Actually, the army has been working on a milspec wearable for a couple of years now. I suspect that your display would need to come up a few notches in features before they would be interested, and you'd need to be able to provide mass quantities, but you there is a market there...perhaps you could do a deal to work as an expert advisor to the program, or something like that.
I bought a Twiddler a couple years ago, and a Twiddler2 a few months ago. Chris George, the guy who basically IS Handykey, is on the up-and-up, and even went to a fair amount of trouble to support me...I dropped my Twiddler, and the cable started to get spotty. He took it back, and sent me a new one with no trouble.
Wouldn't you then end up with the lawyers targetting the Information League and putting them out of business (by suing the individual members or the ISPs that provide their access, if nothing else), then going back and targetting the original victim?
Although, I would imagine that we are not the first to think of ourselves as living "on the [insert name here] edge"...think what it must have been like living in Renaissance Italy, for example. They probably said many of the same things about how the world is changing.
Dave
I have had wrist pain of various levels for several years now. A couple of years ago, I bought an Adesso, which made an ENORMOUS difference but did not entirely eliminate the problem (meaning that after several hours of typing, I would start getting minor stiffness twinges). If you are looking for a "normal" (i.e., 2-handed keyboard), I *strongly* suggest one of the Adesso models. Mine cost about $60, but has been worth far more in alleviated pain (it has lasted like a trooper too).
I recently purchased the Twiddler (mostly because I'm getting interested in wearable computing) and am still training myself up on it. The basic keymap that it goes with is not as good as it could be; too many common keys require the use of the pinky (notably T and Enter). The device itself could also be physically better designed...the thumb buttons can require awkward hand positions.
That said, remapping keys with the Twiddler is trivial and, as long as you are relearning your typing skills anyway, you can customize it any way you like. Also, the ability to put your hand and arm in any position you like is wonderful--it has almost totally eliminated typing stress for me, and I look forward to using the Twiddler as my only keyboard.
The Twiddler is also a mouse...you tip it to move the pointer. This forces you to exercise your wrist whenever you are using the mouse, which further helps to alleviate wrist pain. Again, the implementation could be slightly better...the pointer moves at a constant rate regardless of how fast you tip it, which means that its range of motion is more constrained than a deskbound mouse, forcing you to reposition it more often. This is be a technologically solvable problem which could be fixed when the Twiddler2 comes out.
Finally, the Twiddler's macro capabilites are exceptional and can pretty much eliminate any common typing you need. There are 12 finger keys and 5 thumb buttons, giving an enormous number of possible macros and setting them up is trivial.
All in all, I recommend the Twiddler. For $199 USD, it's a very good deal.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, the army has been working on a milspec wearable for a couple of years now. I suspect that your display would need to come up a few notches in features before they would be interested, and you'd need to be able to provide mass quantities, but you there is a market there...perhaps you could do a deal to work as an expert advisor to the program, or something like that.
Look here for details: http://www-tradoc.army.mil/pao/landwarrior.htm
Dave Storrs
I bought a Twiddler a couple years ago, and a Twiddler2 a few months ago. Chris George, the guy who basically IS Handykey, is on the up-and-up, and even went to a fair amount of trouble to support me...I dropped my Twiddler, and the cable started to get spotty. He took it back, and sent me a new one with no trouble.
Dave Storrs
Wouldn't you then end up with the lawyers targetting the Information League and putting them out of business (by suing the individual members or the ISPs that provide their access, if nothing else), then going back and targetting the original victim?
Although, I would imagine that we are not the first to think of ourselves as living "on the [insert name here] edge"...think what it must have been like living in Renaissance Italy, for example. They probably said many of the same things about how the world is changing. Dave
I recently purchased the Twiddler (mostly because I'm getting interested in wearable computing) and am still training myself up on it. The basic keymap that it goes with is not as good as it could be; too many common keys require the use of the pinky (notably T and Enter). The device itself could also be physically better designed...the thumb buttons can require awkward hand positions.
That said, remapping keys with the Twiddler is trivial and, as long as you are relearning your typing skills anyway, you can customize it any way you like. Also, the ability to put your hand and arm in any position you like is wonderful--it has almost totally eliminated typing stress for me, and I look forward to using the Twiddler as my only keyboard.
The Twiddler is also a mouse...you tip it to move the pointer. This forces you to exercise your wrist whenever you are using the mouse, which further helps to alleviate wrist pain. Again, the implementation could be slightly better...the pointer moves at a constant rate regardless of how fast you tip it, which means that its range of motion is more constrained than a deskbound mouse, forcing you to reposition it more often. This is be a technologically solvable problem which could be fixed when the Twiddler2 comes out.
Finally, the Twiddler's macro capabilites are exceptional and can pretty much eliminate any common typing you need. There are 12 finger keys and 5 thumb buttons, giving an enormous number of possible macros and setting them up is trivial.
All in all, I recommend the Twiddler. For $199 USD, it's a very good deal.