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Apple MacBook Refresh Could Bring E-Ink Enabled Keyboard (hothardware.com)
MojoKid writes from a report via HotHardware: Apparently Apple has been working on some unique upgrades to its MacBook line, and not just underneath the hood. One of the bigger feature upgrades could actually be in the keyboard. As previously rumored, the new MacBook Pro is likely to sport a secondary touchscreen display at the top of the keyboard. It will sit in place of where the Function keys used to reside and display different graphics and icons, depending on the program that's up and running. However, according to an anonymous reddit user named "Foxconninsider," Apple's also planning to launch a new version of its Magic Keyboard -- one that takes advantage of E-Ink technology. Similar technology was developed by a start-up company named Sonder, the same company Apple is in the process of acquiring. What the tipster describes is each key having its own E Ink display. That means individual keys and/or entire rows can change based on whatever app is loaded. In any event, we should know more soon -- Apple's expected to announce new MacBook products later this month.
The only part of a laptop that has to be changed for each country is the keyboard, hampering logistics. If you can have a software-configurable keyboard, that would help reduce costs for unsold laptops, stock breaks, etc. Even in no application ever uses the facility, just that advantage should be enough, once you get to the right price-durability-functionality combo.
Also the resale value would be increased, as you can now sell it in any country.
Rome taught me patience and assiduous application to detail. Virtues which temper the boldness of great, general views.
That's nice, but purchasing an expensive laptop with only this addition would disappoint - the next MB is expected to improve significantly battery life and performance, unlike the current model compared to its predecessor ; and be cheaper... but "cheap" does not belong to any of Apple dictionaries, so I wouldn't expect a revolution in the price department.
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
I don't want to have to look at keyboard. I'm writting wile looking at the screen not keyboard.
So that sucks a bit.
I assumed that people who use their mac for work or are touch typists don't really look at the keyboard?
So what's the point?
I use this model and work and the eink thing has been nothing but crap. Who wants capacitive keys on a keyboard? I know i sound a bit neckbeard but the nice thing about a keyboard is that nothing changes and you dont have to look at it to know you have pressed it and where you press to do something doesn't change. I did also find i was accidentally brushing it with the back of my hand which would do some random stuff.
Also check out the bios update logs on the x1 carbon. They are a comedy of errors. Who needs a bios update to fix a power issue related to your keyboard? The third gen got rid of it and it is pretty much my ideal machine unfortunately i still have my 2nd gen
How could you do this with backlit keys? That was one of the big features Apple introduced to keyboards.
Wonder what the public key field is for?
I was assigned a Lenovo X1 Carbon with the e-Ink display above the F-keys at a previous job. Needless to say, I was glad to turn that laptop in the day I left.
First, the geniuses at Lenovo decided that the Caps Lock key was not useful, so assumed people would be happy to hold down the Shift key for a few seconds. The caps lock key was replaced by the Home and End keys, and the backtick/tilde key was moved by the right Alt key. This made trying to do basic Linux system administration a PITA. Reaching for the escape key resulted in flipping the E-ink display to a different set of items than the F keys.
There are many things to improve on. Dinking around and moving often used keys is not an improvement. Companies keep trying to do that, be it Compaq where the space bar was cut in half, giving a large backspace key. There might be some compromises, such as locating the arrow keys somewhere different, but changing the fundamental layout of a keyboard doesn't do much other than annoy people, forcing them to have to use a USB or BlueTooth keyboard in order to get work done.
Of course, there was the implementation of the e-Ink bar. It made reaching for a F key annoying, because you were used to hitting a key, not tapping plastic, and with the escape key moved, half the time, it meant you had to tap the bar to get it to the set of function keys.
Decent idea, poor implementation, and it hindered things more than it helped, especially with critical keys moved around willy-nilly.
I can finally get a real APL keyboard layout on my Mac!
I'm a touch typist who keeps my fingernails to about 1mm most of the time. Right now the my 4-year-old 17" MacBook Pro keyboard has five keys where the black color on top has been eroded away: E A S D and left shift. The control and command keys area also showing some wear on the top coating.
So what happens when the key is an active electronic device? I guess at some point a key top will just stop working. At the worst it might even short something out. And I know they will want it to rewrite the key tops when you use the accent composing feature, so just hope that a key doesn't die right after you hit option-E!
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
Wouldn't it be cheaper/easier/more comfortable for end user to have a replaceable keyboard?
Like some cell phones let you replace the rear panel of your phone to change the colour without using a case- you could have an empty tray with sensors on the bottom where the keyboard goes, and then just a clip in keyboard to go on the top that presses the sensors below. An interchangeable clip-in keyboard selection.
Want a different layout, buy a different keyboard insert for $10 (or $40 since this is apple) a cheap chip on the keyboard makes connection with the base to tell it the configuration (or even simpler, just a circuit being connected by pins in a binary code).
This way, not only can you buy the layout you want cheaply/easily without adding bulk- you can customize the keyboard to look like you want it: black, white, red, blue, zebra stripes. You could have a special keyboard for teenage girls that has shortcuts for emojis.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
reddit user "exFoxconninsider"
__
Sigs are like arse-holes, everybody has one
FOR WINNING ARGUMENTS OF COURSE.
That's the only reason I can think of.
Time to refresh my APL skills!
Apple has not even finished the acquisition of the company. After that they have to rework the design so it looks less, I don't know, bad.
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
As a CTRL key, what else?
- These characters were randomly selected.
Touch screens on keyboards? What the hell is Apple thinking? They came out with the perfect computer UI years ago and still haven't released it. And with Siri you can do automatic spell checking too!
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
I think Lenovo was correct. How is the fat caps lock key useful today?
for typing acronyms...
It's about time. I had this same idea back in 2000 (minus the e-ink) of making a keyboard that was essentially a gigantic touchscreen and could be completely configured by defining areas as certain keys. It would allow for non-traditional keyboard use (gaming, foreign keyboards, etc), plus you could make the keyboard have backgrounds, high contrast, etc.
My additional idea was to make low-cost capacitive screen covers that would sit on top, essentially replicating more of the feel of a keyboard (soft keys, granted, but better than typing on a flat surface.) This would allow more of a keyboard feel, and also allow for customized key placement (imagine being able to put any key where ever you wanted!)
Alas, now it's finally coming around (though it seems like it's still just a novelty function at the moment). Too bad I didn't have the money to patent that idea back when I had it.
Maybe you want the ErgoDox - fully programmable keyboard (open source) with multiple "layers". Although for $240 the the non-cherry switches were too fragile, and super-cheap key-caps that cost $35 feels like a major rip-off in what should be a premium keyboard from end to end.
No "J" was harmed in producing this post.
While this will look cool and sounds cool we really do not have to look at the keyboard - we want to look at the screen.
This is just a shiny hi-tech version of those per application cardboard templates people used to have on their keyboards in the 1990s when on-screen menus were shit.
I can see this being fun for five minutes and then annoying as fuck - just like all those menus which change with context only on a keyboard that we've got used to thinking is static.
See the annoyance of "soft keys" on monitors and other situations you are already familiar with.
Think about what they've done with their trackpad - made it a fixed non-moving unit which measures pressure, using a vibrating module underneath to simulate the tactile feedback of a click when sufficient pressure is used.
Isn't that the logical conclusion for where they're headed with this? A keyboard with no moving parts, and reconfigurable e-ink "keys" which simulate a keypress with a little synthetic click when you press the right location with enough pressure.
This was tried in the late 1970s with membrane keyboards (the click was simulated by a speaker underneath the keyboard). Those were terrible for typing, but I guess technology has progressed enough that it might be worth trying again.
As a CTRL key, what else?
Emacs users configure it as an extra CTRL key.
Vi users configure it as an extra ESC key.
I don't see how the keyboard could possibly be fine as-is. There are lots of keys there to remove, and I reckon Apple has the courage to do it. Then watch all the hapless Dell/HP/Lenovo gimps follow suit like the sheep they are. Haha!!!
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
"electronic paper" is a technology.
Which is it actually?
When you can't make a laptop that is better in a way that matters to users, like making it faster, then you start to throw gimmick on it.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
It nice in theory, but I wonder how many software developers will put for the effort to add keyboard change functionality when the market is limited to those who have this keyboard. This is the chicken, we'll need the egg.
There is no backwards compatibility problem, no limited availability problem. The image displayed on the key may change but the character generated by the key can remain the same. Consider a video game that uses ASDW for movement. The displayed images could be changed to directional arrow while the keys still generate 'a', 's', 'd' and 'w' characters. So the only software change necessary would be to check for the new keyboard and if present update the key images for these keys.
Parent is right... what user wants to constantly look at the keyboard and then look at the screen, back and forth? Shortcuts like F1, F2 etc make sense rather than icons on the keys. This is just another superfluous technology, like $160 wireless earbuds.
Redefining the images displayed on the keys would be useful for video games. No bringing up the help screen to figure out what key some functionality is on. Just a glance down at the keyboard.
Touch disease is probably based on the iPhone 6 Plus being able to torque a bit more than is desired, resulting in some contacts having more play than they should, which eventually messes them up. Probably. Most iPhones don't have this issue, including the 6S Plus, which has a bit more reinforcement in the body, or any of the non-plus phones, which don't seem to torque as much. That would be totally unrelated to a tech like this (or even other smartphones).