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OrbiTouch Keyless Keyboard Review
robyn217 writes "When I last looked at strange, new keyboards (here's the previous thread here on slashdot), I thought I'd seen it all... not even close! I just reviewed a new keyless keyboard, called the OrbiTouch, and gave it a run for its money. It's literally made up of two humps--it reminds me of holding onto my knees rather a keyboard. To type or mouse, you need to move the humps around in a synchronized manner. It's twisted--but it's better for you to decide for yourself--here's the article, OrbiTouch Review: A Keyless Keyboard with lots of pictures. Think you'll give it a test drive? Will it survive the year?"
It would be great if it works as advertise. I am a Laptop user myself and it would help. I don't know if I could get use to the no feel response.
In God we trust, all others require data.
According to the last page of the review, it costs $695. Interesting concept but .... need I say more?
How can it be a keyboard and not have keys?
Tubeless monitors rule!
and you've got it made. Sorta like what divers have to use. my biggest complaint about keyboards is their limited motion.... I can relearn to type (tho it would be rather hard, I admit)... just give me a keyboard I can use with 1 hand and rest it wherever I need to (no jokes about a keyboard in your lap, etc ;P)
;-)
Besides, that many keystrokes combined with a good mouse might make sims such as Americas Army quite a bit more interesting
I think I can wait until I see it at wal-mart for $99, thanks.
Those who stick to the old ways will die in war. And we are always at war. This sounds like a good idea, and it is very different. I'll give it a try. I don't want to die.
-Libertarian secular transhumanist
This is one of the few peices of computer technology that needs to have a better upgrade path... I mean, I get a new video card every year or two... and a complete new system at least once every 4 years... the damn keyboard hasn't changed much in at least the last 10... The MS Natural keyboard was the last 'major' update to the keyboard design, and it wasn't much more than simply splitting it in two... Barely qualifing as an evolution on the design
When are we going to have some real changes? I want something that allows me to enter data as fast as I can think... Why can't we come up with a better general input device??? Keyboards SUCK!
---
Programming is like sex... Make one mistake and support it the rest of your life.
From the article:
...
why would anyone design a keyboard like this? In one simple word, comfort.
There are also other reasons why keyboard alternatives like this are cool. Disabled users, obviously. Also for typing where you can't be very accurate, e.g. while riding a bike.
Hmmm wonder if you could type with your feet while surfing during lunch
Hmmm... If it's like holding onto some hot girl's knees...
I just grabbed my knees, and boy is that comfortable!
Antiquated competence won't be a job skill forever.
OK, this may solve Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, but now I'll get Tennis Elbow from my keyboard...
Hey, a breast-shaped keyboard. Just what a geek needs to surf pr0n!
i think a victoria secret bra might be a decent keyboard cover.
-- ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space!
"A microprocessor... is a terrible thing to waste." --
GeneralEmergency
From the article:
Despite--or maybe because of--the OrbitTouch's similarity to the female anatomy, it's very comfortable to use. Your hands rest very naturally on the twin domes.
So, instead of clacking away on a keyboard all day I can basically feel up boobies while I work?
Is there a downside to this?
I'd hate to be the one trying to play an FPS on that keyless kb.
There's a VERY good reason that I like to be able to have one hand free when I surf the web....
Drinking soda, of course.
Has anyone here actually laid their hands on one of these? I am curious to know what the learning curve is. Also, will this cause other problems than carpal tunnel with use over time?
;-)
The other thing is will one-handed typing go the way of the dodo?
If Darwin was right, you'd be dead by now.
The Datahand system, reviewed here has a price of $1,295 USD.
Wow. 'Taint cheap, eh?
I can imagine it now -- a geek-wife request: Pretend I'm an OrbiTouch and type something provocative to me, honey!
Brings to meaning to the term 'hands on.'
From the article:
The standard equation for typing has always been,
Typing Equation:
Wrist movement + Finger pressing = Keystroke
Even the entrants in the first round of keyboards we reviewed rarely dared to rework this basic equation. It's as simple and accepted as,
Yellow + Blue = Green
I would say that's not universally true. In my mind, Yellow + Blue = White. I call shennanigans on your analogy.
Now, let me think, what body part, that their are 2 of, would computer geeks love to get their hands on and fondle all day. Hmmm, I just can't think of anything but I'm sure someone can come up with something.
The learning curve on this device is way too high!
You might as well use two mice with specialized software to have the same effect. At such a high price, I won't even glance at it. Who will carry such monstrosity to work and home?
this will never work as most geeks have little to no experience cupping their hands around two large mounds - the learning curve is just way too steep
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur
If you don't believe me, look at the pics on the review and then look at some of the female porn you have on your harddrives.
Really, the only way any of these options will catch on is if people can standardize. Switching between ABCDEFG keyboards (like on my 2way pager and a lot of games) and QWERTY is hard enough. If you have to have a different keyboard at work, home, the library, internet terminal, etc. nobody will ever learn these odd (though likely better) keyboards.
--D
...leaving both hands free while searching for pr0n.
In C++, friends can touch each others private parts.
This things looks like the interface to one of those 'interactive' adult DVD players...
"Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel." - A.B.
How did you post that message?
Are you really willing to go through the pain of typing with RSI just to be heard on slashdot?
Really, instead of some huge leap, i suggest switching away from QWERTY first. Qwerty was made to slow typing, by making you reach for keys. The reason for this being that the original typewriters would jam if you typed too fast. Obviously, this leads to carpal tunnel, and all that good stuff. DVORAK and some other keyboard formats are made to make it easier, faster, and easier to accurately type. I'm not switching yet, but i'm thinking about it. One of my friends did, and he loves it.
New keyboards are neat and all, but they're still first designs, first revisions. If i'm to try something new (new to me), i'll wait for a year, and see if it's really beneficial. If it is, then i'll look at the cost, and if it's worth it. At this time, this product seems to be more eye candy and "if i have more toys, i win" than actually worthwile. Point: if my g/f wants to use my computer, do i have to switch keyboards? Really, i don't see the $600 benefit in that. not yet at least.
I'd have to say I am not the only one to immediately think of a pair of "surrugate" breasts when looking at this thing... interesting design decision.
sic transit gloria mundi
frat boys, on the other hand, may soon become 1337...
"You want a toe? I can get you a toe by three o'clock... with nail polish."
Down with Saudi Arabia!!!
I did a little research before I spent the cash on m y Fingerworks touchstream. I spend about 12 hours coding a day and had finally reached the point where I really needed to get something to help alleviate rsi. I've only had the device for a day and it's very awkward at first, but I believe I'll be back up to 70 wpm in a few weeks. Short of having surgery, or the greatly sought uis of gibson lore, I believe devices like these will hopefully prevent rsi for others. As for price, I make my living with my hands...what's that worth? I think perhaps the greatest hurdle these devices face is that it's nearly impossible to find an outlet to demo them.
Gotta find my destiny, before it gets too late --Ian Curtis
http://www.shadowpublications.com/blog
What are you on about?
It's been around for a few years now.
I remember seeing them quite some time ago when I was looking for alternate input methods for wearable computing.
"You worthless post!"
-Shakespeare, 2 Gentlemen of Verona, 1. 1. 147
Grab on to the right breast, and... er, I mean dome...
Blatant self-promotion: Jerek.net
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.
This just in: NabiSCO to sue SCO for trademark violation
>Despite--or maybe because of--the OrbitTouch's >similarity to the female anatomy, it's very >comfortable to use. Your hands rest very >naturally on the twin domes.
Good Lord, what has he done.
The jokes are endless.
Maybe the "female anatomy" should come with the same warning label.
This post is dedicated to all of those
Millions in research and they left out the nipples. Didn't the QA department notice this minor glitch. Oh, you mean it's actually a keyboard? nm.
---- The geek shall inherit the Earth.
. . . and all I can say is, "Are those tits?"
Another Interesting Keyless Keyboard. Thought this one was equally interesting, something fellow slashdotters might be interested in if they hadn't seen it.
OrbitTouch?? Sucky Name. You guys shoulda gone with the more obvious "BoobieBoard"
"A microprocessor... is a terrible thing to waste." --
GeneralEmergency
Remember Karate Champ (1984 Coin-op)?
Looks like basically the same interface, but without the flying flowerpots and of course the bull!
I hereby declare the first nickname for this input device: "tits".
"Are you using a normal old mouse, or tits?"
"If your tits aren't working, try checking the connection to your computer."
Let's see, I can type by juggling a pair of plastic tits ... or by pressing a button that has the letter I want to type printed on it.
I think I'll stick with the keyboard, THANKS!
(At least the feminists don't have to snicker about JOYSTICKs anymore, now they can have their own TITBOARD).
What I wonder is what the response time is in like one of these things ... is it even technically possible to achieve speeds of 120+ wpm on it? (i.e., is the signaling rate of the "orbs" good enough to handle 8 chars per second) Not only that, how fast would a person's wrists have to move on average to move the N millimeters that it takes to do an average "keystroke"?
Also, though I haven't looked at it in comparison to letter frequency, their schema for keystrokes seemed suboptimal, but still pretty good. For example, transitioning from "t" to "h" (arguably one of the most common two-letter combinations in all of typing) requires going from up,right to right,left instead of just leaving one dome the same and moving the other. Same thing with going from "i" to "n" (also very common), you have to go from up,down to down,lower-left. It's a minor thing, but it seems that attention to these things could have a significant impact upon the ease of use (less motion required, which is supposed to be one of their big selling points), and the speed at which people can type on it (if you don't have to move as far, you key faster - kinda like how Dvorak is more optimal than QWERTY).
>I have the chord Control-Alt-Z set up to launch the trusty ol' Notepad (no better application for writing HTML).
:-)
Ahhhh, 2nd year CS students could write a better editor.
vi, my friend, vi
even emacs is better
No wonder he worried about CTS
According to there web site a professial typist that does 120 words a minute will do 50-60 after a few hours of learning. Seem likes a step back to me.
Typing Equation:
Wrist movement + Finger pressing = Keystroke
Now, granted I only scanned the first page of the article, but this statement bothers me. Having taken both typing and piano lessons, I'm pretty sure that this is an incorrect statement. There should be little or no wrist movements while typing. The correct posture for both typing and playing the keyboard (piano) is the the wrists high above the keyboard, and the fingers arched. In this position, the wrists do very little moving, unless you are reaching for keys out of range in the home row (or middle C on the piano).
Of course, this is not usually how people type. Most people I've seen type with their wrists rested on the table or desk in front of the keyboard, but this is not correct posture, and is much worse for you, as it takes your wrists out of the neutral position.
I'm just disagreeing with the statement, I don't know anything about the keyboard.
"...At the end of the day"..."when everyone goes home, you're stuck with yourself." RIP Layne Staley
me extremely UNcomfortable! Sure, yeah, okay, I'll take a dozen of them - right after I finish throwing up.
Give me a break.
Hmmm wonder if you could type with your feet while surfing during lunch ...
Jesus christ!
And I thought _I_ was a net addict =)
Bot Assisted Blogging
I always assumed that they just licensed the hardware. I can't imagine that there is anyone at Redmond designing mice.
He who knows not and knows he knows not is a wise man. He who knows not and knows not he knows not is a fool.
From looking at the pictures of the keyboard chords required, many require you to twist the domes from 6 o'clock to 12 o'clock. It seems to me that in order to get any kind of speed out of this device, you'll be twisting your wrists quite severely. The wrist movements required to use a standard keyboard seem minimal in comparison.
Anyone have any other insight?
RTFA You stupid idiot!
User interface is the major issue here. When I upgrade a video card or CPU, I don't have to learn anything new. I just stick it in and my computer performs better.
Most users want what they are comfortable with. Relearning how to type every two to three years would be a nightmare. This is why applications generally keep the same interface over consecutive versions. Under the hood, they are better, but to the user they appear mostly the same.
Things are done this way because they work.
-- Fighting mediocrity one bad post at a time.
At least with men.. who wouldn't want to have their hands on two big round orbs all day long. Now if they only made them soft and squishy.
Is it their fault you're still using IE? Switch to a real browser and you won't have that problem.
20 January 2017: the End of an Error.
that the only intuitive interface is the nipple, and that everything after that is learned. Therefore, I suggest someone come up with a computer interface device that is a nipple one puts in one's mouth, and sucks and bites in various ways. Uh, yeah, thats it.
"I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
Obviously, you're speaking to me.
;-)
*loads his site*
Nope, no pop-ups! Could your copy of IE have some pop-up-creating spyware humping it?
Mikey-San
Karma: +Eleventy billion (mostly affected by watching Celebrity Jeopardy)
If it was flesh colored with a clit and an umbelical cord, it would look like Cronenbergs VR devices from Existenz.
Oh wait, if I had to grab a pair of breasts every time I needed to get some work done...
https://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
For those who have never typed this would probably be just as good as my 101 key. For those with carpal tunnel, this would be good because it is a change. Since wrist motion is not as fast as finger motion (there are 10) it can never be a 60 WPM device (I think), but for 1-finger typers, it may be a boon. For the event where you are holding one hand on a sheet of numbers to avoid losing your place, while you use the numeric pad to enter into a spread sheet - I would say forget it even if the price is only $5.00.
This data entry machine has a bit to be desired, but does have some good points.
Having looked at the how it works section it becomes apparent that this is not the answer. Individual letters are "typed" by chord like movements of both hands. Some what akin to using two joysticks to type. This is neither easy nor intuitive. And that is the biggest sticking point.
Input devices such as keyboards and mice need to be intuitive and easy to use. Keyboards are very intuitive, a panel full of labeled buttons is presented. Pressing one of the buttons prints the label on the screen. Even very young children have no problem figuring out how to use a keyboard. Indeed the only thing you need to "learn" about using a keyboard is the actual key placement as a QWERTY is not intuitive key placement for the uninitiated. Just watch a five year old at the keyboard and you will know what I mean. Then imagine th same five year old trying to figure out the OrbiTouch.
I'm afraid to say that we cannot expect further advancement beyond the regular keyboard. It has been advanced to the fullest useful level possible. To get to the next level a totally different input device will be required, not a keyboard at all. The last such step that we have seen in input devices was the mouse, now >30 years old. The next step in input devices will be either voice recognition or some form of direct mind-to-pc interface. Right now, voice recognition seems to be the closest to reallity but, given its imaturity, it is still a few years off.
Give this man the $10,000! I think we've found our winner.
I'm a writer, a poet, a genius, I know it. I don't buy software, I grow it.
Exactly what kind of boobs are YOU people looking at, anyhow!?
I don't know about the keyboard, but slashbots look at flabby man boobs exclusively.
Okay, maybe I'm just a little anal here, but I can't figure this out. These two two domes are nothing more than just 8 way joysticks, as pointed out above. So, if you have two 8 way joysticks, thats 8 ways for the left * 8 ways for the right = 8^2 = 64. So, you have 64 combinations to type your keys.
But now, if you look at at this image, there are 66 keys to press with two dome movements! Any I missing something here?
Is this thing on?
Hey, I still wish the didn't do away with the two-column five-row F1-F10 configuration for keyboards. You always knew where your function keys where. WordPerfect users had it made!
-=- Many seek good nights and lose good days.
Moving two humps around in a synchronized manner with your hands. What could be better?! For $695, it's like owning your own semi-whore.
Mousing is also accomplished via dome movements. To enter the "mouse mode", single-click the right dome. Movement of the mouse is then controlled by the right dome, and clicking is controlled by movements, not clicks, of the left dome. It's very simple.
Moving left dome left results in a left-click
Moving right dome left results in a right-click
Moving middle dome left results in a middle-click
uh, middle dome? anyone? Buehler?
This signature is a waste of 42 characters
All keyboards just need to report their keycodes to the machine (where the keyboard driver/definition translates them into the actual text encoding) The techonology has been around for years, and is quite flexible allowing multiple language specific keyboards to be attached to the same hardware.
What is needed is really a user upgrade. People have invested a lot of time in learing exactly where the letters are located on their particular keyboard. (I know this as I recently had to "relean" the locations of various keys on a Spanish keyboard). Imagine asking someone to memorize (to the point of not thinking about it) the various dual-joystick combinations to type out a typical email. Or if not this device, the various mouse gestures (mouse based keyboard), hand wriggling (joystick based keyboard), eye-control (for eye-tracking keyboard), or other method of input.
Certainly there will be adopters, but there will be a rough cost-benifit analysis by the masses. Most that will conclude it's more expensive to learn new keyboard type when the new keyboard only offers the same functionality of inputting text into a computer.
when you're typing on a conventional keyboard, you're pretty much pipelining your next couple keys. When you type "ASDF" as your pinkie is coming down, your next find is ready to depress the S and ther your middle finger should be resting on the D. You just can't do that on the keyboard in question. You have to use both hands to make every single letter -- you'd think that they would have made the left or ride side movements by themselves to type a vowel.
This is only very tangentially related to the story, but doeS aNyBody know where to get a blank keyboard, i.e. one with nothing written on the keys? I've tried scraping/disolving the print off a normal keyboard, unsuccesfully, and I've rung a couple of manufacturers who were able to sell 500, but not 1 or 2. Anyone know? Sorry again for the slight digression.
perl -e 'fork||print for split//,"hahahaha"'
Seems like it would be much easier and more practical to just use two mice. Pushing both a bit to the left simultaneously... Besides, a mouse costs only a few dollars.
QWERTY was not made to slow down typing. It was made to reduce jamming on old typewriters. This was not necessarily done by slowing down the typists. This was done by placing the keys in such a configuration, such that no two successive keys were right beside eachother. This was the way it reduced jamming, not by slowing the typist down. This is one of the most misunderstood things about the keyboard
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
"Will it survive the year?"
Considering that it came out before Christmas of 2000 (hint: ~2.4 years ago), I'd say there is a pretty good chance.
Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way...
I always wanted to mount a bat one one arm of a chair and a trackball to the other.
just some stuff we typed up in a seemingly futile effort to help keep/scare some of US alive past next weak.
cullaming cluelessness? if that's all you have to give, carry on.
I sugarest erybondy get ron too$!!
How i am supposed to frag terrorists in CS with this thing! According to the article it is either in mouse mode or keyboard mode at one time. QWERTY makes FPS fans happy.
My boy, my boy!
What I would like to see is a keyboard and/or input driver that increases my input speed by guessing ahead what I want to type.
Not like Visual Studio AutoComplete, but more like the editor of the old Sinclair Spectrum Basic. There, depending on your location in the program, pressing 'F' would either generate the keyword 'FOR' or the letter 'f'. For example, to type 'FOR I = 1 TO 10' you would just press 'F', 'I', '1', 'T', '1', '0' (or something very similar and very concise).
You need to install an RTFM interface.
from the article:
"Notice the warning label--do not twist the domes!"
is this bad like crossing the streams? every particle in my body exploding at the speed of light?
This crap is great until someone else needs to use your computer.
love is just extroverted narcissism
AP, New York Despite the misnomer, the term Carpal Elbow and Carpal shoulder are starting to be used frequently in connection with the use of keyboards in which the hands and wrists make very little movement themselves
"The Carpal Tunnel is actually a structure of tissue surrounding the nerves that pass through the wrist - There is no Carpal Tunnel either at the elbow or shoulder, though similar tissue exist to protect the nerves."
How fast can you type with this thing?!
The reviewer should consider using the thing for a month (exclusively), and tell us whether he learned how to do use it in the end. Furthermore, he should tell us what his WPM is with a regular keyboard, and what his WPM is with this thing is (in a month's time).
The assumption with giving him a month's time is that the novelty (for me) would last about a month. If most people wouldn't be up to keyboard speed in a month, I can't imagine many people sticking to it.
a joystick in between ...
I only have one hand you insensitive clod!
The package said "Windows XP or better. Pentium Class Processor or better"... So I got a Mac with OS X
Reading the article made me wonder how any true geek could use it. While the concept is definatley intriguing and would confuse the crap out of your friends if they ever watched you use it properly, but how would any keyboard shortcuts work. ALT+F4, CTRL+ALT+DEL, WINDOWSKEY+L. WINDOWSKEY+R, WINDOWSKEY+E, CTRL+C, CTRL+X, CTRL+Z, CTRL+V, etc... what's the use of a keyboard if you can no longer use the shortcuts on it. Would configuring a router be possible? How would I stop a very extensive dir, ls, for tree command. What about catting a HD. Also, PS/2? Why not make it a USB device, it would be pm;y mecessary to connect to just one port rather than two. Makes me wonder if the gaming and IT aspect was even considered when this device was designed.
-illumina+us "I put on my robe and wizard hat..."
I remember quite a number of years back seeing a similar device that looked vaguely like the upper surface of two bowling balls with finger holes. You used it my placing you hands on the 'body' and dropping your fingers into the holes. Keystrokes were simply combinations of fingers moves back and forth. Very little motion involved, and very fast with practice.
I don't remember the device having mouse capability, but I do recal the price was right up there with this OrbiTouch.
Neat concept. Unfortunately, I think I'd get canned for asking my boss to let me have a $700 pair of plastic breasts on my desk...
Never attribute to malice what can as easily be the result of incompetence...
fps playing with that 'keyboard', anyone?
We all know that Walmart is the fastest to embrace new technology...they even have these High-tech DVD's that remove the black bars at the top and bottom of the screen!
a;aw9wekrklwlek sdlkfjxdlj werpiolskdlkdx sf sdlkfj(*)#P(;lkjS lksjLKJ KXLJDF
S:FL0WI
"LDJFLWEROIWEUR
"D
Cool funny t-shirts for geeks, gamers and everyone else
Hevyo, jbzrvor tjy cyoj2v! Ncnbwnz rvqwtaz.
Just imagine using Emacs with that thing... They'll pry my good ol' carpal-syndrome-inducing flat keyboard out of my gnarled RSI'd hands...
This is eight switches, some rubber, and PS/2 interface circuitry. US$700.
This is not news for nerds, and it doesn't matter.
Well, if you looked over the article and especially the keyboard pictures, the movements are basically "Street Fighter 2" style moves. For example, to do a fireball with Ryu, one simply need to do a "down,down-forward,forward "
On the same token to type a 'd', you need to do "back,forward". I credit the creator of the device for taking moves that are used in fighting games and using them in unique ways(like this keyboard).
In fighting games, you have endless number of moves, which I've seen many people(not me) master very well in the arcades. So maybe this new keyboard will work?
At least you could use your wife's or girlfriend's old bras as a nice, inexpensive, effective dust cover for this.
Oh, wait, this is Slashdot...
-Teckla
Knees? Sounds like someone needs to get out more...
Disqualified for being unable to press two "keys" simultaneously - except of "selected" shift, control, alt. But imagine changing weapon while strafing forward while crouching on that: W+A+3+Tab at the same time. Can't be done. Imagine using mouse "rocker gesture" in mozgest - RMB while holding LMB. Imagine typing a native Polish text in Emacs - where 10% of characters require ALT and most commands - ctrl. Switch to 'alt', type the letter, switch back to 'normal'.
Plus, yet one disqualifying property - I won't be able to use IRC with that keyboard, because it requires both hands to type!
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
Can't help thinking about Karate Champ and its dual joystick control while reading this.
Just be careful with those bulls coming at you!
Txurlo
If I had carpal-tunnel syndrome, I would wear wrist-immobilizing braces, move my whole forearm, and peck with my index fingers. I bet I could still type faster that way than using an OrbiTouch. I bet that using a Dvorak layout would help a bit, since it's designed to alternate consecutive keystrokes between the left and right hands. It seems like the author of the review was too ashamed to publish his WPM on the OrbiTouch even after one month of use.
As a beneficial side effect, it might even give my biceps a workout.
I have one, in fact I have 2 (one as a spare). Huge, heavy as a rhino and twice as tough. It would probably take a 50 cal to kill this thing...
I have been using it since it was new (ages ago, it seems) and it has outlasted every computer, mouse, and monitor I've ever had. My only compaint is that I use a Mac now, and it won't work on there. So, I use it now only on my work machine.
Anyone know of a way to make these things run on Mac? Or a port of some kind? I'd miss the special apple keys, but it would be worth it to re-map!
On topic for a second: There is no way I'd ever buy one of those keyboards. I'm really into "re-designing the keyboard", but so far, every new design has had MAJOR issues.
-WS
An operating system should be like a light switch... simple, effective, easy to use, and designed for everyone.
How am i going to enjoy the pr0n, while simultaneously surfing??
ii wil neeever swich now tht iv leearnd hw to typ onn ths dvoorak kybo4rd
1) Your analysis is based on bad assumptions so your result is way off. 2) You're a sick bastard for fucking a horse.
see subject.
[Hold Left Dome]
"[L-ul,R-u][L-u,R-u](We)
[L-l,R-l] (space)
[L-d,R-l][L-d,R-l][L-dr,R-dl][L-u,R-u](love)
[L-l,R-l] (space)
[L-dr,R-d][L-d,R-u][L-d,R-u][L-dr,R-d][L-u,R-d] [L-u,R-u][L-l,R-d]" (boobies)
And this gives everyone a great excuse to grab a woman's breasts, you could just say you were practicing the art of Orbitouch.
"Jerk store Jerry, jerk store... Jerk store!"
I am tired of having only one mouse and cursor on my computer, I think the keyboard should be split in 2 like Either of these 2 keyboards TouchStream ST or, DataHand.
Then, a optical mouse eye should be under each half, which controls a left hand and right hand mouse pointer.
So much more could be done with computer UI if we had 2 mouse pointers.
Do you eat a steak with one hand? And if you merge the keyboard with the mouse you don't have to switch you had back and forth over and over again.
(Trying not to be off-topic for this post, but...)
This is one of the things the Dvorak layout was made to exploit. For instance, (now is the time to look at a key chart) typing the word "month" on dvorak makes the "nth" basically one motion. The vowel combinations are this way as well. That "pipelining" is particularly good when the keys in the pipe are nearby on different fingers on the same hand. Qwerty does well at cross-hand patterns, but some of those can be vulnerable to miss-timing issues. (The first auto-correct entry is "teh"->"the").
They couldn't get them all, though, such as "gh" "ct" "rn" etc. but I guess those are statistically less frequent than the big ones: "th" "sh" "cr" and so on... I like the example word some Dvorak article used to show the difference. Excruciating. Type it in Qwerty, then go look it up on a dvorak. Not that we all type "excruciating" that often, but is a somewhat worst-case example.
Just more shameless advocacy of the Dvorak layout.
Catapultam habeo. Nisi omnem pecuniam tuam mihi dabis, ad tuum caput saxum immane mittam.
I would look like someone grabbing a pair of boobs and shaking them for all he's worth
It's easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.
... using this new "keyboard," I wonder if someone who learns with the combos set in a "Dvorak layout" can "type" faster.
If this new keyboard doesn't work out, I'm sure they could use it as an input device for some new game or something. Perhaps they can call it: "Boob Boob Revolution."
I dont have one of these (yet), and the price is still a bit much for a keyboard, but it is tempting me, and if I see good reviews I might just have to get one...
Tm
Support TBI Research: http://www.raisinhope.org
Couldn't you get the same effect with two mice: one for each hand, plus a replacement keyboard driver? Total cost about $20 rather than $695.
The idea of all these crazy keyboard designs completely misses the point. Of course there is a place for new and innovative keyboards for accessibility reasons, but if you want to reduce repetitive strain injury, why not try speech recognition? I'm dictating this right now, and boy my hands feel fine!
Naturally speech recognition doesn't work perfectly, but it works well enough to be much faster and user friendly than a keyboard. And at $695.00 you can save yourself a lot of money!
I have been using datahands for three years now, and for the price of the orbit, I advise saving up a bit more and going with the datahands. I have a hard time thinking that equivalent 'flat keyboard' speeds could be reached with the orbitm and the fixed nature of the right and left hands would make chair arm mounting more difficult. (Having the datahands mounted to the chair arms allows so much more freedom. Less of a feeling of being 'inserted' in your workstation.) That being said, I'd take one of those over a flat or natural kbd in a second, if only for the integrated mouse.
I can see it now... combine the Orbi with the Real Doll.... A USB adapter coming out of her side....
No really, I need this for work...
it won't work for people with handicaps at hands
stuff that matters, too
An alternative to 8-way joysticks might just be two optical mice. Software can easily determine the 8 different directions of movement for each independent mouse and combine the different combinations into a single key-click equivalent. With mice you would have the added benefit that they can be placed anywhere in front you rather than the fixed distance between the pads on this device. Even better an escape sequence could be added so one or both mice toggle between character entry and mouse pointing.
Instead, we should be using the Dvorak keyboard which was designed in the Computer Age to allow faster typing by putting vowels on the home row and intuitive placement. I've seen some claims that once learned, you can type up to 80 wpm faster than on the qwerty. This is simple and already included in Windows, so why don't people use it? They don't like change.
So no, we have not perfected the keyboard, it is the exact opposite of perfect, but because people don't want change, we're stuck in the dark ages.
This is my digital signature. 10011011001
just gained a whole new dimension:
"Despite--or maybe because of--the OrbitTouch's similarity to the female anatomy, it's very comfortable to use. Your hands rest very naturally on the twin domes."
I pity the poor wives and girlfriends of the geeks of the world (assuming they have 'em).
gilbert writes "When I last looked at strange, new posts here on slashdot, I thought I'd seen it all... not even close! I just reviewed a new slashdot post, called the OrbiTouch Keyless Keyboard Review, and discovered that it's actually a blatent ad. It's literally made up of two tactics--appealing to your sense of geek, while pitching a product that no one needs, thereby creating it's own market. To work, these tactics require repeated posting of the same obvious advertisement cleverly disguised as a "news story" over and over in a synchronized manner. It's twisted--but it's better for you to decide for yourself--here's the post, OrbiTouch Keyless Keyboard Review, with lots of inane comments that will be useful in generating our "buzz". Think you'll want to buy one? Are you geek enough to not realize this is an ad?"
No my friend, that would be very gay. Literally. Because the two, erm, mounds, would then be part of the male anatomy instead... very not cool...
This is my digital signature. 10011011001
What about touch-typing? With today's standard keyboards, your fingers can anticipate the next letter that you're going to hit. When typing "the" (assuming you're using QWERTY), as your right hand reaches for the H, your left is preparing to hit the E a fraction of a second afterwards. It looks like you can't really do that with these domes -- you do the motions for one letter, then the next, then the next. Net result -- slower typing.
The only real keyboard "improvement" of sorts that I can name is the Dvorak layout. I don't use it (yet), but people swear by it.
From the article (page 3):
"Despite--or maybe because of--the OrbitTouch's similarity to the female anatomy, it's very comfortable to use. Your hands rest very naturally on the twin domes."
Those two lines don't even need a comment...
My
Limekiller
Great concept, but can you type 50 words per minute for at least half an hour straight? I bet your arms will fall off after all that motion.
the problem does not change:you have 100 codes (letters, numbers, f1-f12, up,down,...) to communicate with computer. if you reduced that down to 8 then you would not move your fingers - stick them on the main row and hack away.
what's next, typing with my toes?
Start with that in your bashrc. 'ls' is a horrible combination of keys, especially when hitting return with the pinky as well. I find / to be in an intuitive spot, as much as with the other punctuation being in the left hand at the top, which I actually like now.
I suffer the same problem at the labs, helping other people on their qwerty keyboards. After a minute or so, sometimes immediately, I can type at a decent speed/accuracy, but sometimes I brain-cramp and look like a dyslexic idiot. Switching back and forth is a skill you learn with necessity, but it is quickly forgotten. Most OSes allow a quick switch, too, going through a few menus (or use "setxkbmap dvorak" in linux, "setxkbmap us" when you're done). You should switch back and maybe institute an alternating layout schedule to hone your switching skills. At one point, I alternated between "Qwerty Day" and "Dvorak Day," and that, along with having to use qwerty in the labs, helped quite a bit.
Catapultam habeo. Nisi omnem pecuniam tuam mihi dabis, ad tuum caput saxum immane mittam.
Exactly, I never expected or even wanted to type faster, since sometimes I type faster than I think anyways. The main issue I looked at was the amount of "flailing" the fingers seemed to do on some tough words in Qwerty. I don't mean the cross-hand timing issues (ie. "teh"), but rather the word fragments that required lots of hopping around on one hand (like I said in a different post, try typing "excruciating"). Dvorak has much fewer instances of such worst-case words, in my experience (that "xp" wasn't very fun.. imagine that).
To the masses: Try learning it for a week if you happen to find a week where typing is not a crucial task. Don't touch qwerty at all during that week if possible. If you like it, keep learning, if not then switch back and never return. Worth a shot.
Catapultam habeo. Nisi omnem pecuniam tuam mihi dabis, ad tuum caput saxum immane mittam.
Worse, I can feel the pain in my shoulders just by looking at the pics. It seems to solve CTS by transferring the pain to the point where the arm connects to the shoulder!
Firstly, the price just doesn't make sense to me for what basically amounts to two, eight-way joysticks and a kb driver. And why make them so big? The method of input seems like a decent idea, but not for primary kb usage. With mmorpg's coming out for consoles now, this would work pretty well for typing to eachother online without putting your controller down; the PS2 controller already looks like a smaller version of this thing with 8 extra buttons, but much smaller and fits in your hand.
Ansi's and stupid tricks!
Do you know what would be even better? Well let me tell you then...
Problem 1: must limit movement of hands/wrists
Problem 2: people are too fat
Solution: The Dance Dance Revolution keyboard. Just plug your computer into the large monitor in front of the pads and type your way to healthy wrists and a healthy heart!
"Upon booting up my computer with the OrbiTouch keyboard plugged in (although according to the directions this reboot isn't necessary, I tend to do it anyway with any sort of install), I failed miserably to type in my network password."
Random entry in the microship chronicles
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
A good ergonomic analysis of your workspace. I've had work related wrist injuries twice, each time when I started a new job. Repositioning my chair relative to the keyboard relative to the monitor fixed both issues.
"Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus."
Too Expensive, try these are cheaper
You don't have to re-learn how to type and they have two better looking bumps to hold onto than this thing.
I used it briefly and it was very nice. It takes a little getting used to but you adapt quickly and I generally like it. You can get it much more reasonably priced for educational purposes. The computer store on campus sells it for around $400.
:-)
Best of all, it was invented by an alumni of my university
Here's another story about it from my local student newspaper.UCF Future
Daniel Davis
Aerospace Engineering major
University of Central Florida - Orlando
Planetes
"One World, One Web, One Program" - Microsoft Promo Ad
"Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer" - Adolf Hitl
If only they came with nipples...
"Will it survive the year?"
No.
But ya never know; there are a lot of idiots out there who would buy it because it's the latest, greatest, new thing.
In the article he brought up that it resembled boobs... What every geek needs, BOOB input. surfing for pr0n with synthetic tits..
Problem being, it is a TWO handed boob... Damn it.
I hunt-and-peck, A very fast hunt and peck, without looking, but still I know how to type with a finger. This skill has led to me aquire the habit of eating/drinking/smoking with my other hand, I lift weights, I pet my cat, I bounce a raquet ball of the wall, I play with toys. Whatever. So this is NOT an improvment, I actually loose abilities, and INCREASE wrist movement.
Also, my only problem spot from typing is my fingers, my knucles are trashed. I found a simple logictech trackball (optical) almost completely removed strain. Also it is very durable (about 2.5 yrs worth of nonstop use)and very cleanable. Also with some practice, it is a better gaming interface than any mouse I have met.
If someone really wants to improve my input abilities, they would force computer store to sell left-handed perifreals[sic], nice optical trackballs, with scroll bar, and 3rd button... oh-yeah.
A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government. -edward abbey
OK, so I am pretty tired right now, but please - surely it would have been possible to get to the point a little bit faster? We are living in the third millenium, isn't information supposed to be dense?
- Buy an LCD and a touchscreen;
- connect LCD to to your dualhead card, while LCD to your serial port;
- install a touchscreen software;
- calibrate your touchscreen;
- try gtkeyboard or other virtual on-screen keyboard software;
- if you still don't like it then write your own (GNOME?) extension that will not just take a key input, but also intersect all menu and dialog windows to your touchscreen-LCD;
- still not enough? watch star-track-like movies to steal deaign and usability ideas of their touchscreen-based keyboards;
- patent it
- ???
- profit?
Last three points are just a jokeLess is more !
get over it.
Really.
is i was drunk like i am now tryin to use one those things chattin on irc. ppl would think i was more drunk then i really am.
Search around slashdot for some of my posts in the last few days about this.
Yes, the learning curve is high for most people, but in my opinion it is the best input device available to those willing and able to learn the skills. Typos in general will be a problem for a while, at first mostly due to learning things like the straight-column key layout and the keys with new locations (backspace/delete/enter). After you master that, the next big problem is hand drift. With the metal tent stand, the tendency is to drift outward down the slants. The way to prevent/correct this is to "center" the hands by putting all 5 fingers down on the Braille dots (on home row keys and the space/backspace keys), then moving the heels of each hand so that the fingers are naturally curved at a comfortable angle. After that you have to consciously avoid letting the heels slide around. Doing this, the fingers will quickly learn "where" each key is and you can type pretty much normally.
A useful yet annoying feature is the English model auto-correction. If you hit a "crack" between the areas on the pad marked as keys, the keyboard will guess which one you meant based on the previous letters typed. If it realizes it was wrong (based on letters following the missed key) it will automatically backspace and retype everything with the correction. The range that it applies to is only a couple words at most, but it was the first thing to go for me, since I often type on slow terminal connections and I don't really like the keyboard trying to be that smart.
Really, if you're willing to take the time to learn, and your hands are for the most part normal-sized (Michael Jordan might have a little trouble typing, but it would certainly be possible), then you should definitely invest in one of these. I believe that anyone who is willing to try and has no mental block against non-clickity keyboards can successfully use this keyboard.
(BTW, if you have a 15" powerbook, check this out. I submitted this to slashdot, we'll see if they post it)
Catapultam habeo. Nisi omnem pecuniam tuam mihi dabis, ad tuum caput saxum immane mittam.
It was Dwight David Eisenhower. Ol' DDE... Oh my God, he was a Microsoft acronym too!!!!
mmmmm, boobies.
Or am I the only one who read the summary post and thought that?
I think it would really suck for FPS games if a person normally does the Mouse + Keyboard method.
kind of reminds me of changing some autocorrect to replace a bunch of intransitive words with "fornicate." Like, for instance, "type".
I can fornicate at 120 wpm...
I hereby place the above post in the public domain.
(nt)
The fastest words to type are those that involve only one hand. When we have to coordinate between 2 hands we are much slower (consider playing piano, how much work is it to play with one hand as compared to 2 hands). Quite frankly, 7mm is a large movement.
2 things I want from my keyboard. First is speed, second is ease of use. Having 2 stubby joy mounds (they are too round to be called sticks) to move around together is not easy, and 7mm is not small enough.
I want something that you move the device 1 mm to activate it and the entire keyboard should be mapped to one hand.
I agree with your analysis of the touchstream products. However, I will wait until they come out with a programming interface for it.
Couldn't you save yourself about $600 and just add an extra mouse to your computer (not to hard/expensive) and then write a special driver that'd use the two mice together to form the same keystrokes as this keyboard? You could even keep your mouses scrollwheel which I really like and then you'd have two so you could do both horizontal and vertical scrolling. With three mouse buttons for each hand I think you could improve on this keyboards alt, shift, control button issues. Of course you'd need a leftie mouse for your left hand but they aren't to hard to find. :)
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
Went over to their site to check out game capatibility issues.
One hand on mouse and 2 for the keyboard??
I would say no go, however cool concept, I'm guessing Star Trek next sesson...
I believe this is called a secretary.
Needing to use both hands for mousing would seriously hamper porn browsing habits ...
Thanks slashdot for all of the breast-comparison jokes. I almost fell off my seat in laughter while reading down the list.
Seriously, though, I doubt that this thing will take off. For something to replace the keyboard, it's going to have to be very natural, just like the mouse' successor would have to be.
The simple truth is, the keyboard is pretty much fixed. People have learned it and don't want to change.
And, guess what, there's already this great innovation here that allows people who have difficulty typing to avoid it: it's called voice recognition. There's also even something on the horizon to naturally and seamlessly replace the mouse -- bouncing a low-powered laser off of the eyeball, to determine where the eyes are looking, and move the mouse cursor to that location (the army's working on it).
social sciences can never use experience to verify their statemen
I'm not sure I want this for my PC. However, I can't help thinking that there are occastions when I do want to be able to type with two little joysticks.
Imagine writing email or notes on a PDA or web-pad with two 8 way rockers for your thumbs. Similarly the playstation and xbox controllers we all have would become as capable an input device as a full fledged keyboard.
As a EQOA player who is constantly switching back and forth between my keyboard and my controller I think being able to use my controller as a fast keyboard would rule. Even if it isn't as fast as a traditional keyboard if it is faster than that software keyboard it might take off.
What do you think?
One of the little-known facts about qwerty; it was first designed for the first typewriters, and was specifically designed to slow down typists, so they wouldn't jam the key arms together.
If I knew the wedgies I gave you back in 6th grade would have resulted in this . . . I might have taken a moments pause.