DailyDirt: Keyboards? We Don't Need Keyboards Where We're Going... (Okay, Maybe We Do)

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Fri, Jun 17th 2011 5:00pm — Michael Ho

The future of keyboards could be really interesting... or we might be about to witness some truly cool UI train wrecks. Despite all the proposed improvements to it, though, the traditional QWERTY keyboard will probably never actually be obsolete. Here are just a few more "advancements" in the field of user input design.

The ZeroTouch touchscreen receives input from users pointing at the air in the space within a frame. This gizmo can track 20+ fingers in its current version, so grow more fingers... or start training other people to gesture simultaneously with you. [url]
Apple has patented a keyboard that senses what keys you're about to type before you type them. "I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg..." [url]
A PC keyboard with a sonar sensor can tell if a person has walked away from it -- and sign out the user to prevent someone else from accessing the computer. But this still won't eliminate most PEBKAC situations. [url]
To discover more interesting tech-related content, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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Filed Under: keyboard, pebkac, ui, user input
Companies: apple

8 Comments

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Ken, 17 Jun 2011 @ 6:07pm

Ban the keyboard for the children
The answer to copyright infringement is to do away with the keyboard, mouse, and all input devices and make the Internet a read only medium like cable TV. We will have all of our information spoon fed us like the good old days of newspapering.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Jun 2011 @ 6:20pm

That sonar keyboard looks like the thing I could whip up for Linux in an afternoon using my Kinect, the OpenCV "find a pair of eyes" code from pam-face-authentication, and a copy of xlockmore if I knew as much about C as I do about Python.

Nifty to see someone actually selling it already though and that they did it with sonar.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Jun 2011 @ 9:28pm

Back To The Future reference scoreboard.

Thought (it counts): 10
Accuracy (so close): 7

Total BTTFR* score : 7.5 :(
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Michael Ho (profile), 17 Jun 2011 @ 11:52pm

Re:
I'm just glad someone out there got the BTTF reference at all.... :)
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E. Zachary Knight (profile), 18 Jun 2011 @ 10:33am

A PC keyboard with a sonar sensor can tell if a person has walked away from it -- and sign out the user to prevent someone else from accessing the computer.

Meh. I just set my screen saver to 5 minutes with the requirement to enter my password to unlock. Works well enough.
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cryptozoologist (profile), 18 Jun 2011 @ 3:10pm

swipe
i just played with a new android phone that has 'swipe technology' where instead of tapping each character you drag your finger and paint from letter to letter. it sounds weird but it works really well. you do not need to be all that accurate as it is really going off of the shape of the swipe more than the exact key you 'hit'
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Jeff Rowberg (profile), 20 Jun 2011 @ 10:04pm

Keyglove wearable wireless input device
I try to avoid shameless plugs as a rule, but it's too relevant for this post to pass up. I've been working on the Keyglove since October, and I just wrapped up a great exhibit at the Next Generation Science Fair up in San Francisco on June 19th.

In short, the Keyglove wraps a keyboard and mouse around your hand into a single glove. It's entirely open source and reprogrammable, platform-agnostic, and very promising. The project website at www.keyglove.net has all kinds of info if you want to check it out. I'm still working on it a lot, but the prototype is a working proof-of-concept, and it has excellent potential.
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Michael Ho (profile), 20 Jun 2011 @ 10:30pm

Re: Keyglove wearable wireless input device
Hi Jeff -- keyglove looks cool. And congrats on the Kickstarter funding!
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