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Google held a "glass event" in my city the other day and I had a chance to try it out.

I found it awkward to use: the gesture interface is clunky, voice commands are obtrusive to people nearby, and it takes way too much attention and focus to use the screen. I found it harder to use Glass while walking around than it is to use an Android smartphone while walking around.

Also, the apps they had available to demo -- which I can only assume are some of the best existing on the platform right now, because why would you demo anything other than the best? -- were not particularly useful. The closest that came to being cool was a program that used the camera to take pictures of signs in foreign languages and then display them translated to English. I could see that being useful if you travel in foreign countries extensively, but even then the experience was clunky -- you had to pick which language you thought the sign was in and aim the camera directly at the middle of the sign for it to work. And even then the translation wasn't "stable:" there was one German word displayed along an arch instead of a straight line where the translation kept shifting between completely different words as the viewing angle changed slightly.

If you want to develop apps for Google Glass, it might be worth getting. But if you just want to use it, it's not ready yet. Personally, I think it's actually a regression in functionality compared to what people like Steve Mann and Thad Starner had a decade ago, because it lacks both a reasonable input interface (e.g. a twiddler) and software that actually does something that a smartphone can't.

Handeykey's product destroys this one hard.

http://www.handykey.com/

Keyboard and mouse in one... leaves the other hand completely free for......

Come on, who could forget the twiddler ( http://www.handykey.com/ ). It's a chord keyboard, its a severe carpal tunnel generator and its a foul verb, as in: "Hey, who have you twiddled today" or "Twiddle me when you get home". Nice!

An option I heard about years ago

http://www.handykey.com/

Though I am blessed with two operable hands, I've often been intrigued with the idea of using an input device like this to free up one hand (eg, for a portable keyboard on the go with a cell phone as a computer).

http://www.handykey.com/

Works great and you can actually type REALLY fast with it once you get used to it.

I too have used Twiddler made by HandyKey! I'll sell it to you if you want it.

He's a programmer.
How about the Supercoder 2000?

Also, think about the Twiddler 2.
It has macro support and allows for custom chords.

i lost the use of my right (dominant) hand for 6 weeks and tried the twiddler. I didnt find the chorded text entry easy and struggled to get to much over 30-40 characters per min (!), but the mouse pad button works well for navigating a gui desktop (think ibm thinkpad 'trackpoint' center button). Oh and it works perfectly with linux.

http://www.handykey.com/

Works great and you can actually type REALLY fast with it once you get used to it.

One-handed input without an appropriate name? I'm sticking with my Twiddler.

This one-handed chorded keyboard used to be a Slashdot favourite:

http://www.handykey.com/

Probably not incredibly ergonomic, but I've always had it in the back of my mind for situations where I'd need a one-handed keyboard. If people weren't so paranoid about texting, I'd try to replace my car's stickshift knob with one of these ;-P

The original poster might want to look at something like the HandyKey Twiddler or build something similar. The Twiddler is an external single handled mouse keyboard combo. It was very popular among people who wanted to build a wearable computer during the 90s. Think Thad Starner and Steve Mann.

With the Twiddler, your wrist maintains a more neutral position while typing and performing mouse operations. Keys are type by pressing "chords" similar to the way a guitarist uses his/her left hand on the neck of the guitar. See the Wikipedia Chorded Keyboard entry. I think it has a high learning curve but I have read somewhere of people being able to type 40+ words per minute using it.

The Twiddler is not cheap, however, the company that made the Twiddler stopped making them a few years back, and only recently a different company started selling them again for $215 plus shipping from Canada.

Another option is to try voice recognition.

To be pedantic, it could be a chorded input system like the Twiddler which compresses the functionality of a whole keyboard into 16 buttons.

A one-handed chorded keyboard, of course.

In general, any tri or quad band cellphone with any (even very slow) data access and a real, simulated (touchscreen), or bluetooth keyboard or keyboard like device should be able to be used to fill out the form on the spot and then transmit the form back to a central server. Then, at the end of the day, the census taker reviews the forms they submitted and verifies their accuracy and the forms go into the system. (This step is to prevent fraud by someone attempting to hack the cellphone side of things.)

The whole system is modular, and after specifying the the data interchange format between phone and server, could be bid out separately and cheaply. There's really no need to design a durable device capable of harsh use with data input capabilities, that function is already available in commodity devices!

The system could even track times and gps locations of the data as it was entered, for cross-referencing to verify map locations.

http://www.handykey.com/

I'm surprised this was not mentioned, yet a full-qwerty layout on-wrist keyboard was.

And the Twiddler has a TrackPoint, which is IMHO better than a trackball in a mobileesque application (a hit on the game pad chording 'keyboard').

I have one and it's great.

http://www.handykey.com/

the twiddler, I even still have one in the basement somewhere from 1993 when I was into Wearable computing. when you got used to it you could type really fast, it was fun writing C code when you were walking from the bust stop to your EE classes while looking in the LED alphanumeric hud.

Cool part it was a mouse as well.

I prefer the Twiddler. After some practice, it's actually pretty easy to use.

Personally I'm waiting for voice recognition software to improve so I could run a headless and inputless wearable PC, speak to it, it speaks back. If you don't think about what is possible you will always be one step behind.

Yes that is going to work great on a bus, train, or airplane.

Flying is bad enough already, imagine a trans-atlantic flight with 10 people talking to their devices non-stop.

Give me the fat guy in the next seat and the kid behind kicking my seat over this any day...

On a more constructive note, how about something like one of these?

Chorded keyboards are way more efficient than that! They should integrate a Twiddler with a cell phone. According to Prof. Thad Starner's testimonial on the website, 60 words per minute are entirely possible, and you'll get 10-30 words per minute after only a weekend of practice! I actually recall him telling me about even higher speeds, but I don't want to misquote him...

For comparison, here's some info on normal QWERTY keyboards: "Someone having minor experience with keyboards can reach 20 words per minute, an average typist reaches about 30 to 45 (usually the minimum required for dispatch positions and other typing jobs), while advanced typists work at speeds above 60." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Words_per_minute)

Check out the Twiddler its a cording keyboard, and mouse combo, with a few weeks of use you typing should be up to par, or with time greater as there are all sorts of programing options available.

http://www.handykey.com/

If you have that kind of disability, you might want to look into the Twiddler2 from HandyKey: http://www.handykey.com/site/twiddler2.html It is a one-haned input device that can be used by either the right or left hand. Missing fingers on one hand or even a missing hand wont affect a Twiddler user.

It requires two hands like a normal keyboard. So, um, where's the advance? Show me an affordable one that I can use with one hand, and I'll buy it.

I had to learn the Handeykey Twiddler for my foray into the world of wearable computing and it was a PITA to learn. But it at least let me do it one handed and at a somewhat decent rate. This thing looks really awkward to use no matter what you do.

None of these alternative keybards have any real benefits. The twiddler was close as you could type while walking down the street or listening during a class without getting everyone's attention. This thing will get professors glaring at you.

It has a largest variety (although not complete) of alternative input devices to help people with RSI and disabilities. In addition it has guides about RSI, workplace environment etc to help you avoid getting RSI. Nice fancy flash animations and everything.

i personally use a twiddler http://www.handykey.com/site/features.html combined mouse and keybord and find no trouble switching between it and the qwerty keybourd layout. Twiddler makes no claims about it's affects on RSI but one of the testimonials state that his RSI has been cured by switching hands

http://www.datahand.com/products/personal.htm

look at the link. It uses a layout as similar to querty as possible given the key possitioning and they have comissioned studies into RSI and their keyboard. A bit pricy though.

The only trouble i can see is if you touch-type properly (I look at the keys for qwerty but touchtype the twiddler), but I think as long as you remain practiced at both you will fond no trouble switching.

Apologies for my waffling.

The better question is "how productive is that?" Honestly, if I had to deal with waiting a few seconds every time I wanted a context menu I would be pretty annoyed and I'm sure I'm not alone in that. Using control as a modifier to create a contextual click I can understand.

Seems to me that there have been a lot of attempts made to come up with better keyboard designs - Dvorak; that alphabetical keyboards; chordic keyboards; split keyboards; weird keyboards; other weird keyboards; and so on.

Call me when one of them has broad market acceptance.

Michael

That's a much repeated falsehood.
Besides, everyone knows that all real geeks chord.

What we really need are alternatives to traditional typing -- ways to communicate with the computer in a more efficent manner.

I'm personally waiting for the wireless implant in my head so I can just "think" the words onto the screen :)

In the meantime, I've tried out the Twiddler2 chorded keyboard, which is a combination key entry and mouse device. Although a bit slower, it is FAR more comfortable surfing and chording with it than using the traditional keyboard and mouse (though you can forget programming). And it plays nice with OS X and Windows.

If you're interested, there are many other chorded "keyboards" as well as many more ergonomic variations to the standard keyboard. A useful resource is the exhaustive Alternative Keyboard FAQ and this alternative keyboard gallery.

Will the command-line last only as long as the keyboard?

The keyboard isn't going to die any time soon. The shape may change, as the Twiddler has shown, but the basic requirement to input text remains. A mouse just doesn't have enough buttons. (It would, of course, be possible to fully operate a computer with just two buttons, using one button to scroll through a list of possible keyboard buttons until you get to the one you want, then pressing the second button.)

We need to input text. The keyboard is currently the best way to do this. Text-to-speech might get better, but I prefer the keyboard anyway. Soon we'll be able to control the computer with the power of thought - maybe we'll input in a manner similar to a keyboard, maybe not.

Even if the input method did change, this will not cause the death of the command line.

Programs are text-based. As long as this is the case (can anyone conceive another method?), the command line is the most direct way for controlling them, or at least programming them, so the command line interface will remain essential for developers.

There are many more fancy input devices working with Linux available, e.g. the Twiddler a tiny wrist keyboard made by Handykey.com, different Linux applications featuring your cell phone as a remote control and the WireLess NoteBook Presenter made by Targus; to name just a few. BTW: The WireLess NoteBook Presenter doesn't feature mouse gestures in the air, you have to provide mouse events by pushing a mouse button, but it works with Linux out of the box and seems much cheaper.

• Connect to the internet
• Run an SSH-2 Client
• Interface with a Twiddler 2

I don't care about VGA. I don't even care about color. I just want a remote ssh-2 client that I can type confortably on, without carrying around a briefcase or a purse.

You know I wonder if there's a BT version of the Twiddler? That would be cool as heck and would work fine with most PDA's. Then you could strap the pda to your wrist and type with the other(nevermind looking like a geek).

1) Trackball you have to keep petting the damn thing, unless you have it super sensitive in which case you lose accuracy. For a solution designed to minimize hand movement making the user pet constantly vs. using an analog stick would be against the entire design philosophy.

2,3) I'm sorry, but 100$ is a mind numbingly cheap price for a low volume device for this. Let's look at some similar products. A close competitor is the DataHand which sells for 10 times that. A gesture keyboard goes for 340$. A chording keyboard/mouse replacement that's been out for many years and used by wearable people, the twiddler, is 220$. Just a half-keyboard with extra letter mappings to make up for it is 295$. All these companies aren't so expensive because they want to be, manufacturing low volume stuff like this is hideously expensive. You say you want a second version for large hands, that would raise the price even more.

there is one that I enjoyed using, but it's hard to find.

the twiddler Is a chording keyboard and in my heyday of using it I could type 50wpm on it while walking around and shopping with my GF at that time. (I was heavy into wearable computing, I coupled this with a xybernaut wearable)

Problem is that it cost me $200.00 which is absolutely INSANE for a keyboard. this new "keyboard" also has that same doomed fate, it's price is unrealistic and the engineers/ management should have given up the second they found out that their cost was more than the retail price of a good PC-104.

It seems silly to have a chord keyboard that takes two hands. I found http://www.handykey.com/site/twiddler2.html more helpful. Means you can use a tablet pen in one hand and a keyboard in the other.
--
New thinking, old games

Try a Twiddler. Comes in PS2 and USB models.

Ugh. You can keep the twiddler. I tried one of those for a while. It was an older Twiddler 1, awhich is a slight bit less ergonomic than the Twiddler 2, but they haven't fixed the real problem. Try it yourself: put your hand in this position for a few seconds and you feel your whole forearm start to freeze up. It's great as a one handed, no desktop keyboard, but it's an RSI waiting to happen. That Frogpad thing looks interesting though...

Not that those things have taken off, but this might be an possibility for chorded keyboards. Typing on a projected keyboard on your desk surface won't be so much fun either...

(A chorded keyboard is something you hold in one hand. You have to press a few keys at the same time (just like a piano chord) to get a character. With just a couple of keys you can apparently type pretty well. Perhaps you could fit this in an overlarge pen...)

Reinout

Handykey, in New York, used to make a device that was both a keyboard and mouse. I got mine about 3 years ago, it had DOS drivers and they apparently came out with Windows and PS/2 drivers later. Plugs into the serial port for data, the keyboard port for power (only drew 9 mA or so.) It's chord based, most characters are two fingers, with the modifiers on the thumb; it had a velcro strap to wrap around the back of your hand to hold it in place.

There used to be a FAQ about such keyboards; look at any of the RSI resources. Also look at the pages about the "Behemoth" nee' "Winnebiko" project, they used the one of the "bat" keyboard sticks.

You might also look at some of the one-handed layouts for conventional typewriters that Dvorak came up with, along with the more well known layout. It depends on what you're trying to do...

What are the best wearable computers you can cobble together for $2000, $1500, and $750? (USD)

Minimal Requirements:

-single eye head mounted display (like this)

-single hand input (like the twiddler)

-8 hours battery life

-linux

-802.11

I've been quite happy with my Happy Hacking keyboard for several years.

The Control key is in the right place, it doesn't hog the desk the way those big 105 key monster do.

The emphasis is on being compact, though, so be warned that getting function keys requires a 2-key combination, holding down an "Fn" key together with one of the other keys (eg, the numeric 1 becomes F1).

I've been intrigued, but haven't had the courage yet to try out something that looks incredibly efficient (one-handed, Ma!) and good for portable use, too, the Twiddler.

handkey.com

I gots one just because. I can pick it up every few months and maintain 45wpm.

How about the twiddler? It's chorded... Includes mouse features. A favorite w/ the wearable PC crowd @ MIT...

I think several of the 'wearable computer' labs were using this. Twiddler

No, it's not a pr0n joke.

The Twiddler was pretty good. I have a former boss who built an ultra-low-cost wearable by modifying a VR helmet and a subnotebook, using a twiddler. He had no problem learning to key on it. I've considered something like this for my (music) keyboards, but I prefer midi control surfaces over (qwerty) keyboards and mice.

just give me a keyboard I can use with 1 hand and rest it wherever I need to

her you go

The twiddler has been around for years, and is in use by many many people.

Oh and it's massively cheaper than this 2 knees nightmare.

I have used it to debug a shell script while biking before.. I dont reccomend doing that again...

This would have been great last year when I had 2 broken wrists due to a snowboarding accident, except for the cost. I looked into a couple of alternatives like the Twiddler, a one-handed keyboard alternative, but even for $220 couldn't the cost for a 4 - 6 week typing replacement. For someone with a more permanent condition, this looks like a fascinating alternative.

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