The I-Tech Virtual Laser Keyboard

avtchillsboro writes, "The NY Times has a rather fluffy article (registration required) about stuff you can buy to 'accessorize' your smart phone & or cell phone (so passé!). What caught my eye was the I-Tech Virtual Laser Keyboard. From the vendor's website: 'The Virtual Laser Keyboard (VKB) uses both infrared and laser technology to generate an invisible field and project a full-size virtual QWERTY keyboard on any surface... The I-Tech VKB reacts exactly like a real keyboard. Direction technology based on optical recognition enables the user to tap the images of the keys, complete with realistic tapping sounds(!), which feeds into the compatible PDA, Smartphone, laptop, or PC. Note: The VKB is both PC and Macintosh compatible!'"

Comments

Hi, welcome to 2003

[hsmith]

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/03/18/131420 7&tid=126

Re:Hi, welcome to 2003

[Yvan256]

Indeed, I just watched "SuperVolcano" on Discovery Channel and a guy in the movie had one.

Re:Hi, welcome to 2003

[joe 155]

indeed, I saw this on amazon (.co.uk - and we have to wait longer than the US for everything) about a year ago, infact it is so old that it's now been discontinued from amazon, still, there are some reviews; http://www.amazon.co.uk/I-Tech-C51-A04031-XX-Bluet ooth-Virtual-Keyboard/dp/B000BBQQRY/sr=8-34/qid=11 59734652/ref=sr_1_34/026-5191554-0026041?ie=UTF8&s =electronics

Re:Hi, welcome to 2003

[AxminsterLeuven]

This is old. I have couple of these taped to the heads of my friggin' sharks for two years now.

Old Tech

[kthejoker]

I booked this to my del.icio.us on February 8, 2005, and it's just now hitting Slashdot front pages? I'm not that far ahead of the curve, I promise.

Re:This is very very VERY old news.

[LiquidCoooled]

The guy who got one of these in 2003 was arrested whilst using one on a plane to submit the article.
His computer went into standby at a critical moment and upon his release from gitmo powered up his laptop and allowed the submission to go through.

Please note that the poster or his dell laptop cannot be located, however there is a strong burning smell coming from his apartment.

On the way to the ultimate in portable computers..

[GuruBuckaroo]

Now just tack on one of these matchbox-sized projectors and a fast PDA, and you're set.

Re:This is very very VERY old news.

[pimpimpim]

Unfortunately, this sounds like a realistic and plausible explanation.

Not to worry

[Noksagt]

There was a dupe back in 2003 too!

Re:Not to worry

[joe 155]

don't worry, that was essentially a dupe too http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/11/14/182825 3

You can get them...

[Wampus Aurelius]

...from here.

Re:You can get them...

[VJ42]

Isn't ThinkGeek also owned by OTSG (/.s parent company)? Perhaps they should have known about this before, since ThinkGeek has been selling it for ages, thus validating all the people above screaming "dupe".

They suck

[dorpus]

Laser keyboards have a high rate of false key presses, because your fingers have to pass over other keys, and you can't feel the keys.

Re:They suck

[thegnu]

That thing is about as useful as a steering wheal made out of dreams.

Is that like the one they're steering this country with?

First recall

[edwardpickman]

"Sony anounced today a recall of their ultra high power laser keyboards. After several unfortunate power surges resulted in lost fingers they felt a recall was wise."

Re:First recall

[sowth]

Oh, come on. Everyone knows Sony wouldn't recall for that. It needs to explode first, then chop off your fingers.

Magic Touch

[Doc Ruby]

"The I-Tech VKB reacts exactly like a real keyboard."

One of the reasons I type so much faster than I can talk is that I get so much tactile feedback from the physical keys on the keyboard. My hands know when I've mistyped usually before I can even see the difference on the display. A little lingering feeling in my hands that they've missed the pattern they were expected to type. Despite the simulated clicking sounds to my ear, I expect that I'll make a lot more mistakes on a keyboard which doesn't offer tactile feedback that I've hit a key, complete with a little "throw" through its unique 3D spatial path.

That kind of feedback is extremely important to using any device. It's why eliminating any grasped tool for purely gestural expression seems doomed inferior to actually touching something. Maybe just a dumb pad that gives just tactile feedback, without needing to deliver any sensory info back to the processor, is plenty to complete the loop. But just tapping my fingers on an unresponsive surface, or one different in shape/texture/response every time, will be much worse than typing on even a tiny crowded keyboard, or maybe even A9 keypad entry.

Re:Magic Touch

[Anonymous Coward]

I dont see the problem here. You can just project onto a real keyboard if you need the tactile feedback.

Videos (YouTube)

[LionKimbro]

The I-Tech VKB reacts exactly like a real keyboard.

I hoped so, wished so, but the videos I've seen defy this.

You can see that you have to type slowly, and, it'll miss some keypresses.

Still, it's really cool, and portable: You don't have to carry a keyboard around with you.

I got one and it sucks

[soleblaze]

I got one of these a few months ago, figuring i'd be able to use it to type faster than I would with the hand writing recognition/on screen keyboard of my lifedrive. Turns out I make enough mistakes, and need to go slow enough with it that the handwriting recognition is faster on it. The On Screne Keyboard is probably the fastest method of inputting (provided you don't have to use symbols and such). I've been meaning to put mine on ebay for the last months, but i'm a lazy bastard.

other layouts

[gumbi west]

Does anybody know if these are offered in either split (aka natural) formats or alternative layouts (i.e. Dvorak). There is no reason not to except to keep overhead low.

Re:other layouts

[Doppler00]

Nope, I e-mailed the company one time asking about alternative layouts for lanugages and Dvorak, and they said the usual "we have no plans at this time..." excuse. From what I read, the product probably isn't very useful for someone who's a touch-typist anyway.

Crowd here is missing a big thing in my book

[TheCouchPotatoFamine]

Old news, yeah, but with the concern hospitals have over a) using technology to reduce doctor errors and efficiency and b) maintaining a clean environment where, frankly, no pda or keyboard or tactile interface is yet clean in the slighest (disposable sleeves for pda, maybe, but stil..

I'd say the neatest thing is in hospitals where a bit of disinfectant on smooth surface is all it takes to keep transmission of shared consoles down - hey, even sliding paper rolls for the purpose. Any way just thought 'gee that's appicable'..