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An external OLED screen you use as a configurable keyboard basically describes the TouchBar.

Maybe Apple means to make a larger version of it for desktops - one of my biggest gripes is that I actually LIKE the TouchBar and the features it offers across different apps, but I can't get used to them because I often use an external keyboard with my laptop in clamshell mode, and so I never really get used to use the TouchBar as there is no external keyboard that has one.

I have actually had this idea about 3 years ago or more.

I actually thought that's where Apple was going when they made the Trackpad on the 2016 MBP practically the size of an iPad mini.

Or, like this:

https://www.artlebedev.com/opt...

http://www.artlebedev.com/optimus/tactus/
http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/9836/
https://store.artlebedev.com/for-programmers/objects/optimus-popularis/

http://www.artlebedev.com/optimus/tactus/
http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/9836/
https://store.artlebedev.com/for-programmers/objects/optimus-popularis/

How is this Touch Bar "10 years old"? I've never seen anything even close to the same thing.

Here you go.

Sorry. Close, but no Cigar.

The part that LOOKS like the Touch Bar on the new MacBooks is DISPLAY-ONLY.

I must admit that I have always lusted after these keyboards; but that really isn't the same thing.

Now their "Tactus" thing looks very interesting; but it is labeled "Concept"; so it hardly counts as "prior art".

Plus there are few things that make it less useful than the Touch Bar:

1. It is an external keyboard. No fun with a laptop.

2. No ready-made OS support.

3. No (or very little) ready-made Application Support. you get to painstakingly define keyboards from scratch. Therefore, unless you are a freak or on crystal meth, you will get tired of that after about two keyboards. 4. Oh, and the "toolbar" isn't Touch.

Other than that, I'd love to have one for free to play with...

How is this Touch Bar "10 years old"? I've never seen anything even close to the same thing.

Here you go.

Yup exactly my though.

Apple's hardware isn't know to target the same kind of geeky professionals (e.g.: admins) that Lenovo does.
They tend to target more e.g.: artists.
People who won't remember whatever weird Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift-F12 sequence is the sortcut to the function they need (they won't even remember it in their muscle memory).

Thus their system is designed less around keyboard shortcuts.

And thus people mostly use this row of key for the advanced alternate functions (volume control) (probably not even like backlight control or external monitor switching as these can be handled automatically).

There's a logic to apple's switch to a touch bar:
- Mac users use less shortcuts, F-keys don't need to be physical (even less mechanical).
- Making it OLED will make a bright low-power adaptable *icon* bar.

- People who use the volume key will be happy: there are possibility to put even more adaptable functionnality - say VLC (or more likely QuickTime or whatever is the iVersion of an iMovie iPlayer in i-Land) could automatically put its control as glowing icon on the touch bar while the movie is playing full screen.
(Again, typically Mac users aren't shortcut oriented and probably don't use shortcuts to play/pause)

- Artists are going to go completely banana about it. Not only because they are more "reality-distortion field"-sensitive than the rest and automatically adore everything that Apple's marketing department tells them to, but also because instead of having to remember complex short-cuts for their most beloved function, they have new icon appearing on the touch bar (say a less used key like "exposé" - which is now handled by a multi-finger touch-pad gesture anyway and thus doesn't make sense - getting replaced with an important tool icon) or even more complex behaviour (replacing all the estate taken by "keyboard -light down / -light up", "screen back-light down/up" with 2 horizontal slider).

- Seems to me like the closest thing to Microsoft's "Ribbon" icon panes done wright, if it was possible to actually do a ribbon right.

Like everything that Apples does (they didn't in fact invent it themselves) there has been some precedent of some adaptive keyboards:
Art Lebedev studios (which leans on the heavily side of apple adoration)
They did design a couple of keyboard and keypads featuring LCD and OLED screens to have the face of the keys changed on the flight.
They received positive review, though didn't see widespread adoption given the price of the technology back then.

Apple *might* be onto something though none of us /. dweller are their target market.
(ME ? I'm busy using shortcuts on my mechanical Unicomp (formerly IBM) keyboard)

Didn't realize that a 72x72 pixel display constituted a piece of paper...

http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus/popularis/

Take a look at
http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus/concept/
http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus/tactus/
and other things from this family.

This is an _adaptive keyboard_.

Yes, it is plain horrible for coding or text editing, but idea behind it is to support some more niche programs for video/photo editing, 3d modelling etc, with keyboard changing icons on keys depending in which mode are.

Take a look at
http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus/concept/
http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus/tactus/
and other things from this family.

This is an _adaptive keyboard_.

Yes, it is plain horrible for coding or text editing, but idea behind it is to support some more niche programs for video/photo editing, 3d modelling etc, with keyboard changing icons on keys depending in which mode are.

Here you are - http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus/

An oldie, yet very apropos, from Artemy Lebedev of the OLED keyboard fame.

Or you could have something quite different, like this, or this, or this, or this (what I'm actually using to type this message).

Please, don't put just "this" in every link. Let me FTFY...

Or you could have something quite different, like Ergodex DX1, or Win Mini, or Optimus Maximus, or AlphaGrip iGrip (what I'm actually using to type this message).

Better?

Or you could have something quite different, like this, or this, or this, or this (what I'm actually using to type this message).

Please, don't put just "this" in every link. Let me FTFY...

Or you could have something quite different, like Ergodex DX1, or Win Mini, or Optimus Maximus, or AlphaGrip iGrip (what I'm actually using to type this message).

Better?

Even basic input, the keyboard and mouse, haven’t really changed in any meaningful way over the years

Maybe the reason for this is the basic form works. The design of the wheel hasn't changed much in a 5 thousand years either. I wonder why.

I beg to differ. The basic design requirement of a wheel is that it's round and rolls, and I'll certainly grant you that this aspect of wheels hasn't changed. However, a rough-hewn wooden round, such as used in the simplest of carts, bears very little other resemblance to the three-spoked carbon-fiber performance bicycle wheels I see with some frequency on my morning bicycle commute. Sure, both are round and roll, but otherwise, there's thousands of years of difference between them.

So what are the design requirements for computer input? You could start by looking at the requirements of a keyboard and a mouse: 1) Must have all the keys required to input at least ASCII. 2) Must have some kind of pointer-device control, ideally with at least two buttons.

So sure, you can have your basic flat keyboard, and a basic mouse. Or you could have something quite different, like this, or this, or this, or this (what I'm actually using to type this message).

And that's not even looking into other possible input schemes, such as voice recognition, eye tracking, etc.

I applaud Valve's efforts to look into better ways of doing things. This kind of exploration is exactly what leads to new and better things.

Cheers,

Seems Russia doesn't like Powerpoint style presentations either.
http://www.artlebedev.com/mandership/145/

For sure. It can be great to build an input device tailored to your own uses, but if the intent is to market this thing you'll never build something with physical knobs, etc that works well for everyone. Which is why I'd love a Tactus if A) they actually existed or B) they wouldn't cost $10k.

I would love to see these go into production

http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/flashkus/

It's a protest against your poor typography.

Personally, I would love to see Apple collaborate with Art Lebenev to bring an up-to-date Optimus Maximus keyboard at €200-300. First see if optical feedback technology sells at the right price and only then try it with flat surfaces and tactile feedback as well.

Right now, it's too much of a jump. Anyway, it's just a patent. I doubt we're gonna see anything before 2013-14.

I already have a number pad that is a mouse.

I don't know about you, but when I'm using a mouse my fingers are resting on the buttons constantly. Asside from the fact that I don't (yet) have transparent fingers, adding a touch screen to the mouse buttons would just make "clicking" strange... Perhaps if the touch screens were just buttons with screens on top it would make sense... I have a keyboard like that... (I use Dvorak and got tired of swapping key-caps.)

I might be able to use the soft buttons when I'm using my mouse in 10-key mode. Honestly, this looks like a solution in search of a problem.

Is it really that innovative to combine a few features of the the two products I already have? Seems like a small improvement, but patent worthy? Psh, when it comes to USPTO, if it ain't patented yet, you can get a patent for it. (I think it's time to get rid of patents.)

You could do that with the Optimus Maximus, while keeping the physical properties that make keyboard better than touchscreens for prolonged typing..

Similarly, Hsu continues, "There's a perception among the older generations that grew up on keyboards that we would miss a keyboard. But as newer generations are raised on devices that have a gesture-based interface they just won't care," he says.

There are times when the "older generation" clings to outdated technology for nostalgic reasons, while the youngsters move on to the better tech (e.g. MP3 players replacing CDs). However that's not the case with keyboards, because physical keyboards have distinct advantages over virtual keyboards, and new generations of consumers are going to notice that! (Gesture interfaces are great for some things, but we're still going to want to write text in this brave new future, and to do that the keyboard is still king.)

As you pointed out, there will be devices for which a virtual keyboard makes more sense. And I have no doubt that manufacturers will keep improving those keyboards so that they close the gap with physical keyboards (using vibration-response and deformation of the screen to provide haptic cues are good ideas). But in any situation where you can afford to have a real keyboard (and I mean "afford" in the "have enough space" sense), people will prefer to have one.

What I do hope to see, however, is a convergence of the capabilities of both. This is what I see happening: virtual/touchscreen keyboards add features to be more 'physical-like' (vibration response to give some haptic cues, elastic displays that have a bit of 'give' so that you can feel the tap/click, deformable displays that reconfigure so that you can feel ridges for key edges, etc.) Meantime physical keyboards might start becoming more advanced (they are too expensive right now, but there are keyboards with built-in displays (the Optimus keyboard), and some that have variable-pressure sensors, etc.). We will likely reach a day where the current split between 'simple physical keyboard' and 'flat virtual keyboard on touchscreen' won't be the two options. Instead we'll have 'dynamically reconfigurable keyboards with deep key-press response' for desktops and laptops and 'dynamically reconfigurable keyboards with shallow key-press response' for tablets and smartphones.

So kind of like the optimus tactus? http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus-tactus/

Haven't we seen this before?

I'm not only referring to having seen this kind of technology in a keyboard before.

I am also asking, have we not seen before, time and time again, Microsoft copying someone else's technology and claiming it to be their own major exclusive new super-invention? ...

Feh, just give each kid one of these instead. Can't add too much to the cost, right?

Of course I do, but it's not a distinction between "art" and "non-art". The distinction happens on a purely subjective level as to what I prefer. I'd take a PKD short story over Portal's story anyday, but a video game generally isn't limited to its narrative (grafic and soudn design, the way the story is told), nor are books for that matter (writing style, even presentation plays a part in the way book impacts on the reader). Anyway, I'm really not trying to say that Portal is a masterfull art piece, just that it IS art.

Similarly, and sorry for bringing her in, but it's not meant in any offensive way, your own mother would probably take your short story over Dickens.

To get extreme, porns are art too. For the most part I'd say very bad one, but they have a ~function| beside being purely descriptive. Being utilitarian doesn't even stop things from being pieces of art. Think about architecture or object design.

I had never heard of this keyboard before... damn, it's cool! :)

http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus/

i play with the optimus mini three v2 ("check/fold", "check/call", "bet/raise"), and griffin powermate to vary bet sizes in no limit or pot limit games (turn knob), and switch tables (press knob).

you mean one of these badboys?

providing they don't come with optimus maximus pricetags

I assure you, this will cost MORE than the maximus.

The best place to start is their website: http://www.artlebedev.com/ you will see that they do indeed do design work for UI's like the GPS navigation system and T&C Amplifier on the front page. They have a store link which has a bunch of their work.

This one time I found an old power-socket-to-lightbulb-socket adaptor thing when I was about 3 or 4. I decided to test it.

Um, yeah. Fill in the blanks yourself.

But you want to change the functions of the keys each time.

So why not put screens on buttons ?:

http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus/

What do you mean you're with HP? They have a whole campaign devoted to desktop touch screens...

As for most of the other blatantly wrong comments, I think it's incredibly important to develop this. Everyone is only considering touch screens as the main outputs. But what about a dedicated input being a touch screen. Like the Optimus Maximums, but extremely cheaper and more diverse. This one application voids both this post and this post, the two highest rated comments in this thread. There are so many applications to multi-touch technology, and only R&D will get us there.

If someone is going to the trouble to do this sniffing in the first place, I'm sure they can easily crack what is essentially a simple replacement cipher if the keyboard map is changed. Unless you're constantly changing your keymap - maybe with something like the Optimus Maximus. Of course, that thing probably gives off its own signature where each key's "screen" could probably be sniffed too...

Citation: http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus/

Perhaps something like The Optimus Tactus would be ideal?

"Optimus Tactus"... What a wonderful name for something that has absolutely zero tactile response...

I would have loved something like that back when I was a kid watching "Star Trek: The Next Generation", wishing I could be Wesley Crusher and hang out with all those cool Trek people doing all those cool Trek things... But there's really something to be said for having a proper physical switch...

Perhaps something like The Optimus Tactus would be ideal?

or this

You mean something like this? http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus-tactus/

Your wish is granted http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus/

There's the Optimus Tactus concept, which is exactly that: a programmable surface that can be any keyboard (or even input device) you want.

In my opinion the real breakthrough for that class of device is going to come when they get haptic feedback to work with multitouch screens. Haptic feedback is when you literally "feel" the virtual buttons. There are some promising advances there.

Price, approx. $1,864.35

I saw this: http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus-tactus/

because someone has been developing one for the last few years, i dont suppose you live under a rock or anything, but heres a link just in case

Ricockulously expensive optimus keyboard

Optimus Keyboard

You must be new here.

As a famous philosopher once said, Two out of three ain't bad.

I tend to agree with you, but you are also assuming that there isn't going to be new tech that makes the touchscreen more usable for touch typists.

Different but somewhat related is the Optimus Maximus. Yes, it still has physical keys, but they can each change/remap at any time based on what task you are doing. So just because we can't envision how something would work with our current technology doesn't mean it is necessarily a stupid idea.

http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus/

Oh! and about the iphone, its not so cool in europe, we already have that kind of junk.... with 3G

• 1 active key - $462
• 10 active keys - $600
• 47 active keys - $1000
• 103 active keys - $1564