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AlphaGrip's 3D Keyboard Ready For Pre-Orders
bic2k writes "AlphaGrip has opened their doors to pre-orders this past week. (Previously mentioned here.) Press release can be found here. They look a lot like an xbox controller, but contains 42 buttons and a analog stick. Shows up as a standard USB keyboard and mouse. Has a USB expansion slot, which will possibly be used for wireless connectivity. They claim typing speeds of 50 WPM or better after a month or so. They're waiting for 5000 pre-orders before going to manufacturing, so it may be awhile before they actually ship these."
if you can really get the advertized 50wpm, this would be a great for a latop. I hate these damn compact keyboards and touchpads. It would be alot eaiser then carrying around a real keyboard, and it has a mouse joystick to boot.
404
Lucky you, I can't even think that fast.
How can I type on something that is shaped like a tooth? Looks like the N-Gage engineers have worked their magic once again!
You aren't free to do anything, until you've lost everything.
- a great design
- very clever shortcuts
- decent to great keying speed after training
- a real potential to help people with RSI
- a manual to teach the user to "key fast in less than xxx weeks without effort"
- an absolutely insane retail price
- zero chance to make any sort of dent in the entrenched PC-104-type keyboard market
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
I guess this is the opposite of the giant XBox controller fiasco then?
Seriously though, this would be great for a hacked XBox or PS2 Linux, but do they honestly think deskbound users will use it because "the AlphaGrip allows you to shift your body position frequently or even constantly without affecting your data input." I meam come on people, take a 5 minute break for gods' sake. Just get up and walk around or stretch. You don't need a $100 device to do it for you.
gadgetophile.com
I'm still looking for a one handed keyboard+mouse+controller where I can type still type 60wpm and keep my other hand free to... umm... (barely audible) fast connection... (mumble) pr0n ftp...
.deviatefromtheabsolute.
The page is rather slashdotted right now, but I managed to get a glimpse. Looks like this thing is just in time for the Doom 3 mania, with more buttons than you can shake a boomstick at! Looks like quite the excellent Doom 3 controller to me, although an additional toggle joystick would help things more. And there's a Google cache right here. Finally, I also found this prototype design of what looks to be another model -- interesting stuff.
The real question is: are emacs key combinations even possible with it? it's already a bit of a challenge on a full size "normal" keyboard...
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
Seems like it would be pretty nice if only I had three hands.
"Those with large hands may not achieve the same typing speed as users with small to average sized hands."
Some of us have large hands. Will someone please build a keyboard for us!
"To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
Now i'll be able to blast my way through level 7 in Word XP!
The "Insert Quote Here" line is almost as predictable as inserting an actual quote.
When I look at the pictures of that thing, I can't help but wonder how you're meant to grip it and type at the same time.
Similar to the problem I have with a mousewheel (I get a sore hand/finger from holding my finger above the wheel), I can imagine holding my fingers above the AlphaGrip's buttons while at the same time trying to grip the whole thing would be tendonitis city.
Anyone actually seen one of these in use and can confirm this for me?
gadgetophile.com
Also is anywone else reminded of an old product (maybe from 10 years ago?) called The Bat (at the bottom of that page)?
Rob
looked all over google- nothing listed anywhere...no images, no froogle, no weburls.. nada...
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
try doing that on a qwerty without a table or stand in front of you to put the keyboard on while stonding. Well I guess you could hang the keybord from your neck or something, but i'm pretty sure it will feel awkward as hell and you won't be moving around much then.
The makers of these keyboard replacements always act like learning an entirely new style of typing is so easy that we should be ashamed for even thinking for a moment that it'll be hard.
In reality, most of us have spent years and years learning to type on a standard keyboard. It's a specialized skill.
Moreover, as it DOES look like an X-Box controller, and as I know how ten hours of marathon gaming can kill my hands, I wonder how they can really be sure it's MORE comfortable. I mean, my keyboard may have little to reccomend it, but, worse comes to worse, I CAN type on it without having to grip anything (Mmmmm Carpal), which would be impossible with their keyboard.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
That and don't forget us vi users. That looks like a nightmare to mode switching unless it has a button for escape and :
:)
Ironically enough, one reason I love the japanese keyboard layout, the colon is it's own key, no shift.
The shifted letters over the numbers really messes with you when you are used to your paren's to be at 9 and 0, not 0 and -. That threw me off for months.
This may be off topic but I ache for the day someone will make a crossplatform (console/computer) FPS so that I can finally prove to my disbeleiving pals (and myself) that a good computer FPS player will always dominate a great console FPS player (each using their respective platforms). Sure you could hook up a gamepad to a computer and just play PC halo but then the console guys always fall back to "it doesn't have the same feel as an Xbox."
http://www.typingtest.com/
So let me get this straight: I lay down a chunk of change to both look cool *and* type slower? Pft.
The postman hits! The postman hits! You have mail.
QWERTY was more designed to minimize jamming (by keeping word-adjacent letters apart) then to slow the typist.
Iv'e been uisng a prtoypote of tihs for a wilhe now. I lkie it a lot. I can tpye sxity wrods a mintue wtih aobut one precnte acucrcay. Im' tihknnig aobut getitng rid of my QEWTRY kyebarod atlogehter.
This is why:
http://reason.com/9606/Fe.QWERTY.shtml
In high school typing class I was at 96WPM.
:)
When my ex-wife was in college, she was in a computer class, and they had a typing test, which after the test it would show the result. I got 102WPM and 99% accuracy. It was annoying that it considered a backspace an error, so it took me a couple tries to remember not to correct errors.
A couple years ago, a coworker brought a commercial typing test in to work, which said I was up to 104WPM at 100% accuracy.
Not that it really helps me much with work, I bang out several lines of code, and consider what I'm going to write next.
Do you have suggestions on typing speed tests. I like to see where I am occasionally.
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
The claim that QWERTY was designed to slow typists down to avoid jamming typewriters is misleading.
What the QWERTY system tries to maximize is alternating keystrokes with the left hand and the right hand - most common words alternate between right and left hands when typing. This stopped most jamming because jams most frequently occured when there were repetitive keystrokes on one side/one row/one column of the typewriter's keys.
This actually increased typing speed - many people are capable of speeds in great excess of 50 wpm. Also, though a lot of people hunt and peck, almost everyone who uses a computer in their job (whether it be a programmer or not) does touchtype, from sheer necessity. The amount of time it would take a slow typist to learn how to type 50 wpm on this device could easily be spent increasing their current typing speed to well over that on a regular keyboard.
104 keys? The only true keyboad doesn't have 104 keys, it has 101.
It's the IBM Model M keyboad that doubles as a self defense weapon. Mine was made in 1986/09/06 and still works great.
Never speak of this 104 key bs again.
I already type over 50wpm on a QWERTY keyboard. Why would I want to switch? My desk is already equipped with an under-surface keyboard try to prevent RSI problems. For /. readers and techies, the best keyboard change would be returning the CONTROL key where it belongs: next to the A key. How many people use the CAPS LOCK key more than the CONTROL key? At least DEC got that right with the VT-100. I'm still using an old Keytronic keyboard because nobody manufactures keyboards with a DIP switch to swap the CAPS and CONTROL keys. It still drives people nuts when they use my keyboard.
signature pending slashdot approval
This reminds me of the SpaceOrb. I tried one, hated it, and returned it. Why? It just didn't have the precision of a mouse or joystick.
Likewise, I learned to type on a dvorak keyboard. I don't anymore. Why? Let's see.
1. Finding a programmable keyboard can be expensive or irritating. Fortunately I found some old Gateway Anykeys that still worked for $10 each.
2. Relearning to type. This took me about a month to get past 1/4 of my existing typing speed (30wpm vs 120wpm).
3. Lack of portability. This was the real killer. It wasn't typing on MY keyboard that became irritating, it was typing on OTHER PEOPLE'S keyboards that did. Because I'd have to switch back over to qwerty again to do any work on any other system at a job or at a friend's house or for my parents etc.
I did find my hands were much less tired, so I assume were I a chronic RSI sufferer, I'd consider putting up with the inconvenience. But short of hauling my own custom keyboard around, there's no solution to the pain of having to re-adapt every time you go somewhere else. Are people going to carry this thing with them and hook it up to friends/coworkers/bosses/clients computers to do work? I doubt it.
Introducing the new Occam Fusion! Now with sqrt(-1) fewer blades!
If you map a convenient combo such as Alt-K like so:
:imap <M-k> ()<Left>
then you'll never have strain your pinky reaching up for parentheses again, and you automatically stay balanced. I've done that for many of the obvious quotes and brackets (If you do this, helps to imap something like Ctl-L to <Right> and Alt-L to <End>). It saves tons of typing on hard-to-reach keys.
If I can type 50 wpm without taking my hands off the keyboard to get to the mouse i'd be very very happy.
There's no way you can type and move a mouse at the same time. Anyone with a trackpad on a laptop can attest. My right thumb doesn't do anything when typing, but I cannot possibly use it to move the mouse while typing.. even though I can reach it just fine.
what? Typing of the Dead was the bomb!
Your reality is lies and balderdash and I'm delighted to say that I have no grasp of it whatsoever. - Baron Munchausen
The quadruple bucky strikes back!
English is easier said than done.
Damn, best Idea from an AC ever. I'm using a microsoft ergonomic, and that wristpad has enough room to drill a hole and put a trackball in there... The hardest part would be finding some nice buttons to use for the mouse buttons. All in all, doesn't sound very hard. Super glue and duct tape, Ohhh yeaaaahh!
And QWERTY was designed to slow people down!
No! QWERTY was designed to spread out the letters. Two letters close to each other typed at the same time could cause a jam, so they spread common letters out to reduce jamming.
QWERTY was designed to speed people up.
I have personally witnessed a friend get 90 WPM, 100% accuracy, with a modified hunt and peck.
*Phone tone*
The fingers you have used to dial are too fat. To obtain a special dialing wand, please mash the key pad with your palm now.
"Software is like sex: it's better when it's free."
It seems like with this "keyboard" you'd have to have your fingers curved and somewhat tensed to hold the controller at all times. This would seem to me to cause more discomfort than a regular keyboard where for the most of the time, most of your fingers are relaxed.
This seems to be a recurring problem with many "alternative" keyboards like chording keyboards and such. Particularly it seems to be a problem with keyboards intended to be more "mobile". So a tip to you keyboard tinkerers out there: design your keybaord so that your fingers are lax and fully extended while no keys are being pressed.
A tachometer for the computer would be cool... "You are now typing 70 words per minute!" How awesome would that be...
Condemnant quod non intellegunt.
Typically, after hunting and pecking for years, users remember where each key is and can develop consistently quick and accurate typing skills (all the while glancing at the keyboard). 90wpm may be stretching it, but I don't doubt that the H&P method can be perfected after awhile.
Then again, years of practice take the 'hunt' out of it, so you should just call it pecking.
There's little proof other than old wives tales about the Dvorak's superiority that prove that QWERTY was designed to slow typists down...
... the virtual sex machine (http://www.vrinnovations.com/index2.htm).
And actually, it's even better than what you suggested! Or, uh... so I would IMAGINE... er, uh...
Yes. They do, in fact. We have several of them out on the floor at work.
It's been my experience that users actually hate this concept very much, and rather prefer a seperate mouse and keyboard.
Hence why they are on the floor.
Kensington makes a keyboard similar, but it's not DVORAK or Ergonomic.
Not all of them.
The Atari 400 keyboard was perfectly flat, and purely two dimensional.
The reason that computer wasn't successful was because if the keyboard somehow became disconnected from the computer and turned sideways, you couldn't find it. Total pain in the ass. That's why keyboards nowadays have a third dimension to them.
... is a very cleverly designed keyboard. Looks just like a nice generous pair of boobs. With that look, it can't help but succeed. Must be designed especially for dotty slashers. Be in quick or they'll all be sold out before you can turn it on.
It was supposed to read: 50 1337 words per minute.
gtypist
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
Oh, so you are stuck on only using your thumb, eh?
What? Too good to use your nose like the rest of us?
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
Have you seen the touchstream by fingerworks? I got one of these right after I first saw it for that same reason. Expensive, but cool.
One more thing I'll get phone calls about: "Hey, whats up, nothin man, just can't find the 'K' on my keyboard, you know where it is?"
Right now I am typing with both hands on my laptop, in the dark. I cannot see the keys. Sometimes I choose to type with one hand, albeit slowly, but it works when your other hand is holding a kid, or eating ice cream. Other times I stand up and key in letters one at a time using a single finger.
This keyboard offers none of this flexability. Obviously someone thought this to be a good idea, but didn't realize that it should be left at that. They need to meet up with the No Hands Mouse people. http://www.footmouse.com/
Why would I want to go from xx WPM down to 0 when my only option is to use both hands.
Good security is based upon reality and common sense. Common sense is a function of having common knowledge.
Have you ever tried Dvorak? This piece is a good counterargument to that Reason article. And the authors miss the point. I use Dvorak and true, I don't type any faster than with QWERTY. But that's not the point. No one can say the Dvorak doesn't have better ergonomics. People use it for comfort, not for speed.
They look a lot like an xbox controller, but contains 42 buttons and a analog stick.
Oh, so more like a simplified X-Box controller.
Listen to the rabbit.
StoneCypher is Full of BS
I'm pretty sure it does help you, it's some kind of direct brain-computer connection.
To get a feeling how it's like without that, try switching to Dvorak for a few hours (if you're using QWERTY usually, that is). When I did that, I felt totally helpless, because I had to search for every single key (like non-typists have to do on every layout). When you have to concentrate on typing, there's not much time left to think about your program.
... a console controller for playing 'nethack'.
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
Actually, while QWERTY wasn't designed to slow people down, it _is_ designed to avoid jams.
The thing is, the contraption consisted of (more or less) a semi-circle of thin levers, each with a little hammer with an embossed letter on it. All were aimed at the same position on the paper. You press a key, and purely mechanically the lever would swing the hammer at the paper. (Well, actually, at the ribbon.)
Also, because it was a purely mechanical contraption, the cheapest and most reliable way to build one was: keys that are close on the keyboard, would also activate levers which were close to each other.
Jams would happen when two close enough levers would be activated at the same time. Or close enough. The closer the levers were, the more likely you'd get a jam. (Again, purely coincidentally, this also meant "the closer two keys were".)
E.g., pressing "Q" and "P" at (almost) the same time would never jam. They swung from opposite directions, and it was pretty much guaranteed that one hammer would simply hit on top of the other. E.g., "A" and "S" at the same time (e.g., while typing "ASSASSIN") would pretty much always jam.
So basically, QWERTY:
1. was just supposed to prevent jams. (Which cost more in typing speed than a couple ms worth of more finger movement.)
2. was not designed to do anything to typing speed as such. Neither maximize it, nor minimize it. Whatever typing speed difference it produced, it was "side effect", rather than "goal". (And, again, a lot of it came from jam prevention rather than anything else.)
3. the _only_ typing speed consideration it received at all, was a rigged tech demo. Ever wondered why the "QWERTYUIOP" row? Because the rigged tech demo was basically "Look! I can type 'TYPEWRITER' quickly! It must be an optimal layout!" Hence all the letters in the word TYPEWRITER had to be on a single row.
(Hardly a scientific study, but PHBs bought it anyway.)
Furthermore, I'd point out that:
A. It did a piss-poor job even at spacing common letter combinations apart. E.g., even in their tech-demo "TYPEWRITER" they have letters which are near each other: "TY", "EW", "ER", and thus prone to jamming. "W" and "R" aren't that far apart to be jam-proof either.
B. if you've ever used one of those purely mechanical typewriters (no, some electronic thing doesn't count), you'll notice that typing was a different exercise on those. It involved keeping your hands above the keyboard and hitting the keys pretty hard. At the very least it's _not_ the same RSI prone position you'd use on a normal PC keyboard.
C. a PC keyboard doesn't jam.
D. Even if you do type the wrong letters on the PC, the cost of errors is next to nil. Correcting a mistake was a _very_ time consuming operation on a mechanical typewriter, since it involved physically erasing or covering printed stuff with white paint. By comparison, hitting backspace on the keyboard costs a small fraction of a second.
Etc.
So basically I'm saying that the considerations from which QWERTY was born, not only were imperfect to start with, they bear exactly _zero_ relevance to a computer keyboard. That QWERTY still works well, is more of a testimony to the fact that people can learn _any_ keyboard layout well enough, than some inherent advantage.
QWERTY, Dvorak, even alphabetical order, IMHO you probably just type faster on whatever you have more exercise. That's all.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
I don't need a Dvorak keyboard. I just need to get really drunk and use a keyboard that the alignment dots (on the F and J) are worn down. :)
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
You won't look cool. You will look apparently look like this
* In my experience, joystick/joybutton mouse is almost as bad as a touch pad for doing CAD.
* In practice, my hands are not constantly on the keyboard. I'm referring to documentation, looking things up, drinking my coffee, etc. This looks like I'd have to carefully put it back in its stand everytime or else wind up hitting unwanted keys.
It's a good try, but I don't think it suits my needs. Keep trying though, I still want something I can use on an airplane.
A goal is a dream with a deadline
The majority of the ones we have are by a company called CIRQUE. The model is a Wave keyboard (ergonomic, like the Microsoft Natural), and has a touchpad in the wristrest called a "Glidepoint." We have two models -- one has the Glidepoint in the centre of the wrist pad, and the other has it off to the right, under the directional arrows.
The two models are KXB340 and the GKB330. Actually, these both have it under the directional arrows, I can't seem to find one with it in the middle at the moment.
Allt he models have a single cable to the computer, which splits into a PS/2 for the keybaord, and a DB-9 as the Glidepoint is a serial mouse. You can either get a DB-9 to PS/2, or bite the bullet and join the 1980s.
The FCC-ID on both of those, if you care, is GYUR33SK.
We also have some Fellows keyboards that have a detachable rest, that features the Glidepoint as well. The wristrest/Glidepoint has a PS/2 connector running from the side. The keyboard model is KB-7903, with an FCC-ID of E8HKB-7903. The Touchpad model is KB99842, which appears to also be the part number for the keyboard.
Hope this helps.
Free online typing speed tests (Java required for both):
c id =9883355
http://www.typingtest.com/
http://www.typingpal.com/
Taken from:
Is Typing a Necessary Skill?
http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=116796&