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Half Keyboard, Full Bore
PDA User writes: "With more and more innovative items coming out this year, it's not surprising to say the least that a new product has come out, this time it's called a "Half Keyboard." Well, what does this half keyboard offer you? Available for the home PC or any PDA, it's got some pretty interesting features....check out the review @ G3D:Gaming In 3D for some nifty info on this $99 Half Keyboard." An excerpt: "Touch typing was invented over 100 years ago. In all that time there have been no significat advances in how people type. Until now. This motto, taken directly form Matias Corporation's manual, states their goal. But, have they achieved it?" Nothing like trying one out, but a review is better than just looking at the pretty pictures and wondering whether a wacky keyboard is as useful as it is intriguing. (The review says "it's not all that stellar in gaming," though.)
The article is plagued with bad grammar and poor spelling, at first i thought he used the half-keyboard for the whole article...oh and the BAT personal keyboard from Infogrip would kick that keyboards ass any day.
proceed to type with your left hand while doing nothing with your right. Why? ummmm....chatroom?
Do you always ignore new technology without even trying it because you are unable to see the benefits?
* 2001-02-26 17:18:07 Half-Keyboard Available for Palm (and Linux) (articles,pilot) (rejected)
Ah, the inconsistencies of Slashdot...
Alex Bischoff
Alex Bischoff
HTML/CSS coder for hire
What's funny is that they claim they have done something different from the past 100 years, yet they are still using a sort of half-assed QWERTY keyboard (yes that was a pun).
They should have designed it with the most used keys on the first half, and second half could contain the less used keys. Do you really use Z or Q that much (other than really descriptive variable names).
They should have looked at a scrabble board, put all the low scoring letters on the first half, and the other letters on the second.
Misfit
Disclaimer: I was looking at this from a typing standpoint, not a gaming standpoint.
Heh, I bet this keyboard would suck with Dvorak. One of it's goals is to get as many words to be typed with alternating hands as possible to cut down the number of sluggish singlehanded words. This keyboard makes for an extra keypress every time you switch over to the other side of the board.
Alternatively, there is something called the one handed Dvorak method (smirk now). It also allows people to type with one hand, and it can be done on a normal keyboard. What's more, your OS will probably already have software remapping for it. People who have lost the use of an arm and are forced to switch or give up decent typing forever have reported speeds up to 60-70wpm in this configuration.
I'm intrigued by it because of the time it takes me to move my hand from my keyboard to my mouse, and back to home row. But then, I'm awash with small efficiencies. I use dvorak and I'm very handy with emacs keystrokes.
It's made for lefties.
No it's not... I would rather type with my left hand and write or mouse with my right than the other way around.
While I suspect they claim it's ambidextrous (or dextrous-neutral) it is most definately suited for right-handed people.
Funny, I use ESC as my meta key all the time in EMACS, and I have an ALT key...
Run a pencil-and-paper RPG campaign with your far-off friends: Gametable!
Note the word "economics." Liebowitz and Margolis are economists opposed to an "excessive inertia" theory, for which QWERTY is often cited as an example. Rather than try to prove their point with a generally valid argument, they simply attack Dvorak as a dubious replacement for QWERTY.
Linux is only free if your time has no value. Windows is only free if you threaten to use Linux.
In Q3A, I already use my left-hand on the keyboard for actions, so I don't foresee any kind of problems with gaming there.
I also type approximately near 80WPM with two hands, I don't foresee having much trouble getting my left-hand to do alone.
This is a nice compromise between chording keyboards and QWERTY-- I can't find a "standard-standard" for chording anywhere so I've avoided trying to get hardware like that. The Happy Hacking Keyboard I've seen has squeezed down the size of the keys (and rearranged a few) so much that I found it to be a real pain to use.
One thing I noticed about the HalfKeyboard was the "reversal" of the phantom hand keys--
This is kind of related to DaVinci's backwards handrighting and the fact that keys are placed like that I think is going to make it easy for me to pick up._______
I had a chance to play with the keyboard last night, and as hardware, it's a pretty nice device. The PalmOS drivers however have a lot left to be desired-- probably the most critical problem is the infrared beaming support is disabled while you're using the keyboard. On my Visor Platinum, it defeats the purpose of using the HalfKeyboard while I'm using the IrCOMM modem with my Nokia phone. This flaw is going to keep me from buying it.
But in general, I think that the keyboard format could be something everyone adopts because of it's low learning curve-- compared to true chording keyboards.
_______
The think that people are not realizing that this keyboard was not designed for gaming - look at the material on the web site, and you see that they are targetting for PDA users.
As the user of a Jornada, I can definitely see where this would have advantages. A keyboard on which I could achieve 30-some odd words per minute would be FAR superior to the pen-based input. THIS is where this keyboard will find its market. The person who is playing games is not going to want to use this mini keyboard, but the travelling sales rep would very much want to tuck this in his brief case to use on his Palm or PocketPC.
Different products appeal to different markets. Obviously this one would flop for gamers, but there are other applications where it would shine, making it a cool product in general. Just because it doesn't increase your scores in online games doesn't mean it sucks!
-Michael
Geek for hire
And lower my WPM rate?
(that is, on the home row.)
Do you have a
The full sized keyboard that I already have for my palm works great. I have a hard time thinking of a situation where a half-sized keyboard would be better for PDA use. They mention that you can use the keyboard and the stylus at the same time, but that seems rediculous when you consider that the palm would be on a flat surface. It's pretty hard to control the palm moving around without holding it with the other hand.
While technically very interesting, I liked the other "mouse keyboard" innovation idea better.
On the last page, he lists the pros and cons. One of the pros: no incompatabilities.
With no ctrl and no alt, it's incompatable with my entire system. I can log in, start emacs, and cry because the only way I can do anything is by hitting esc over and over again.
It's emacs incompatable. Worthless!
For a basic game of quake deathmatch, this keyboard would be fine (assuming it can be fixed fairly firmly to a surface). But for some games, the number of keys are just too limited.
When I play Q3F, I have most keys on the left side bound, and all of the function keys bound to important communications. For Terminus, I have the entire main portion of the keyboard bound, and I still need to use the function keys from time to time. It just wouldn't work very well.
The enemies of Democracy are
If you can not press ctrl-alt-del then it is usless and should not should to any with a Windows OS.
This allows you to type on 1/2 of the keyboard? Anyway, your point is well taken - I could easily do a hack to let my mother do mirror-image typing on the right half of her existing keyboard. Thanks for the reality check. :')
This is not to say that it's a bad thing - just that it would be cool if they came out with a mirror image version for righties.
It's not supposed to revolutionize typing or gaming. It's for Palms. For those folks, this is a god-send!
Geez...
Please mod this post only if you think others should/n't read this. I have enough ego^H^H^Hkarma. Thanks!
If you don't already have to worry about touching the space bar every couple of seconds then you must type very very slowly. I bet I type the spacebar like 2 or 3 times every second. I think having the space bar be the key to shift to the next side of the keyboard is pretty ingenious, had I come up with this idea I probably would have done something stupid like add a new key. With that said I'm not so sure its too impracticle, it all depends on how fast people can get typing on it. If I could get anywhere near my current speed then I'd love to have one of these things, I would never have to take my hand off the mouse and I could constantly be typing stuff too. That would be pretty neat I think. Of course I'm a little stumped as to why theres no ctrl or alt key (I think I read that in the article).
FiGZ.COM - A waste of perfectly good web space
I mean, does it keep my in-law from messing with my computer?
Screen saver passwords and bios power-on passwords are your friend.
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Delphis
Delphis
Sounds AMAZINGLY expensive too .. .. much cheaper just to make a few different batches of keycaps. And for the user, just to buy a couple of keyboards.
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Delphis
Delphis
Oh dear :) .. that's quite sad isn't it?
I don't actually have the BIOS passwords set on any of the computers I use (I don't have any need to), but I thought they were a bit more well designed than that. Doh.
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Delphis
Delphis
Umm the twiddler works better and has been in use by wearable computing people for more than 3 years now. I like it better as it integrates the mouse also and it straps to your hand.
The twiddler makes this look like a joke.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
I would be thrilled if they made a keyboard where you could pop out the keys and put them back in any order you like, Lego-like.
Also, the whole QWERTY thing can go.
I remember seeing a keyboard made by one of the larger keyboard manufacturers (Cherry maybe?) in the early 90s that had an LCD on each key. It was marketed as a multi-lingual keyboard and came with drivers that let you reprogram the keys to whatever you wanted.
Does anyone know if someone still makes a keyboard like this?
And your mind off it, which has got to suck for your reaction time. The only benefit of keeping your eyes on the road in this regard is then you see the accident happening, but you won't be quick enough to react.
Did you see the lil' Flash demo? (If not, it's understandable, since Flash is evil & all, according to /.) The point isn't to stick it into your desktop computer, it's for a PDA or such. You'll save space carrying it. I figure, though, get one of those foldable keyboards Palm sells.
Believe it or not, I type solely using my right hand. I've been looking for something like this for a while now. (But I'm not about to spend $99 on a fscking keyboard.)
Fighting the War on the War on Drugs.
Fighting the War on the War on Drugs.
http://smokedot.org/
That might explain all the typos.
I wouldn't use this with my Palm; Palm themselves already do a cool keyboard.
Where it would be handy is for those screens where I've got nine xterms open; being able to flick between them without my hand leaving the keyboard would be very, er, handy.
OTOH, combinations look distinctly dodgy. CTRL-ALT-Left seems especially problematic. Of course, with an operating system where all keys are configurable this isn't much of a problem (if you know what you're doing), but it does add a level of complexity.
As for other operating systems: CTRL-ALT-DEL doesn't look like an easy chord; that's just lack of foresight on the part of the inventor.
That's the common way of putting it, but not entirely accurate.
The qwerty was designed not to be slow, but so that letters that frequently followed each other had their typebars far apart from each other (as two next to each other will jam quite easily, wheras two far apart jam less easily.)
Study after study, yes, a DVORAK or other keyboard is usually only slightly faster (though less tiring on your hands, apparently, because you don't have to work as hard.)
Also, nothing forces you to use this format. Pop in a dvorak keyboard map and go to town. It's entirely feasible to switch between the two if you know them both.
I just ran a long article at Point and Grunt entitled 10 big fingers discussing the half keaboard and many others.
please excuse the shameless self promotion, but it's at lease somewhat relevant.
Point and Grunt
Point and Grunt
But how many grandmothers type (ie not hunt and peck) You can't beat a regular keyboard for hunting and pecking because of the really large symbols on them, if you have 4 tiny symbols the hunting and pecking gets a lot harder. I think this is a great idea however and may be tempted to get one just to see how it works, ive been looking for a way to use my mouse and keyboard at the same time for a while now, this looks like its just the ticket.
You Like Science?
You Like Science?
You Like bottomquark.
"Coming with a hefty pricetag of $99, is this tiny sucker worth it? Hell, it even a whole keyboard. It's half of one!"
- You may think I being picky here, but this contradiction comes in right at the start of the review. Did the author re-read his review even once?
It's [dimensions are] about the size of a scientific calculator, or 1/4 the size of a laptop. It's also a keyboard.
- Funny that.
Like any other keyboard the Half Keyboard plugs in via a PS/2 port. It's compatible with Palms, Handspring Visors, PCs, as well as Macs.
- The depth of the research carried out here speaks volumes about the reviewer.
While there were no drivers I had to install via a cd, I thought the overall package that came with the Half Keyboard was very well done.
- You don't need Old Man Murray to tell you that when a review starts describing product packaging it's in big big trouble.
Weighing about 1/5 the weight of a calculator, I've got to say kudos to Matias for making the Half Keyboard compactable.
- Dubya would be so proud. It's compactable!
The tutorial then goes on to introduce how to use the other features such as characters and numbers.
- The feature bloat on this keyboard puts even Mozilla to shame! Yes, that's right characters AND numbers. Stop the madness, please.
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Rare Window - free your photos
Keep working on the Kinesis. In time, you'll find yourself much faster with it. There's a lot to be said for reducing the distance your fingers have to travel to type.
-russ
Don't piss off The Angry Economist
I just spent a few minutes playing with a demo program that lets you try this layout on a
/. crowd to the benefit of all, particularly those with disabilities. Its too bad we are screwed by his monopoly license.
regular qwerty keyboard (link) The mirror reflection really does make learning much easier. I was quite surprised and its worth giving it a try. $395.00 USD? pffft! He want's an arm and a leg for a keyboard driver.
http://half-qwerty.com/
The web site is amateurish and the program could be duplicated in a few minutes for linux by many of the
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U.S. Patent No.
5,288,158. European Patent
No. 0,489,792. Australian Patent No. 647,750.
in addition to inventing the mouse,
douglas englebart also invented the one-handed keyboard -- he actually did it better than this 'half keyboard' -- he 'chorded' an optimized set for the entire alphabet.
thus - he figured you could use one hand full-time for the MOUSE, and the other hand full-time for TEXT ENTRY - keeping both continuously active, and optimising the human-machine interaction.
there was a product back in the early 90's called "THE BAT" that allowed this sort of chorded input - and actually worked quite well. i'd like to find one if anyone knows where to still get them.
this half-keyboard is a devolution on that concept, and does so in order to retain the familiarity people have with the qwerty keyboard - but if you're going to switch, it'd be better to go all the way to an optimized layout like THE BAT.
regards,
johnRpenner.
i've always wanted to use a left hand only keyboard so I could keep my right hand on the mouse. thing is that I use a lot of different computers and am scared that if I learned to type on a keyboard like this I would lose my typing ability on a regular keyboard. that didn't happen when I moved to the MS natural, but it's not really the same thing.
Anyone know if trying something like this will screw up your old dexterity?
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For PDA note taking I use the Stowaway. Folds to the same volume as my Visor, weighs little, gives me a full size keyboard with great feel. I love seeing new devices and approaches but I've got to wonder about this one...
Are you spontaneously enthusiastic about everyone having everything you can have? - Buckminster Fuller
I like the "wearable" version myself.
I'v always wanted a Star Trekish palm on my wrist with a mini keyboard to match.
----- LoboSoft specializes in Digital Language Lab
Well, from the looks of that article, (which I assume was typed by the author on the half-keyboard) either: 1) spell-checkers don't work on anything typed using that keyboard; 2) the keyboard is not conducive to accurate typing; 3) the author's spelling/grammar is poor to begin with; or some combination of the above. I'll stick to my ergonomic, thankyouverymuch.
---
Linux: The world's best text-adventure game.
I just sold of a Palm IIIc w/ a keyboard, and I've been waiting for a new keyboard to come out for my m505. I loved that little keyboard for the palm - it had a great feel to it, and it wasn't that small. This thing looks cool, but I would definitely have one huge gripe about it for the Palm. The Palm keyboard has a little stand built into it, so that the Palm already sits up for easy viewing of the screen. I hate having to look at my Palm when it's laying on the table. It would be a huge pain to have to find something to lean the Palm against all the time. Otherwise the thing does look kinda cool...
Control, Meta, Backslash anyone?
--
May we live long and die out
http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~john/computer/hk/
Follow the instructions and check it out.
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Looks like the keyboard would be great to use for short term stuff - quick memos, notes, whatnot - but I'm wondering what sorts of problems people might have with long term use of one of these. With two hands, each hand is working about 1/2 as hard, and people still end up with carpal tunnel and such. What will using one hand exclusively do?
This would be really cool on handheld computers like the Psion. I bet I could type as fast on this as I can on a full keyboard with tiny keys... and i'd have a free hand to hold the device or use the stylus.
This looks like it could be the most awkward keyboard I have ever seen. Yes it only takes one hand to type... But there is a reason keyboards were origionally invented for two hands. You have to 'hold' down space bar (shift they are calling it) to get it to flip. Plus u'd have to learn how to type with your left hand the right keys... They are inverted so you use the same fingers though... But that just makes it so I can't find anything by looking at it.
Now you need to learn how to do the right hand on your left hand. You need 2 keys for each position (or more for special keys). You have to push an extra key for each letter on the other side of the keyboard. This would be like trying to type in all caps while using the shift key and not caps lock... Notice the slow down.
I can see how this may be useful to people who don't have a lot of space... And maybe for a palm...
But I think that enough people complain already about laptop keyboards, so this would definately not be good for laptops and especially not good for desktops!
....with this keyboard.
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Moderator's essentials
I wonder, how often do you have to change the state of the keyboard, pressing or releasing the space key? Isn't that going to be a major problem for typing speed?
--
May I ask you to smile for a moment?
Yesterday was the time to do it right. Are we having a REVOLUTION yet?
Well, as one who has tested out both QWERTY and Dvorak, I can tell you that Dvorak is MUCH easier on the hands. I haven't noticed any speed increase, but I think that it because I think about the words and code I'm typing at the same speed I always have. If I were a secretary staring and a page and typing things without really thinking about them, I might be faster, I don't know.
Bottom line is, urban legend or not, Dvorak is much more comfortable to type with than QWERTY. I wish people would wait until they are proficient at both before spouting of their "knowledge" on the subject.
In that case, it's no contest. This keyboard will rule the world.
Got Rhinos?
From the review:
Pros: Great for typing up documents; Extremely compact; Plug 'N Play/Easy Installation; No incompatibilites
Cons: Rather steep learning curve; Terrible for gaming; Hefty price for keyboard
Note two of the cons -- "Terrible for gaming" and "Hefty price". I'm sorry folks, but this keyboard will not change the world. It's a neat toy, and might have some applications for wearable computers, but that's about it.
Got Rhinos?
Better to criticize weak ideas than to put time and money into them that might better be spent on producing something that *won't* make the company go bankrupt in a year, and might actually be useful to society.
If people were a bit more cynical, and a bit less "rah rah progress rah rah innovation", I wouldn't have had to sit back and watch the dot coms drop like flies.
Got Rhinos?
The question is, will this pass the grandmother test? Any grandmother could have figured out a normal QWERTY (or Dvorak or whatever) keyboard, but I doubt that this will "change the way people type" for the simple reason that nobody's grandmother could use it.
Got Rhinos?
It would also be good if you are a TRex and can't get both your hands together on the same keyboard.
t
I'm left handed, and this looks unusable to me. I want to type with my right hand and use my left hand with a stylus. Judging from the web site, it doesn't appear you can move the shift/space bar, so the space bar would line up with the palm of your hand instead of your thumb. Sigh.
Not as funny as you think, there's something REALLY like that for PDA's
lemme get my unsupported Philips Nino 300 out, one of the input methods is that.. it's called T9.
They're in sets of 3, I.E. ABC, DEF, GHI, JKL, MNO
and you tap in the boxes. It'll usually narrow it down to the one selection if the word's long enough, i find 4-5 words it's usually correct, if there's more than 1, it chooses the one you use more often, but if it's a different one, there's a list that you can select from. If it's not in the list, you select the individual letters (e.g. tapping like it were a keyboard) =]
It works pretty well, it's what I use...
actually I don't believe your story of the qwerty origin is correct. I think it was actually remington or smith-corona that implemented it for one reason only. you can spell "typewriter" all on one line. It was used for demonstrations of how fast you could type. they'd have one of their demo-girls (booth babes you might say) sit down with the typwewriter and have them pound out the name of the device. The idea is that they look l;ike they're going so fast and the customer just has to have one.
-
That is the scariest comment that I've seen on slashdot in my entire time reading it.
Imagine with me... You're tooling along on the Interstate (autobahn, whatever), when someone pr0n surfing in their SUV mows you down. Or in an emotional response to an email they just recieved, is so focused on the response that they're typing (and they *have* to watch the keyboard because they really didn't learn how to type with it yet.) does the same....
Scary. BTW, I have scores off, so if this was modded "Funny" disregard this post.
EveryDNS. Use it. It works.
AC's need not reply
From the article...In order to get characters such as the arrow key or !@#$%&^*, there are other shift buttons available..... Really? Where are those shibt buttons buttons because I have a feeling that those characters will be used extensively...ie: This @#$%*&^#%$!! keyboard sucks!!!
You're using her as bait, Master!
Eh... I'm left-handed, but I mouse right-handed. But then again, I also use scissors right-handed... *shrug*
--Fesh
--Fesh
Kill -9 'em all, let root@localhost sort 'em out.
Exactly the same system (Tegic's T9 Predictive Text Entry) is appearing in newer cellphones (my Nokia 3210 has it) for typing SMS messages. It works very well, and once you get used to it you can almost touchtype. It's a heck of a lot easier than normal cellphone text entry, which to my mind looks like you're playing Track + Field as you hammer at the buttons to cycle round letters :)
I don't understand what the point of this thing is. Why would anyone want to use only one hand (besides to jerk off)? It would be much slower, a pain to learn, and probably cause more cases of carpal tunnel syndrome.
I remember way back in the 80s seeing a news story on a keyboard Apple computer had made. Basically, the same idea. Bassically, a small number of keys, and pressing different combinations of said keys would produce the result you're looking for.
This looks a little more advanced of course, as the science of ergonomics has advanced. But I don't think this is going to be earth shattering beyond some specific markets.
I will agree that current speech recognition isn't perfect and often needs a large amount of training, but this should be understandable considering how it must be able to handle the pronunciations/mumblings of everyone. In addition, as mentioned in the response above, speech recognition is not a complete solution for typing as things you want to "write" may need to remain private even when "writing" in public. Also, even if speech recognition was 100% accurate, in many cases it will be slower than typing.
Introducing this as a desktop device at this late date seems pointless. On portable devices it might make more sense. What's needed is a cell phone with a chord keyboard for messaging. Make it in colors with a cute shape and sell it to mobile girls in Japan.
they even have a wearable keyboard / pda kit: http://www.halfkeyboard.com/products/index.html . it is kind of pricey.
yopy where are you?
andrew
Why did I lurk so long before registering for a Slashdot account? I could have had a Slashdot ID of less than 100000.
I guess just like the laptops, the smaller it is the more we pay for it. Get less for more motto works for me!
You can't handle the truth.
At E3, I got a chance to talk to the CEO/Inventor about this device and actually try it out. It was cool to use, and wasn't that hard to adapt to. He said that it worked by "sense memory" where the body remembers how actions are performed. However, everything is remembered in a mirror image sense, i.e. the left side is a mirror of the right. So, in this case, it actually messed me up to look at the keyboard, but touch typing was relatively easy to pick up, and felt pretty natural.
The wearable version comes with wrist straps, a cable, and screen rotation software. Does that seem like its worth a $200 upgrade? Screen rotation software for the Palm is available for free. So those must be some awfully nice wrist straps.
FWIW, I contacted the company to ask why the price for the wearable version was so steep. Their response was that creating the wearables is "labor-intensive", and at $299, it's still the least expensive wearable computer available.
-- Kris
There is a better design. It's called Dvorak.
Still, for those desperate to achieve the Golden-eye pen twiddle and still get decent typing speeds, you can reach speeds of up to 60 wpm with the dvorak one-handed layouts (the keyboards are probably a little bigger than this though).
not_cub
q='echo "q=$s$q$s;s=$b$s;b=$b$b;$q"';s=\';b=\\;echo "q=$s$q$s;s=$b$s;b=$b$b;$q"
The most interesting thing I have learned about the whole situation is this: First, there are a bunch of people who are Dvorak Advocates. They often believe they have found the One True Way, and attempt to convince and influence others into seeing it their way. However, most Dvorak users are live-and-let-live about it, willing to give people information, but realizing that most people do not have the diligence or the desire to learn the alternate mapping. Only a small number are these "Advocaters".
But, what is even more interesting is that there are also a bunch of Qwerty Evangalists out there. These are people who are utterly convinced that the Dvorak keyboard is a hoax, and attempt to convince everybody that they are right. There are probably more websites out there about why Qwerty is better than Dvorak than vice versa. I find these people very interesting (pcidevel appears to be one of them), because they generally have never tried the Dvorak keyboard, the Dvorak keyboard never did anything to their family, the Dvorak keyboard never flamed them on slashdot. They just have a need to tell people that the Dvorak sucks. Maybe they read about the Myth of the Keys, and think it makes them look devilishly smart to outwit all these people who think they are smarter than the general public.
I would suggest to anyone thinking about the Dvorak keyboard that they shouldn't switch if they ever use anyone else's machine. Or if they hope to gain speed. (You might gain 10%-20% in some situations, but most of the typing we do is not limited by our upper typing speed but by the speed at which we can think about what to say next, so the choice of a keyboard doesn't really matter too much. Plus, you can probably increase your speed 10-20% by spending a month practicing to type faster.) However, changing will decrease the number of errors you make, but errors have a relatively small cost these days (compared to the typewriter days, when an error could cost you minutes and minutes). Changing will decrease your finger movement, balance the amount that each hand types, and reduce a lot of awkward movements you do while typing. I don't know of any research showing that these qualities will reduce RSI, and this would be very difficult to determine experimentally, but there are numerous anecdotal testimonies that people have offered. In that respect, a "sample" size of 1 is a completely valid experiment, because it generalizes to the entire population who matters--person who reports their experience.
I saw this at E3 and was pretty impressed. It looks like the learning curve isn't too steep and would be great for those of us who do a lot of creative things on our computers. The main reason I won't get it is that I don't like where they've put the backspace: you have to hold down the spacebar and press the escape key. But then there's a big Num Lock key in the upper right, where you might expect a backspace key to be. I understand that they wanted to keep the whole hold-down-space thing going, but backspace is used frequently enough (and num lock infrequently enough) that they could've done this better.
Maybe I'll get it anyways, and just figure out how to remap my keys.
GollyGee Blocks -- 3D creativity software for kids.
1. It's made for lefties. A lot more people are right handed than left. Scientific American lists most humans (say 70 percent to 95 percent) are right-handed, a minority (say 5 percent to 30 percent) are left-handed
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You're right (har har)... when I use my left hand, it feels like I'm doing it to someone else... erk....
--- Metamoderating abusive downgraders since my 300th post.
I could see my self alternating between this keyboard and a QWERTY keyboard quite often... Any application where both constant mouse input and keyboard input is required would find a marked increase in performance. Typing AutoCAD commands while drawing with the mouse, gives my right hand a very much needed rest, so I can save my strength for other things!
Bork!
Because I can program faster by typing than by dictating. Imagine saying:
}"Class hello. Line break. Open curley bracket. Line break. Indent. Public static void main. Open parentheses. Wordcap String end wordcap. Args [note: here ensues a thirty second pause while you convince the software that "args" is a real word]. Close parentheses. Line break. Open curley bracket. Indent. Wordcap System. End wordcap. Period. nocaps out. Period. println [note: here we have another thirty second break while you convince the software that "println" is a word]. Open parentheses. Quotation mark. Hello world. Explination mark. Quotation mark. Close parentheses. Semicolin. Line break. Close curley bracket. Line break. Backspace. Close curley bracket. Line break."
And that's just to get:
class hello
{
Trying to program via dictation is a nightmare.
What's really sad about this post is that I wasted a few minutes putting in HTML to make the "code block" look right....
"Mission Accomplished" -- George W. Bush May 1, 2003
Yes, Dvorak has been around for a while, and while some subjectively feel it's more comfortable and / or faster, there aren't really any reports proving that this goes in general. It is, like many other things, an individual preference. Remember that Qwerty wasn't only made to work with mechanical typewriters, it was also made to be really fast.
The Kinesis keyboards -- the advanced contoured ones -- have had the option to switch sides with a foot pedal for a few years now. That way you can easily do this kind of one-handed typing with either your left or your right hand. They're also available with Dvorak keys printed on the keycaps, and you can switch between Dvorak and Qwerty with the foot pedal if you want. I myself have the non-programmable contoured one, so I haven't been able to try all this out, but it ought to work really well. If you were wondering, I really like it, and speed-wise it's almost exactly the same as a flat keyboard for me.
"People are stupid."
I personnaly think it's a big wasted of money especially for 99$ US. I'll bet you my right arm that the company will not make money with anybody who has more than 1 hand.
Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought.
Voila, instant Dvorak keyboard.
This sig is xenon coated, and will glow red when in the presence of aliens
There are two much better reviews, one at Futurelooks and the other at The Gadgeteer.
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Have fun: Join D.N.A. (National Dyslexics Association)
The real deal will be a device that tracks eye movement as input. You just put on your glasses and start typing.
I would like to watch Sigourny Weaver and Wynona Ryder using the device while wearing tight t-shirts.
This thing is bound to fail for several reasons.
1. It's made for lefties. A lot more people are right handed than left. Scientific American lists most humans (say 70 percent to 95 percent) are right-handed, a minority (say 5 percent to 30 percent) are left-handed, and a few as ambidexterous. That immediatelly dwindles your potential user base, since most people's non-dominant are useless for skills that require more dexiterity, and they don't want to try to learn a new way to type with a weak hand, which brings me to the second reason.
2. You have to fundamentally change the way you type. You have to learn a completely new method of typing. People who have been typing for years are familiar with the two-handed touch method, using the shift only for a few certain functions. Now you have to use the space bar for half the alphabet. Not intuitive.
3. Using the space bar as the shift will lead to more errors. Utilizing the space as the shift for the other letters is going to cause problems. You hit the space bar, maybe a little to hard or long, then go to type an S, and end up with an L. That would annoy anybody.
4. The competition from folding keyboards will keep it down. For the same price as this half keyboard, you can get a folding one that let's you type the same as you do on your laptop or your PC. Nothing new to learn. (Of course, not that many people really need to imput a ton of text into PDA's anyway, but I digress.)
This thing is going to bomb.
BigCat79
BigCat79
"The dead have risen and are voting Republican!" --Bart Simpson
Looks like the original Microsoft keyboard...
The one that had three keys, CTRL ALT and DEL.
No realy, this could be on wearable PCs
hmm... for fun I enjoy launching DDoS attacks against 127.87.42.5
for uhm... other stuff. *cough*pr0n*cough*
This is completly useless in non-english speaking countries where we have several extra letters - in this case we need a extra shift key :-((
QWERTY was not the first keyboard format...
...if memory serves me correctly, then QWERTY was actually developed to SLOW down the human typists because the physical typing machines couldn't keep up and kept jamming. Unfortunately, for almost a hundred years now we've been stuck using this piece of crap language format. IMHO, it's time to redesign with an emphasis on speed since it's now the humans that can't input fast enough.
pi=sigma{n:0-infinity}[(1/16)^n][(4/(8n+1))-(2/(8n +4))-(1/ (8n+5))-(1/(8n+6))]
The only really worrying thing is probably special characters. The author mentioned typing documents, which to me rings a latex bell. Wonder how accessible the \[]{} are on that baby. In fact I used to have a Finnish layout, but those and many other punctuation marks were behind some cumbersome combinations involving AltGr. I switched to a UK one as I started coding more seriously. Therefore I would not like another keyboard with slow combinations for those. Maybe I'm just old-fashioned but frankly, even if the current design is 100 years old: if it ain't broke..
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I hit the karma cap, now do I gain enlightenment?
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
This seems like a curious little device, but it only seems to have limited practicality.
The ONLY real use I could see for PC users is being able to devote one full hand to the mouse at all times. This could be useful (like the author mentioned trying) in AutoCAD or other drafting programs. Gaming, well..you can program the keys to whatever you want so you put all of your commands within easy reach. In a command-line drafting program you'll still want to be able to use the entire alphabet and numerical keys, so this might be useful.
One more use for all users of this keyboard is for the people with only one hand. Granted, it's a slim market, but I'm sure if I had limited use of my right hand I'd be interested in a keyboard that would be most efficient for one hand. Most of us don't think about things like this.
For PDAs, I can see a small market. Have one hand for keyboard input (ultra small and light, even better than folding keyboards) and one hand dedicated to holding the PDA up or using the stylus to tap.
Regardless of these uses, I don't think this strange little device will get very much revenue. I don't want one =).
"The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent." --Carl Sagan
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Friends don't let friends use multiple inheritance.
If you're using Windows, open Excel and move the active cell around using the arrow keys. Then toggle scroll-lock and scroll the window using the arrow keys.
The standard QWERTY keyboard is still around because it works. In fact, it works great. Even my 7-year-old daughter can sit down at a keyboard and type out a letter to the grandparents.
Troll bait, troll bait, nuthin' here but troll bait.
The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination
- Douglas Adams
The only practical use for this keyboard is strapped onto your left forearm.
Someone was demonstrating this keyboard at the Palm booth at Comdex West this year.
The major complaint from people passing through the booth was the fact that there is no left-handed version available.
I think it would work well with a StrongARM type embedded Linux system if you had a matching monocular eyepiece for the display.
...if we all had HUD's in our cars. You could drive with one hand and write and email with the other, all while keeping your eyes on the road.
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"The only difference between me and a madman is that I'm not mad." - Salvador Dali (1904-1989)
But there's another side to this. If people indeed were more cynical, you wouldn't have to sit back and watch some crazy people try to design free, state of the art operating systems with no corporate backing. And succeeding! :-)
I believe Douglas Engelbart's original mouse-and-keyboard setup was to use a left-handed keyboard and keep his right hand free for the mouse. The half-keyboard was a little much for people, though, so most of us use a setup that's ideal if you've got three hands.
Actually, some folks never figure that out, y'know.
just look at some of the run of the mill comments in almost any story
;-)
Check out the Vinny the Vampire comic strip
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
Keyboards For One Handed Typing & Chording?
Not A Bat, Nor A Plane, But A Vertical Keyboard
Novelty/Unusual Cases, Keyboards, Rodents, Etc?
Very Cool, Very Vaporous 1-Handed Keyboard
Keyless Keyboard
In fact there is a whole bunch of stories available via this simply search
have fun!
Check out the Vinny the Vampire comic strip
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
I thought even more funny was that the article was written like they were having a hard time typing:
Hell, it even a whole keyboard. It's half of one! Let's take a look.
In all that time there have been no significat advances in how people type.
One thing I thought I mightion is the fact that you can only buy a Half Keyboard for either your PC or your handheld.
Pretty Funny, eh?
"approximately near" ?
I bet if he takes out all redundant words he's down to 60 WPM.
Please mod me up. My grandma might not make it to the weekend and she always wanted me to hit karma cap.
Tom.
Oh arse
Being somewhat consistent in paranoia, I don't think I'd switch to a one-handed keyboard until after I see what happens to people who overuse 'em for a decade or so. ;-)
"The Crystal Wind is the Storm, and the Storm is Data, and the Data is Life"
The wearable keyboard implementation could work well, but looks way too bizarre to market to business professionals. If you own a handheld and want to type faster, Fitaly is IMO the best way to go.
On the other hand, they could market this as a software add-on for PC/Mac/Linux very easily, now that they (I hope) have the patent on the idea. If I could buy that and use my existing keyboard with only one hand, freeing up the other one for the mouse while still having access to all my keyboard shortcuts, I'd spring a nominal fee for the shareware. But I can't see enough good reasons to replace my existing hardware with that dinky thing.
1. It's made for lefties. A lot more people are right handed than left.
The idea is to free your right hand for mousing, which most right-handed people do. Anyways, they already type the most common half of the alphabet with their left hand, including a, e, r, s, and t.
2. You have to fundamentally change the way you type.
Well, no-@#$%ing-duh. Every non-QWERTY keyboard would naturally require a fundamental change in how you type. It doesn't mean it can't be done; the question is how steep the learning curve is.
3. Using the space bar as the shift will lead to more errors.
That's like saying using the semicolon key for the colon will lead to more errors.
4. The competition from folding keyboards will keep it down.
Why would you use a folding keyboard for gaming? That's what this link is about, after all.
This thing is going to bomb.
Perhaps, but not for any of the reasons you've listed.
Uhm, especially since there is no CTRL or ALT keys.
Now we can say that the one button Apple mouse is "half a mouse" and any flavor of Windows "half an OS."
- - - If the sun is a star, why can't I see it at night?
This product should not really be directly targeted to the PC market (except those with disabilities, one armed man, grandma with arthritus in her right hand etc.)
In the PDA market however this could be a lot more convient than cludgy fold out keyboards and stupid graffitti interfaces. You may not be able to type to fast but its a hellava lot faster than most options today.
As a devout Palm/Visor user this would be very valauble to me. As for ubergeek gaming It probaly wont do much though it might be cool to remap your keys and see if it might be easier to hold the keyboard in your hand almost like a controller.
umm...probaly not
"Don't mess with him, he taunts the happy fun ball."
xmodmap -e 'keycode 24 q Q p P'
commands should give you a similar effect. Next you make space into Alt_R, and then you are almost set. (Can't type space, but it should let you try it out well enough..)
I have a better idea. It's called a one-row keyboard. It only has the keys QWERTYUIOP. The letter Q actually stands for 3 letters Q, A, and Z. W for W, S, and X, and so on. The computer tries all possible combinations and deduces the most appropriate word for the sentence that I am typing. For example, if I type Declaration of IYEEPEYEEYEE, it guesses that I was typing "Independence."
Download Mazes and Puzzles from www.puz.com
It was kind of funny how the reviewer's WPM dropped to less than half when using the half-sized keyboard.
Let's see, my half keyboard lets my type half as fast while allowing me to spend twice as much for it. That's a nice balance. Kind of like how only one of my two hands will cramp up twice as fast.
From the review:
Apparently he types faster than he can decide which adjective to use.What do you mean they cut the power? How can they cut the power, man? They're animals!
I'm left handed. This is PERFECT for uses where I don't need many characters beyond the standard Alphabet! I've been using a split ergo at work to try to type correctly, but I still end up typing very poorly with my right hand, and quite honestly, I think that I could be very proficient with this new keyboard design after a very short time using it. the only real drawback that I see with it is that they didn't put the numbers and their associated shifts in the normal place, so that would cause some problems, but otherwise, this looks VERY impressive to me.
"Titanic was 3hr and 17min long. They could have lost 3hr and 17min from that."
IBM had PL/1, with syntax worse than JOSS,
And everywhere the language went, it was a total loss...
I downloaded the "demo" software that simulates typing with a normal keyboard to test out the company claims that it's fast to learn. True to their claim it took me just a few minutes to get used to the idea of pressing the space bar and key to to make letters from the other side of a normal keyboard. After 5 minutes of typing my name again and again, I could pound it out faster than doing it with one finger.
I'm not saying that it would be easy for me to switch over, especially with 25 years of typing two handed, but I could do it. And if this was the only thing I was typing on I'd make the switch much faster.
What I think is a serious design flaw is that Option and Command keys (or Control and Alt) are not their normal places. This is a pretty serious mistake. In the case of using a Wacom tablet and replacing a whole keyboard with a Half-a-Keyboard, functions click command-z, x, c, v are now different hand/chording positions. Yuck.
While it's sorta easy for me to learn a new way to type , it's much harder to make my hand unlearn these time embedded basic patterns.
To be fair most of this review is based on a picture on the companies web site and a software demo simulating the product. Then again, it was tiltled this way. I only promised "half a review".
So now I have to hold down an additional key to shift into the second set of keys...I fail to see how this will make typing faster or more efficient...also, for all the people scared of carpal tunnel syndrome, how is it going to help to repeatedly reach for the space bar possibly every other letter, now?
If all you have are silver bullets, everything looks like a werewolf.
I am assuming that the point is that you *can't* type very fast on a chicklet keyboard or an onscreen keyboard on your PDA (I haven't used Graffiti much, so I can't comment on input speed). I played around with the demo for a while (man, I haven't seen a DOS app in a long time) and I couldn't type nearly as fast as I do two-handed, but I could get better.
The weird thing was how my left hand "knew" where the right hand keys were. I would hit a few wrong due to aim (and I had a hard time remembering whether I was shifted or not), but I could type pretty well without looking almost from the start.
I think this keyboard design would be excellent for cell phone devices.
-- stream of did I lock the front door consciousness
Wouldn't it be better if they tried to improve on speech typewriting - the present ones need so much of practice on diction that it's easier to type.
There's always sufficient, but not always at the right place nor for the right folks.
...the more they stay the same.
This was first posted in December as the Half Keyboard.
The only problem I see is this spacebar shifting thing... What if I want to do this ' '? All that keyboard will do is.. nothing.
I'd also like to know how long you actually hold it down for! This guy says 'a little longer' or something equally as vague.
BTW, I hope he doesn't get paid for writing like that, it was awful.
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No sig for you.
http://www.halfkeyboard.com/propaganda/index.html
Nothing like an honest webmaster, eh?
OK,
- B
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http://www.bradheintz.com/
- updated
I would be thrilled if they made a keyboard where you could pop out the keys and put them back in any order you like, Lego-like.
:)
Also, the whole QWERTY thing can go.
Why don't they make a touch keyboard, like the light switches you just touch, and don't even have to press in? Talk about noiseless (for class, meetings, etc.), and durability (no moving parts)
What about real voice recognition? Could they not put a chip in a mic to do voice activation, instead of making the PC cpu do it?
You read a passage, they record your voice signature, and burn a $5 chip. Then they put the chip in the keyboard, so most words, you can just say, and type the funky ones (like the ones you can't pronouce cuz you're from the South). Then the chip in the keyboard just sends the unicode to the OS in ASCII.
Heck, why don't they use intellisense with the dictionary, you type the first few letters and press tab when your word appears.
Back to the little keyboard: A novel concept, but one that does not eliminate the basic problem that (most) people just don't like to type.
"Piter, too, is dead."
What gets me is that this claims to be an advancement in technology from the motto they so proudly boast. How does going from 80wpm tying speed to 38wpm typing justify that? So it fits in your pocket, big deal. There are cunning fold-away keyboards that are full-size and still fit in your pocket. And no compromise in typing speed.
About ten years ago on Tomorrow's World (BBC1 - UK) there was a section on a new keyboard that used two handed typing, that is, you used combinations of finger presses to type word parts, not single presses to type letters. The inventor, who claimed to be quite poor at his own keyboard, raced to type the entire show's script against that years winner of secretary of the year (120wpm) and he beat her clocking in a speed of nearly three times that! Now there's a product that should have worked, where is it now?!
Half Keyboard Review
Aimed at the PDA audience...
---"What did I say that sounded like 'Tell me about your day?'"---
Might be redundant...
But, I don't really find a pratical use for this keyboard, unless you want FP or something dumb like that. Its a nice idea, but very impratical. How do you expect me to type more quicker with this thing when I have to worry about touching the space bar every few seconds? No thanks, I'll stay with my good old fashioned QWERTY.
It might be of use for small computers, laptops, Palms, but not for a PC.
Slashdot Hypocrisy at work?
The argument in the article that this keyboard is good for typing documents and bad for games is funny for me. I mean, why the hell use a one-hand keyboard to type a Word document when you can do everything with the keyboard. But when I play StarCraft, I really need the mouse... To me, only the "portable and compact" arguments are really valid.
The only thing I think that is wrong with the key board is the whole mirror image deally, if they make which key is which configureable they could solve that problem, and the $99 might not look like a rip off.
Also, you have to admit they have a nice site.
I've written that I specially study the keyboard problem in order to make some progress in that area. And seeing the half-QWERTY keyboard I have immediately found the prototype dated 08-Mar-1997: here.
The IBM has produced the research IMHO exclusively for use in handhelds and other devices where the user must manipulate the computer with one hand. I fear there is no more application where such a keyboard can find it's place. Since it uses one hand only, the input speed should be theoretically decreased a half. The amount of fingers movement is the same which means that the errors caused by imprecise movements is the same. The keyboard does not divide the load evenly meaning the twofold increase of dreaded carpal tunnel syndrome.
And even in the field of PDAs there are a lot of more compact and efficient designs, from Alphagrip which does not require tricks with a space bar since it's not chording - to lots of chording keyboards - BAT, Twiddler/clones, Wlonk, DataEgg/MicroWriter/Agenda, Monomanus a.s.o.
Remove CARPAL TUNNEL from my addressto answer.
Apparently he types faster than he can decide which adjective to use. :-)
1. Use expletives instead of adjectives. They are chosen automatically so no thinking process takes part in it
2. I believe that there should be something in keyboard hardware that can store the favourite expletives, programming language keywords a.s.o. Use of special drivers is inadequate since requires the homogenous human-computer interface which doesn't exist since most of us use both the M$ and Unix-like OSes.
...I wouldn't get one. I'm very happy with the full keyboard on my desk. The folding keyboard is nice for Palms. But if you really want something ginchy, try the Flexible Keyboard from Flexis. Just roll it up and you're set to go! (Site is in Korean)
It's only good in console mode, as X has its own keyboard code, but the idea is simple and easy to implement.
So basically, it's going to be hard as hell for the vast majority of the population to adapt to this. But then you think for a moment and realize that the vast majority of the population will not use something like this anyway, so that problem goes right away. Then you narrow it down to the people who actually use a palm-like device or a portable computer regularly. If they're using it that readily, then they probably know graffiti, and what-not. Now these people probably had a learning curve anyway, and if they're that dedicated, then they will be the people to buy this and enjoy it.
.now if they could only make one for the right hand, too, I could set them up on each arm of the ol' La-Z-Boy with an optical mouse and have the ultimate computer chair. . .
Now, if anyone actually decides to use this with a desktop PC, then they're probably irrevocably insane or just a sucker for technology, or possibly a person with only a left hand. In that respect, I think this is perfectly catering to that segment of the population.
Not that I think it's a bad idea, I just think that it is a very good idea to a small demographic.
. . .
- Relativistic? That's barely Newtonian!
The dvorak keyboard is the only significant improvement to touch-typing since the electric typewriter.
I was skeptical when I decided to learn. I planned to try it for one month, and then come back. However, once I used and seen it's potential, I realized I'd never switch back. I doubt you can find anyone who would.
</Free propaganda>
Free unix account: freeshell.org
So, the PDA market is where this device has its greatest chance. But personally, I'd opt for a full-size keyboard on flexible material that could be rolled up or folded and stored somewhere inside my pocket device.
GreyPoopon
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GreyPoopon
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Why is it I can write insightful comments but can't come up with a clever signature?
Since you are going to have to use the same hand for both keysets, you will have to teach your brain to type over again. If you are going to make a keyboard like this, why the heck would you make it QWERTY? Everybody knows that the qwerty layout is poorly suited for computers, and a one-handed dvorak layout and keymaps are already available, I see no reason at all to stick with an outdated inefficient uncomfortable layout.
I'm still looking for a way to use Scroll Lock on my regular QWERTY (designed in 1874!) keyboard!
Half a keyboard? Hold down the space bar to shift to the other half? I suppose it could come in handy for jerking off in chatrooms or renaming those annoying long filenames in the binary newsgroups (without losing a stroke!). But really it sounds awfully impractical for general use.
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Twice the carple tunnel...
Do they make a mirror version for when you blow out one hand from repetitive stress???
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Once: you're a philosopher. Twice: a pervert.
The Dvorak style key layout has been around for a while; if you want to spend alot of time relearning how to type, that's probably your best bet. I myself spent 2 weeks learning a Kinesis keyboard and I still type faster with a standard keyboard. I had generally expected more exploration from the hacker crowd, but really no one has moved from the QWERTY model.
That said, it's always good that people are playing with new designs. If one of my hands got blown off, I'd be pleased to be able to find a custom product like this one. If I were running a keyboard company however, I'd be hesitant to mass produce them.
I like the concept, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. I'd rather see something where two separate halves are not base units, but rather gloves with motion sensors. That way you can type while controlling a cursor, scrolling windows, jerking off, whatever.
The best way to improve speed on a desktop would be to jettison the whole keyboard idea and get something that make sense for the technology involved. Not some throwback to the 1930 with manual strikers.
Any connection between your reality and mine is purely coincidental.
This isn't really a new concept unfortunately. It makes me wonder just about everything has changed in the last century (the time QWERTY has been out), why has this not changed? There must be a better way to type then this. People had the same problem some years ago with manual writing (paper and pencil) and came up with shorthand. I am surprised that nothing similar has happened with the keyboard.
A century with no new developments makes me think we are missing something.
I'm a programmer, I don't have to spell correctly; I just have to spell consistently
what about keyboard combinations such as ctrl-a-k? not that it does anything that I know of in a program, but it would be hard to hold down all those keys at the same time, right?
Looks like windo$e users could seriously hurt them selves doing the 3 finger salut.
If they're going to make this drastic a change as far as the typing method goes why don't they just go ahead and make it a dvorak format?
I'm half the Frag I used to be.....
Surgeon General's Warning: Smoking