Still the only Multitouch keyboard, as far as I'm aware. Only available second hand.
Nothing beats it for coding. You can't hit quite the same CPS as with a mechanical keyboard, but that's more than made up for by zero-switch-time mousing and gestures. Being able to just drag code around as you're writing it is fantastic.
For tasks involving a lot of free form text--emails, documents--I switch to a mechanical keyboard.
I've had the HTC Vive for a little over two years. I now have three of them; one is the Pro. A few points that may be of interest:
- They're great for kids. My daughter got into Job Simulator when she was four. She could happily spend an hour experimenting with different recipes in the kitchen. My son recently had his first serious play--he's two. He loves it.
- Multiplayer is amazing. SculptVR was a phenomenal sandbox experience. Battle Dome was everything VR multiplayer should be.
- Beat Saber looks like a great time--see YouTube--but is actually far more fun than it looks. For me it's convincing proof that VR can do single player games, too.
- It's not that expensive any more. Okay, it's not cheap yet, but my most recent Vive setup uses a mid end gaming laptop.
- The software is a problem. SculptVR _was_ an amazing experience until updates broke multiplayer. Battle Dome _was_ an amazing experience until the player base left. I haven't found anything to replace them. (Minecraft is a serious contender, but it's annoying to set up.) For multiplayer, Rec Room and Raw Data are about as good as it gets right now. Most games are barely worth a look.
Where does this leave it overall? If you always dreamed of VR, you can stop dreaming: it's here, it works, it's fantastic. You can have fun for hundreds of hours. But there isn't really the content yet for thousands of hours--unless you get into multiplayer, in which case you're probably going to have to arrange to meet up with friends so you have people to play with.
Is it worth a look? If you're serious about gaming, absolutely. Here's hoping the naysayers are wrong.
The hardware is excellent. (Talking about the Vive, but I guess the Oculus is similar). The software is enough to see the potential, but there's huge room for improvement.
90% of the people who I've seen try it have been extremely impressed. This includes kids (4 yrs old, 5 yrs old) and people who would never touch a 3D game. It's just incredibly easy to use and very, very compelling.
The technology has delivered. Whether it will take off is now a matter of marketing, cost, and the network effect -- there need to be more developers, more users, for software quality to increase.
If you actually read it, the study is about whether standing desks reduce the amount of time you spend sitting.
It doesn't say anything about whether sitting is bad except in the "background" section, which says "Physical inactivity at workplaces and particularly increased sitting has been linked to increase in cardiovascular disease, obesity and overall mortality."
So, pretty much the opposite of what the article is implying.
That's a personal estimate. I don't know why there isn't research into the TouchStream: there should be. It's why I talk about it at every opportunity, in the hope that all this work is built on rather than forgotten...
Mice and keyboards certainly win in a comparison between somebody who's been using a mouse and keyboard for >1 month and someone who just picked up a TouchStream. Doing a fair comparison would be quite a lot of work, unfortunately.
But for me personally I can assure you that I work more quickly on a TouchStream than with mouse+keyboard. This doesn't prove anything, since it's only one data point, but using a mouse+keyboard is a pretty obvious barrier to work. (Which, BTW, is chiefly email and programming. Editing code is far faster with integrated mousing.)
Again from experience I must disagree. It's bad for a keyboard to have no travel because you miss the precise "did I press the key or not" feedback. But it's not bad for your hands.
It's bad for a keyboard to have no pressure needed because without some clever multitouch technology there's no way to tell whether you meant to press the key and it would get very annoying.
There are lots of reasons for keyboards to be as they are, but I don't think comfort is one of them.
Presumably you can do the wrong thing with a TouchStream and hammer away at it, but I haven't found that to be necessary.
I disagree: the keyboard and mouse do not work really well. What they are is really easy to start using, and good enough.
The TouchStream takes at least a month or two to get used to. Most people spent that long getting started with a keyboard, and aren't willing to invest the time again learning a new device. Nor is there any pressing need except for power users.
For those power users, though, the TouchStream presents a potentially big[1] boost to productivity and comfort. At least, that's what I found.
[1] Where "big" is ~20%. That's only big if you're working 8 hours a day...
I work 8 hours a day on a Fingerworks TouchStream.
I can say with absolutely no hesitation that it's much, much nicer on my hands than the keyboard+mouse combo was. Actually that's why I switched in the first place.
People get scared of using a touchpad as a keyboard, but it's much better for lots of reasons. Chords/gestures are much more powerful than keys, and you get integrated mousing.
This keyboard is much, much better than a normal keyboard+mouse combo. But it takes more than a few minutes to learn, and it was always low volume, so they weren't a huge commercial success.
MultiTouch devices are very precise. In fact, moreso than a mouse for fine movements, because they take an average over the whole contact area so subpixel movements are possible.
You can have a keyboard. See the TouchStream. It works really well and is more efficient than a mouse+keyboard combo. Use of MultiTouch makes the keyboard itself vastly more efficient: gestures and chords are all available without leaving the keyboard.
I've played Doom 3 using the TouchStream. It's not as good as a keyboard+mouse combo but I'll bet it beats gamepad.
There's actually a preconfigured 'emacs mode' on the TouchStream, but I've never tried it. I assume the idea is that most of the common key sequences are available as gestures...
Whether these would speed things up is doubtful, but they're probably more comfortable than the corresponding keypresses. And moving chunks of text around and navigating docs is (again, probably) still quicker with some mouse involvement.
In any case it is my sincere hope that something will come along to replace the TouchStream. In particular, before mine stop working:)
Again you're lacking data... integrated mousing and typing leads to an entirely different way of working which is smoother and quicker.
As a programmer you probably spend a lot of time switching between windows, moving hunks of text around, launching compilers, etc. These are all quicker and more easily accomplished with a mouse than a keyboard -- if you can only avoid the switching cost. With the TouchStream you can.
Of course I also am lacking the data to say that you're wrong:)... but to dismiss it without having tried it seems shortsighted.
The only thing I can say for sure is that if I try to work on a normal keyboard (and I can still type >90WPM) I quickly get frustrated and reach for my TouchStream.
Suppose a better keyboard could make you 500% more productive. Would that improve your life? Would it matter that you had to use normal keyboards when away from your desk?
I'm not talking about comfort (although that's a factor), I'm talking about serious gains. There is a very good reason TouchStream keyboard go for over a thousand dollars on ebay.
I wouldn't claim 500% for the Touchstream, but I do claim 120-180%. Wouldn't you like that next raise?
Your statement "if everyone is in agreement on a point, there can be no controversy on that point" doesn't apply. He said the agreed-upon point is causing controversy, not that it is a controversy.
Besides, reinterpreting someone's own words for them seems a futile venture at best:p
From what I understand, iris recognition technology scans in the infrared range, so a photo won't work. It might also mean contact lenses don't work as you suggest.
Sounds like a good combination; obviously I did get used to the zero tactile feedback part. For me the trick was to customize to minimise movement away from the home keys as much as possible...
One of the issues with slashdot is trying to differentiate between people who sound like they know what they're talking about and people who actually do. No offence, but, which are you?:p
The Wikipedia article agrees with me:
It might seem that three satellites would be enough to solve for a position, since space has three dimensions. However, a three satellite solution requires the time be known to a nanosecond or so, far better than any non-laboratory clock can provide. Using four or more satellites allows the receiver to solve for time as well as geographical position, eliminating the need for a super accurate clock. In other words, the receiver uses four measurements to solve for four variables: x, y, z, and t. While many GPS applications have no particular use for the computed time, it is used in some GPS applications such as time transfer.
Nice but not as nice as the TouchStream... at a glance the TouchStream has stronger macro/programmability capability, plus gestures and mousing. See the official page.
Slashdot Mirror
Still the only Multitouch keyboard, as far as I'm aware. Only available second hand.
Nothing beats it for coding. You can't hit quite the same CPS as with a mechanical keyboard, but that's more than made up for by zero-switch-time mousing and gestures. Being able to just drag code around as you're writing it is fantastic.
For tasks involving a lot of free form text--emails, documents--I switch to a mechanical keyboard.
I think that's the lawyers talking...
https://www.digitaltrends.com/...
I've had the HTC Vive for a little over two years. I now have three of them; one is the Pro. A few points that may be of interest:
- They're great for kids. My daughter got into Job Simulator when she was four. She could happily spend an hour experimenting with different recipes in the kitchen. My son recently had his first serious play--he's two. He loves it.
- Multiplayer is amazing. SculptVR was a phenomenal sandbox experience. Battle Dome was everything VR multiplayer should be.
- Beat Saber looks like a great time--see YouTube--but is actually far more fun than it looks. For me it's convincing proof that VR can do single player games, too.
- It's not that expensive any more. Okay, it's not cheap yet, but my most recent Vive setup uses a mid end gaming laptop.
- The software is a problem. SculptVR _was_ an amazing experience until updates broke multiplayer. Battle Dome _was_ an amazing experience until the player base left. I haven't found anything to replace them. (Minecraft is a serious contender, but it's annoying to set up.) For multiplayer, Rec Room and Raw Data are about as good as it gets right now. Most games are barely worth a look.
Where does this leave it overall? If you always dreamed of VR, you can stop dreaming: it's here, it works, it's fantastic. You can have fun for hundreds of hours. But there isn't really the content yet for thousands of hours--unless you get into multiplayer, in which case you're probably going to have to arrange to meet up with friends so you have people to play with.
Is it worth a look? If you're serious about gaming, absolutely. Here's hoping the naysayers are wrong.
Having tried it -- I disagree.
The hardware is excellent. (Talking about the Vive, but I guess the Oculus is similar). The software is enough to see the potential, but there's huge room for improvement.
90% of the people who I've seen try it have been extremely impressed. This includes kids (4 yrs old, 5 yrs old) and people who would never touch a 3D game. It's just incredibly easy to use and very, very compelling.
The technology has delivered. Whether it will take off is now a matter of marketing, cost, and the network effect -- there need to be more developers, more users, for software quality to increase.
If you actually read it, the study is about whether standing desks reduce the amount of time you spend sitting.
It doesn't say anything about whether sitting is bad except in the "background" section, which says "Physical inactivity at workplaces and particularly increased sitting has been linked to increase in cardiovascular disease, obesity and overall mortality."
So, pretty much the opposite of what the article is implying.
It didn't die: it was bought by Apple.
See: iPhone, and the flashy new touchpads.
That's a success, just not for people who liked the original product...
That's a personal estimate. I don't know why there isn't research into the TouchStream: there should be. It's why I talk about it at every opportunity, in the hope that all this work is built on rather than forgotten...
Mice and keyboards certainly win in a comparison between somebody who's been using a mouse and keyboard for >1 month and someone who just picked up a TouchStream. Doing a fair comparison would be quite a lot of work, unfortunately.
But for me personally I can assure you that I work more quickly on a TouchStream than with mouse+keyboard. This doesn't prove anything, since it's only one data point, but using a mouse+keyboard is a pretty obvious barrier to work. (Which, BTW, is chiefly email and programming. Editing code is far faster with integrated mousing.)
Again from experience I must disagree. It's bad for a keyboard to have no travel because you miss the precise "did I press the key or not" feedback. But it's not bad for your hands.
It's bad for a keyboard to have no pressure needed because without some clever multitouch technology there's no way to tell whether you meant to press the key and it would get very annoying.
There are lots of reasons for keyboards to be as they are, but I don't think comfort is one of them.
Presumably you can do the wrong thing with a TouchStream and hammer away at it, but I haven't found that to be necessary.
I disagree: the keyboard and mouse do not work really well. What they are is really easy to start using, and good enough.
The TouchStream takes at least a month or two to get used to. Most people spent that long getting started with a keyboard, and aren't willing to invest the time again learning a new device. Nor is there any pressing need except for power users.
For those power users, though, the TouchStream presents a potentially big[1] boost to productivity and comfort. At least, that's what I found.
[1] Where "big" is ~20%. That's only big if you're working 8 hours a day...
Have you ever actually used a Fingerworks TouchStream?
I have, for years, and you're simply wrong: typing on a TouchStream requires less force than typing on a mechanical keyboard.
It's "touch" for a reason. You don't press, you touch.
I work 8 hours a day on a Fingerworks TouchStream.
I can say with absolutely no hesitation that it's much, much nicer on my hands than the keyboard+mouse combo was. Actually that's why I switched in the first place.
This is easily solved, the touchpad can be a keyboard:
YouTube video
People get scared of using a touchpad as a keyboard, but it's much better for lots of reasons. Chords/gestures are much more powerful than keys, and you get integrated mousing.
They did, but not enough people bought it.
Youtube video
This keyboard is much, much better than a normal keyboard+mouse combo. But it takes more than a few minutes to learn, and it was always low volume, so they weren't a huge commercial success.
I can offer direct insight into your questions courtesy of years of experience using the Fingerworks TouchStream:
http://www.fingerworks.com/ST_product.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDW5zyjhCbc
MultiTouch devices are very precise. In fact, moreso than a mouse for fine movements, because they take an average over the whole contact area so subpixel movements are possible.
You can have a keyboard. See the TouchStream. It works really well and is more efficient than a mouse+keyboard combo. Use of MultiTouch makes the keyboard itself vastly more efficient: gestures and chords are all available without leaving the keyboard.
I've played Doom 3 using the TouchStream. It's not as good as a keyboard+mouse combo but I'll bet it beats gamepad.
This already exists... it's called the MacNTouch, and is sadly no longer produced: http://www.fingerworks.com/MacNTouch_product.html
Copyright does not require innovation, just originality.
There's actually a preconfigured 'emacs mode' on the TouchStream, but I've never tried it. I assume the idea is that most of the common key sequences are available as gestures...
Whether these would speed things up is doubtful, but they're probably more comfortable than the corresponding keypresses. And moving chunks of text around and navigating docs is (again, probably) still quicker with some mouse involvement.
In any case it is my sincere hope that something will come along to replace the TouchStream. In particular, before mine stop working :)
Again you're lacking data ... integrated mousing and typing leads to an entirely different way of working which is smoother and quicker.
As a programmer you probably spend a lot of time switching between windows, moving hunks of text around, launching compilers, etc. These are all quicker and more easily accomplished with a mouse than a keyboard -- if you can only avoid the switching cost. With the TouchStream you can.
Of course I also am lacking the data to say that you're wrong :) ... but to dismiss it without having tried it seems shortsighted.
The only thing I can say for sure is that if I try to work on a normal keyboard (and I can still type >90WPM) I quickly get frustrated and reach for my TouchStream.
Neither argument holds water.
Suppose a better keyboard could make you 500% more productive. Would that improve your life? Would it matter that you had to use normal keyboards when away from your desk?
I'm not talking about comfort (although that's a factor), I'm talking about serious gains. There is a very good reason TouchStream keyboard go for over a thousand dollars on ebay.
I wouldn't claim 500% for the Touchstream, but I do claim 120-180%. Wouldn't you like that next raise?
Your statement "if everyone is in agreement on a point, there can be no controversy on that point" doesn't apply. He said the agreed-upon point is causing controversy, not that it is a controversy.
Besides, reinterpreting someone's own words for them seems a futile venture at best :p
Hmm, do you have a source for that information?
From what I understand, iris recognition technology scans in the infrared range, so a photo won't work. It might also mean contact lenses don't work as you suggest.
How can you define "works just fine" if you've never tried the alternatives?
There's nothing wrong with being happy, but it's well known that ignorance is an effective way to happiness :p
Yeah it's a downside :)
Sounds like a good combination; obviously I did get used to the zero tactile feedback part. For me the trick was to customize to minimise movement away from the home keys as much as possible...
One of the issues with slashdot is trying to differentiate between people who sound like they know what they're talking about and people who actually do. No offence, but, which are you? :p
The Wikipedia article agrees with me:
It might seem that three satellites would be enough to solve for a position, since space has three dimensions. However, a three satellite solution requires the time be known to a nanosecond or so, far better than any non-laboratory clock can provide. Using four or more satellites allows the receiver to solve for time as well as geographical position, eliminating the need for a super accurate clock. In other words, the receiver uses four measurements to solve for four variables: x, y, z, and t. While many GPS applications have no particular use for the computed time, it is used in some GPS applications such as time transfer.
Full article.
(For the record, I'm no expert, but I did attend the odd lecture about GPS back at uni).
Nice but not as nice as the TouchStream ... at a glance the TouchStream has stronger macro/programmability capability, plus gestures and mousing. See the official page.