedback at all.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Atari_…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Atari_…
16
Mine doesn't work right.
It only shows V's mask as he slices up the US Supreme Court into ribbons.
I think I need to get it fixed ..
It only shows V's mask as he slices up the US Supreme Court into ribbons.
I think I need to get it fixed ..
17
Yikes, that micro Tab key is a deal breaker for me. I chip the Caps Lock key out of all my keyboards so I don't hit it by accident when probing for Tab (probing for Tab is something I do in my fridge as well).
19
@17 - can someone explain to me WHY the caps lock key still exists? The tiny fraction of people who find it useful should have to buy special keyboards.
20
The caps lock key is at least 10x more useful than the windows key, which only serves to crash programs when accidentally pressed.
23
I use.... just about every key on my keyboard for something sometimes. Except maybe Pause|Break. Maybe.
25
Hilarious that in 2010, we still need analogues for an 1870s typewriting QWERTY keyboard to input information (or analogues for a 1960s telephone keypad, in the case of "texting")...
26
I use the Windows key ten times a day -- Windows-e = open Windows Explorer, Windows-f = find, Windows-r = run, plus just Windows by itself pops up the Start menu. All kinds of good stuff in there.
I use Caps Lock once every eighteen months. Since I've popped the key, I have to use a pen to hit it. Not a problem. I pop off Num Lock too, and I NEVER need that one.
Will wants people to believe he's a badass programmer dude who invented the internet, so he claims to use Pause/Break. Uh-huh.
@25, you got a better one? It sticks around because it works. If you say "Dvorak" I'm going to come over and personally poop in your Cocoa Puffs. Alternative-keyboard nerds are worse than high-end audiophile nerds.
I use Caps Lock once every eighteen months. Since I've popped the key, I have to use a pen to hit it. Not a problem. I pop off Num Lock too, and I NEVER need that one.
Will wants people to believe he's a badass programmer dude who invented the internet, so he claims to use Pause/Break. Uh-huh.
@25, you got a better one? It sticks around because it works. If you say "Dvorak" I'm going to come over and personally poop in your Cocoa Puffs. Alternative-keyboard nerds are worse than high-end audiophile nerds.
27
You know, on the Mac, you can any input device you want, including Dvorak keyboards.
One of the reasons they're Big in Japan.
One of the reasons they're Big in Japan.
28
@27, way to tie into Paul Constant's book recommendation of the day.
@26, I don't have a better method, I'm still just bitter that the high school typing class I blew off over a quarter of a century ago, when I was still capable of learning things, turned out to have been something I should have paid attention to.
And I literally had no idea that the Windows key that's beneath my left pinky all day wasn't just vestigal, like the IE icon on my Vista quick launch toolbar...
@26, I don't have a better method, I'm still just bitter that the high school typing class I blew off over a quarter of a century ago, when I was still capable of learning things, turned out to have been something I should have paid attention to.
And I literally had no idea that the Windows key that's beneath my left pinky all day wasn't just vestigal, like the IE icon on my Vista quick launch toolbar...
29
@27, you know, Will, you're a fucking idiot. Windows PCs support Dvorak as well, and have since before you achieved consciousness -- oh, wait, you haven't done that yet.
@28, me too. I left high school typing class clocking in at about 10 WPM. Maybe five. But Usenet taught me over again, up to about 90.
@28, me too. I left high school typing class clocking in at about 10 WPM. Maybe five. But Usenet taught me over again, up to about 90.
30
I use Windows L all the time to lock my computer, so that my bastard co-workers don't send my boss links to porn or cheezburger from my email.
31
@30, I didn't know that one, thanks! Though I'm more likely to be perpetrator than victim around here....
33
These things actually came out several years ago, but didn't have a very good rep at the time; they may have improved since.
The one pictured is this unit: I-Tech Virtual Laser Keyboard
which is also out-of-stock here: ThinkGeek
Amazon has a different one that gets good reviews: Bluetooth Laser Virtual Keyboard CL850 P…
but they aren't cheap and haven't exactly been setting the world on fire.
Now my 2 major pet-peeves with the iPhone / iPod touch are 1) the tiny touch keypad which my big fat fingers make far too many mistakes on, and 2) Apple's beyond-bizarre bizarreness in near total lack of Bluetooth support beyond rudimentary. My last 3 Nokia phones have all been able to connect to Apple's Bluetooth keyboards (AND wirelessly sync Calendar/Contacts/iTunes/photos to my Mac), but no, not the iPhone.
The one pictured is this unit: I-Tech Virtual Laser Keyboard
which is also out-of-stock here: ThinkGeek
Amazon has a different one that gets good reviews: Bluetooth Laser Virtual Keyboard CL850 P…
but they aren't cheap and haven't exactly been setting the world on fire.
Now my 2 major pet-peeves with the iPhone / iPod touch are 1) the tiny touch keypad which my big fat fingers make far too many mistakes on, and 2) Apple's beyond-bizarre bizarreness in near total lack of Bluetooth support beyond rudimentary. My last 3 Nokia phones have all been able to connect to Apple's Bluetooth keyboards (AND wirelessly sync Calendar/Contacts/iTunes/photos to my Mac), but no, not the iPhone.
35
@29 - just because you remember them as happening at the same time doesn't make it so.
Actually, alternate input devices have been around a long time, even back in the CP/M days, but Apple popularized them. Just look at the nice number keypad on your keyboard, that used to be a separate device requiring its own input, which the Lisa and Mac daisy chained, thus moving other OS to work with combined keyboards.
The main alternate input device in Japan is Kanji. Which proves my point. Dvorak is more of an American thing.
Actually, alternate input devices have been around a long time, even back in the CP/M days, but Apple popularized them. Just look at the nice number keypad on your keyboard, that used to be a separate device requiring its own input, which the Lisa and Mac daisy chained, thus moving other OS to work with combined keyboards.
The main alternate input device in Japan is Kanji. Which proves my point. Dvorak is more of an American thing.
36
David, I'll bet your dog would really dig some constant, long-term belly scratching. I think you should totally project a keyboard onto his underside.
37
Grew my own typing style from the get-go. Entered my High School typing class Freshman year, took my test the second day and the teacher was curious and consented to see what I could do.
120 wpm: she said she would give me ten bucks if nobody in class could beat it by the end of the school year.
They didn't. :D
120 wpm: she said she would give me ten bucks if nobody in class could beat it by the end of the school year.
They didn't. :D
38
@35, once again you twist a topic, which you had no business introducing in the first place, as each of your perspectives on it turn out to be bullshit. You didn't say anything about chronology originally; you implied that only Macs support Dvorak. Which is, of course, completely false.
But since you've introduced chronology, you have naturally introduced gross errors, since everything you have ever said or thought is a gross error.
Now you're claiming that Macs "popularized" the number pad, which is the exact opposite of the truth. Yes, you had to buy one separately on the Mac; few people did. There wasn't any reason to. The Mac didn't have a usable spreadsheet application in the beginning. The PC, on the other hand, had BOTH a spreadsheet app and a number pad from the beginning. The application that MADE the PC was Lotus 1-2-3, which made the number pad valuable -- predating the Mac.
Lotus was of course built on Visicalc, the first truly useful computer app. Predated the Mac. Predated the PC, in fact; it first ran on the Apple II. Which had no number pad.
PCs (with Lotus) are the reason personal computers have number pads, full stop. You're just plain wrong.
Your final paragraph is a good example of the "completely bonkers" Will in Seattle style. "Which proves my point. Dvorak is more of an American thing." -- but your original point was that Dvorak was the reason Macs were popular in Japan!
You're like a little miracle of stupidity, Will.
But since you've introduced chronology, you have naturally introduced gross errors, since everything you have ever said or thought is a gross error.
Now you're claiming that Macs "popularized" the number pad, which is the exact opposite of the truth. Yes, you had to buy one separately on the Mac; few people did. There wasn't any reason to. The Mac didn't have a usable spreadsheet application in the beginning. The PC, on the other hand, had BOTH a spreadsheet app and a number pad from the beginning. The application that MADE the PC was Lotus 1-2-3, which made the number pad valuable -- predating the Mac.
Lotus was of course built on Visicalc, the first truly useful computer app. Predated the Mac. Predated the PC, in fact; it first ran on the Apple II. Which had no number pad.
PCs (with Lotus) are the reason personal computers have number pads, full stop. You're just plain wrong.
Your final paragraph is a good example of the "completely bonkers" Will in Seattle style. "Which proves my point. Dvorak is more of an American thing." -- but your original point was that Dvorak was the reason Macs were popular in Japan!
You're like a little miracle of stupidity, Will.
40
No, Fnarf is just the only one around here who takes the time to explain why Will is a fucking idiot.
41
I use Windows-D to hide everything and poke around on the desktop all the time.
Num lock can go get hit by a bus, though.
Num lock can go get hit by a bus, though.
42
@40: Honestly, he just takes up space, doesn't he? Will, I mean. I try hard to maintain some level of civility in my internet life (some level), but there have been moments when the little miracle of stupidity (thank you for that phrase, Fnarf) provokes even me to rage. I try to remember that behind all the pompous idiocy is a breathing human being who just wants to be liked by the cool kids, but sometimes he says something so mind-numbingly stupid I can't help myself.
It's amazing he keeps coming back considering how disliked he is.
It's amazing he keeps coming back considering how disliked he is.
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