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Toshiba Introduces a Cortana Keyboard Button For Windows 10
Ammalgam writes: In what seems like a really pivotal moment for computing, Toshiba have indicated that they will be introducing a new button to their line of keyboards. This key would be dedicated to summoning Microsoft's virtual assistant in Windows 10 — Cortana. A dedicated Cortana key would be one of the more significant changes to the keyboard since the Windows key was added at about the time Windows 95 was introduced, in 1995.
We need to handle a Mod-6 key now.
I write sci-fi for metalheads
I'm pretty sure this is the same department as laptop specialty keys or the play/pause/skip buttons. The Windows key is used for shortcuts and is positioned in the main grouping. Surely they aren't sticking this in the main group of keys.
Oh, remember all those times you used that e-mail button on your keyboard to start your mail program, or the globe button to launch the web browser. I can't even imagine life before I had those. I bet this will be just as successful!
Slagborr
a Clippy Key?
Never answer an anonymous letter. - Yogi Berra
They took pageup/pagedown keys out, used on every page and introduced silly keys. Why is marketing people so stupid? Why do they win every decision?
When i use my Windows key Cortana searchfield is activated and i can also use voice
Except that I haven't used the "windows key" in years, my newest keyboard had the ability to re-purpose the key to something useful.
Looks like it replaced the esc key.
Now what?
Don't be apathetic. Procrastinate!
the time Windows 95 was introduced, in 1995.
In case we thought that the 95 stood for something else.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Don't be alarmed, you can still pry the key cap off with a screwdriver to avoid accidentally pressing it.
Remember when Windows only needed 3 keys?
First paragraph of the article: "As an IT professional with 20+ years in the business, it’s easy to get jaded."
This is written on http://www.windows10update.com, so yeah, I agree with that first paragraph. The rest of it? Not in my lifetime. Especially the fake hype about a god damned button!
PS: How the hell does this merit a post here? And even if it did, I'd pick a better article, though I doubt that exists...
The summary really doesn't do this article the justice it deserves. It's been some time since I've seen such a strong example of Poe's Law.
Back in the day, we'd play Quake using a keyboard, and the button between ctrl(shoot) and alt(strafe) was that dumb windows key. On all my keyboards I get for home use, the windows key rapidly meets the fate of being pried off by a screw driver.
God spoke to me
Oh! My! Gosh! What a creation! I can imagine people kicking down the doors waiting for this one!!! How will they keep the hoards from breaking the building apart when they don't have enough in stock? I can even see people bringing in their old keyboards, getting a blowtorch and getting rid of that "ESC" thing (what was that for again?), and inserting the round circle (not a 0, not an O or an o, but the CORTANA button). This single lone thing is bigger than the CPU, its bigger than electricity! This changes everything! What did we do before this??? Oh! My! Gosh! Toshiba, you sure are the clever ones! I know I'm going to smash my current keyboard to bits right now, and rush out and demand 5, no 10. 10 of these keyboards! Golly!
I dearly love my old Compaq keyboard, but he's a gap toothed beast ever since the "pivotal" moment where I hooked my fingernail under the exposed edge of my right-hand Windows keys and the key cap went catapulting through the air.
Another "pivotal moment" in my career was when I finally learned how to quickly hack together a user style to eliminate annoying bling on any web page I happen to visit.
I have close to 150 tiny user scripts in my inventory now, and no longer see any "social" buttons on any web site I frequent or any slider animations. As I don't actually use any social networks "share" decorations are just a visual plague so far as I'm concerned.
The worst web sites I've visited come up completely red with a giant profanity across the screen (those that pretend to offer something useful, but the hoops exceed any possible utility one might derive).
Just half an hour ago I coded up this user style:
body a {
background: yellow;
pointer-events: none !important;
cursor: default !important;
}
This makes all links on all tabs non-clickable, for when I want to select link text using MakeLink to copy into my wiki. It's damn annoying trying to select clickable text. I pretty much always use double-click drag (whole words only) for the main selection gesture. This simply doesn't work on links. Correction. It simply didn't work on links. Of course, I have to turn it on and off manually. I'll work on a button later.
Oh, yes, another pivotal moment was when I took control over USB insertion events to prevent a certain device from auto-mounting every time I put it on the tit to juice up. That initiative required several freakish lines of syntax, but at the end of the day was entirely worth the effort.
Huh. That's funny. There seems to be a pattern here. All my pivotal events, pretty much, are when I finally suppress some irritating pimple-glint love child auto-bling from imposing itself on my happy cocoon.
Initiate self destruct sequence
Its forseeable that cortana will (soonish) start to be always listening and react to the user saying "okay cortana" (or similiar), so no button will be needed.
Yeah, geeks can't find the button on a real woman that makes her come, but a virtual one? They'll be all over it...
Wow that's the only feature they could think of to improve a keyboard!!
We must be at a pinnacle of keyboard development if all the R & D team can think of is to add another button like they did 20years ago!!
This is just as bad as Hollywood insisting on remaking every movie (usually worse than the original.. Total recall?? Why!!! Footloose?? Why oh why)
I honestly can't tell.
Oh good, another fucking button in addition to the mail/ web/ home/ messenger/ calculator/ log off/ sleep/ and windows start buttons. Will it feature Mr. Clip it, and that annoying dog too? Personally, I want my keyboard to have a hot/cold automatic cup holder with integrated flush toilet.
Just as much as that useless waste of space known as the Windows key
July 31, 2012
Microsoft (MS) began encrypting web-based chat with the introduction of the new outlook.com service. This new Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption effectively cut off collection of the new service for FAA 702 and likely 12333 (to some degree) for the Intelligence Community (IC). MS, working with the FBI, developed a surveillance capability to deal with the new SSL. These solutions were successfully tested and went live 12 Dec 2012.
March 15, 2013
SSO's PRISM program began tasking all Microsoft PRISM selectors to Skype because Skype allows users to log in using account identifiers in addition to Skype usernames. Until now, PRISM would not collect any Skype data when a user logged in using anything other than the Skype username which resulted in missing collection; this action will mitigate that. In fact, a user can create a Skype account using any e-mail address with any domain in the world. UTT does not currently allow analysts to task these non-Microsoft e-mail addresses to PRISM, however,
March 7, 2014
PRISM now collects Microsoft Skydrive data as part of PRISM'S standard Stored Communications collection package for a tasked FISA Amendments Act Section 702 (FAA702) selector. This means that analysts will no longer have to make a special request to SSO for this - a process step that many analysts may not have known about. This new capability will result in a much more complete and timely collection response from SSO for our Enterprise customers. This success is the result of the FBI working for many months with Microsoft to get this tasking and collection solution established. "SkyDrive is a cloud service that allows users to store and access their files on a variety of devices.
so there's the one we type on and the one we navigate with....
... that it's worth its own key? For that matter, is Siri or Ask Google any better?
Cortana isn't even going to be available here in Canada when Windows 10 is released. Why would I want yet another Windows-specific key for a useless MicroSoft "feature" on my keyboard?
As it is, I use good old fashioned AT keyboards without any of the volume keys and other crap that you see on "consumer" keyboards. Don't need them, don't want them, and hate wasting the desk space for another row of buttons.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
"Cortana" is another C-word like "Clippy" and will probably prove about as useful... :P
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
With so many keyboard shortcuts bound to control-, and it requiring such an awkward reach to the current location, I guess it only makes sense to add a bunch of stupid clutter to what should be a straightforward input device.
You know, it's stories like this is what keeps me coming back to the Internet's pre-eminent tech site.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortana is still a disambiguation page...
"it's worth remembering that the Office Assistant was easy to disable"
...
Only in its earlier version, by deleting an 'actors' directory from Windows. Later on Clippy was totally integrated into the app and like Dracula, kept coming back to life regardless of how many time you disabled it.
--
shit, cunt, fuck, arse
Here's a list of what it's good for, from ms's webiste and reformatted somewhat... ;)
YOU may not use these functions but they exist and I'll bet that a couple of them will be useful to you, but just a couple.
Windows key+Tab
Cycle through programs on the taskbar by using Aero Flip 3-D
Ctrl+Windows+Tab
Use the arrow keys to cycle through programs on the taskbar by using Aero Flip 3-D
Windows logo key
Open or close the Start menu.
Windows key +Pause
Display the System Properties dialog box.
Windows key +D
Display the desktop.
Windows key +M
Minimize all windows.
Windows key +Shift+M
Restore minimized windows to the desktop.
Windows key +E
Open Computer.
Windows key +F
Search for a file or folder.
Ctrl+Windows key +F
Search for computers (if you're on a network).
Windows key +L
Lock your computer or switch users.
Windows key +R
Open the Run dialog box.
Windows key +T
Cycle through programs on the taskbar.
Windows key+number
Start the program pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number. If the program is already running, switch to that program.
Shift+Windows key+number
Start a new instance of the program pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number.
Ctrl+Windows key+number
Switch to the last active window of the program pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number.
Alt+Windows key+number
Open the Jump List for the program pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number.
Windows key +Tab
Cycle through programs on the taskbar by using Aero Flip 3-D.
Ctrl+Windows key +Tab
Use the arrow keys to cycle through programs on the taskbar by using Aero Flip 3-D.
Ctrl+Windows key +B
Switch to the program that displayed a message in the notification area.
Windows key +Spacebar
Preview the desktop.
Windows key +Up Arrow
Maximize the window.
Windows key +Left Arrow
Maximize the window to the left side of the screen.
Windows key +Right Arrow
Maximize the window to the right side of the screen.
Windows key +Down Arrow
Minimize the window.
Windows key +Home
Minimize all but the active window.
Windows key +Shift+Up Arrow
Stretch the window to the top and bottom of the screen.
Windows key +Shift+Left Arrow or Right Arrow
Move a window from one monitor to another.
Windows key +P
Choose a presentation display mode.
Windows key +G
Cycle through gadgets.
Windows key +U
Open Ease of Access Center.
Windows key +X
Open Windows Mobility Center.
Bring back quick launch.
Full screen 'apps' on a 30in monitor just suck big time. While they might be fine on an 11in laptop on big screens they are just silly.
Tiles? They are for the kitchen and bathroom not a computer....
in the long history of Microsoft virtual digital "assistants"... Had Bob, Clippy and all those pesky pets had their own keyboard buttons, they would have conquered the world!
...to get slashdotters to talk about Windows.
http://www.heise.de/forum/heis...
I thought we'd all suffered enough advertising on our keyboards since 1995 already? ;-)
Thankfully the glorious Model M remains unbreakable and unaffected...
If you need to press something to activate voice control, it has already failed.
MICROSOFT INNOVATION SURVIVAL KIT
ONLY BREAK SEAL IN CASE OF EMERGENCY
Contents of Packet A: New Keyboard button.
Contents of Packet B: New Mouse button.
Contents of Packet C: New Assistant with Mechanical Voice.
Also included: Start Button removal tool, 10-pack of various Wizards (from1997, dehydrated), Clippy spray.
Customers who purchased this also bought:
Apple Innovation Survival Kit
<blink>down the rabbit hole</blink>
does Cortana become the Duper key?
because I assume this is the reason they named it Cortana to fool to Halo dedicated
A very educational article. By reading it I learned that Onuora Amobi is another one to add to the long list of people I think are utter fucking idiots.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
http://1.f.ix.de/scale/geometr... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... I'm scared...
What, no happy face Microsoft Bob button?
Microsoft Bob and and Jimmy Hoffa have left us by similar means, one digital and one analog, I'm afraid, but we were able to incorporate Bob's essence --- the packaging material of the Kit is comprised of 100% recycled encrypted Bob! . While we strive to include at least "a Bob's worth in every Kit"... due to variations in manufacture and settling part of him is missing or arrived too late, so you'll need to purchase five or more kits to ensure you have a whole Bob.
The decryption key for Bob was not provided to us, but there are rumors that the Russians and Chinese have cracked it and a reconstituted corrupted version of Microsoft Bob was used to infiltrate the Office of Personnel Management.
If your package has been tampered with or Microsoft Bob is smoking a pipe... you have "weaponized Bob", and your product has been contaminated by Slack from this divine pre-Windows entity. Please return the product for a full and cutaneous refund.
<blink>down the rabbit hole</blink>
....to keep my Cherry keyboard from the 90s. It is not OS dependent and does not have these extra buttons that just get in the way. That Cortana button seems to be tucked into the upper corner, I wish keyboard manufacturers would do the same with these dumb Windows keys. They constantly get in the way and really serve little purpose with Windows not being that easy to use purely with keyboard navigation.