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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?
Looks like it replaced the esc key.
Now what?
Don't be apathetic. Procrastinate!
windows +L at work is pretty much the only time i use that key, or searching on windows 8
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
Shut up, Arcademan.
Could have been 1895 or 2095.
Oh wait, you guys haven't discovered time travel yet.
Carry on.
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
So Windows 10 is 5 years late.
I eat only the real part of complex carbohydrates.
Remember when Windows only needed 3 keys?
the time Windows 95 was introduced, in 1995.
In case we thought that the 95 stood for something else.
If it was Google who wrote Windows, we would have hit Windows 95 back in the 1980s.
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.
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.
Put in a bit of cardboard and put the cap back.
Less unsightly and sooner or later you will hit the spot by accident.
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.
Cardboard? Fucking casual.
The correct solution is to glue a drawing pin onto the keycap, upside down.
CLI paste? paste.pr0.tips!
... 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...
The Google Windows 95 beta was discontinued in 1986 after too many people came to rely on it for their daily work.
You probably mean Windows+Break (bring up system information).
Windows+Pause (when Shift key is held among Win and Break) does nothing.
ArcadeMan, the Al Lowe of Slashdot.
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.
There's always the mouse, but I think you're missing out on some useful shortcuts.
https://support.microsoft.com/...
I find the Windows Logo + cursor keys particularly useful.
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>
Hmm, apparently the key actually isn't dual-function but it only has two names.
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."
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.