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The Touch Bar Could Replace the Keyboard on Future Macbooks (cnet.com)
Apple's new patent applications hint at more touch-sensitive surfaces and virtual keyboards. From a report: In the wake of user complaints and multiple lawsuits concerning problems with the "butterfly switch" keyboard Apple has used in its laptops since 2016, the company may be developing new user interfaces that depend less on moving mechanical parts. The company has filed three new keyboard-related patents, Mashable reported on Monday. One of the patent applications describes a laptop with a digital panel where a keyboard traditionally sits. This could be interpreted as a plan to replace the conventional keyboard with technology similar to the Touch Bar -- the row of virtual, customizable buttons that Apple debuted on the Macbook Pro in 2016. The patent also includes information about sensors and haptics embedded beneath the envisioned digital panel, which would allow it to detect and respond to user inputs such as keystrokes, taps and clicks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
As usual, life imitates art.
https://www.theonion.com/apple...
This is a stupid idea and Apple should feel bad.
I was hoping that someone would take my least favorite aspects of the newer macbook pros (a picture of an escape key (vi much?) and pictures of other buttons that take zero force to activate, littering my typing with garbage when a finger strays past the top row) and extend that frustration to every key on the keyboard.
Hey, Apple- while you're at it, why don't you give me a nice papercut and pour lemon juice in it?
This will never fly, it's probably pre-emptive in case someone else thinks its a good idea or for their war chest.
Just like the touch bar itself, no one else gives it positive feedback either ...
The problem with slashdot is that most of its users were bullied and stuffed into lockers as kids!
Quit trying to make the damn laptop so thin and put a good keyboard in it. IMHO Apple's obsession with thin is form over function.
When it comes right down to it, all smart devices need a text entry mechanism. I hate using the touchscreen on my iPhone for basically anything other than a text and the examples here seem to be pushing users in that direction.
Apple Engineers: Rather than trying to come up with new ways for users to enter text into Macbooks, why don't you accept the input method that has been around for more than a century and come up with a keyboard that fixes the problems that were introduced in 2016? If you don't feel like they can be fixed than either go back to the old mechanicals or come up with new ones.
When you have a problem with your hardware, the optimal solution is not to change everybody in the world's approach to interfacing with devices, you should fix the problem.
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
...to never have noticed themselves the positive value of tactile feedback??? Seriously!
About a month ago, I speculated (only half jokingly) that Apple was knowingly and intentionally putting really crappy keyboards into their "Pro" laptops so that they could subsequently move to completely fake keyboards without the users noticing any further degradation in keyboard experience (because basically, at that point, Apple users would already be used to basically drumming their fingers on a piece of metal).
#DeleteChrome
They do need to maintain a development platform for their line of gadgets, though. I suppose they could port an iOS toolchain over to BeOS or some other viable platform.
Except almost no one wants super thin keyboards, except as a trade-off. The actuating mechanism is irrelevant, it is all about the course and tactile feedback. Very thin keyboards don't have enough course and are uncomfortable.
About longevity, even well designed rubber dome keyboards can last for more than a decade and be water resistant. Fancy switches can make things even better but they are not really a necessity for the average user.
RIP is a bit much, but honestly, as a developer and long time Apple user (25+), I can't remember the last time I got excited about a new macbook. In fact, I've spent the past several years wondering where to go next.... (ubuntu + dell XPS is leading the pack these days).
but with Apple's you can do the anime or movie katana meme where you run by the opponent moving the thin thing so fast the eye can't see it, then the opponent takes a step before either torso slides off waist or head or face falls off.
You know Apple "deprecated" cron, right? That kind of idiocy is a strike at the heart of "being *nix" as far as I'm concerned. The less *nixy it is, the more work it is to use it for me, because I have to support both types of OS — I have considerably better things to do than figure out what Apple's screwing up, or planning to screw up, in the latest OS.
Back OT, the awful chiclet keyboards on the macbooks weaned me off ever buying another one again. That was well before they choked the macbook's physical connectivity down to almost nothing.
Apple keyboards aren't designed to get work done that requires, you know, typing. The touch bar... that's evidence of drug-addled interior decorators getting control over Apple engineering. What a travesty. A poster-child worthy example of "form over function." The whole surface with no keys? Ridiculous.
On my Mac desktop, I use a Matias Tactile Pro, which is a decent keyboard. This thing is actually worthy of typing on.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
They are just waiting for the next generation of iPad Pros to be able to run the compiler toolchain. Then they are free of macOS altogether.
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
There is no need to lug around an external. One for the office and possibly a second for home. Most users probably do a relatively small amount of *work* related typing when traveling and on the couch.
Also note I was responding to a claim that *current* Apple laptops are not designed for work. These current keyboards are sufficient for travel and couch. I am *not* defending the notion of a touch screen keyboard, I agree that this would be a bad idea. However I disagree regarding the current keyboards. Which I am typing on right now while on my couch. My desk upstairs has a G4 era mechanical USB Apple keyboard. I prefer these over the current Apple externals, I'd probably use a Unicomp Mac keyboard if my 2 G4 era keyboards died.
"What's a computer?"