It was my first thought, too. Xara (Xtreme/X1/X/Studio/Artworks) has a similar function. Not sure whether it's in the Xara XL Linux beta.
As with the other suggestions: trace the image (with a fairly large colour threshold, and possibly quite a lot of smoothing and de-noising), then select the whole result and give it a finite line width (depends on the size of the image, but not "thin") and no fill colour. The benefit of the tracing route is that - because the result is a vector - you can make a nice smooth outline from a pretty low res image. It might be a bit "hairy", though - you may have to clean up the result a bit (if you want to look at it closely; a thick line might hide the problems).
I've had thoughts for a while of producing a mud-type
game with an entirely simulated AI. Not allowing language
helps a lot, which may make multi-player interaction a
problem, but it would be nice to pass a Turing test in a
silent environment. It would only work in the right kind
of game, obviously (so this has been an interesting discussion
thread to read).
All I really had to contribute was: I thoroughly recommend
"Inferno",
a short film from 2001 about a FPS based on a learning AI,
with the film told from the point of view of one of the AIs
(who falls in love with the player).
For a comedy, it's actually quite informative about how this
kind of thing could turn out if the AI was intelligent enough.
Keys are aligned with natural movements of fingers to insure proper posture when typing
This is a good thing.
It would be, but they're not aligned with
natural finger movements. Without doing horrible things
to by wrist, anyway. Maltron and Kinesis keyboards are
properly curved and aligned with finger movement; a
flat layout isn't. This keyboard seems to have gone out
of its way to make life harder for both touch typing
and hunt-and-peck.
Alphabetical letters are easier to find and keys are color-coded on the NSK535R to aid hunt & peck typists
Easier to find if you have never typed before, otherwise they will be just as hard to find.
As other repliers have said, alphabetical doesn't
work because of arbitrary breaks (except with a 26
keys in a line, or arguably Q=A,A=B,Z=C,W=D etc.) Once
learnt, it's no easier or faster and just adds another
layout which you can't use on other people's machines.
Dvorak and the Maltron layout at least add something.
Unless, of course, every study ever done on this
subject is wrong and the market research of the designer
is correct after all... (The layout I do want
to learn is inverted QWERTY - so I can type things in for slow sales assistants when their keyboards are
upside down to me...)
I particularly like the idea of colour-coding the
keys; obviously you'd never be able to understand what
an alphabetical character looks like without help, and
that's more important than having contrasting colours
which would let you actually see the label. It's an
idea used on toy computers to encourage children to
play with the bright colours. It's useless to
adults.
All keys can be easily reached from the home position
This is true if you have small hands.
I don't like the look of alt-anything. I can reach
everything on my Kinesis without moving my hands; I
can reach everything on my Libretto's QWERTY keyboard
too...
Shift keys are centralized and shift characters can be typed one-handed for assisted applications and handicapped
This may be a good thing
I'm having trouble working out which keys are "shift"
- Windows already has a "sticky" shift option, I
believe, so the idea of having a smaller key where it's
harder to chord than the traditional large "little
finger" shift keys seems bizarre. Rotating around my
thumb to try to shift something isn't my idea of
comfort, even if my thumb was the right shape for those
keys. I'm not sure what's "one-handed" about this; I've
never had a problem on QWERTY (although admittedly
split keyboards make one-handed typing a bit harder).
Making the user reach over the function keys in
order to type anything is a stroke of brilliance,
though. Excuse me while I accidentally brush a function
key once in a while (whilst being unable to see what
I hit), and have to remove my hands completely from the
keyboard in order to work out which rarely-used key
I meant to hit. (The point of function keys being where
you can see them is... oh never mind.)
Editing keys are integrated
This also may be a good thing
Or idiotic. It makes it hard to navigate with one
hand and tap in the occasional character with the
other, as I tend to on QWERTY (the other hand is in
the way); it makes one-handed typing harder in general. (Admittedly the Kinesis keyboard has the same
problems, but at least it gains something in return.)
The keyboard has a smaller footprint, which allows the mouse to be placed right next to the typing keys
This is not necessarily good, a smaller keyboard may just cramp your hands and typing leading to more mistakes?
There are plenty of small keyboards on the market,
with traditional layouts. Many of which offer a far
more accessible key arrangement. I recommend the
Gyration cordless keyboard, btw. If this keyboard is
aiming to be small, there should be less plastic around
the keys. The Libretto keyboard does, admittedly, take
some getting used to (the keys are closer togeth
Slashdot Mirror
It was my first thought, too. Xara (Xtreme/X1/X/Studio/Artworks) has a similar function. Not sure whether it's in the Xara XL Linux beta.
As with the other suggestions: trace the image (with a fairly large colour threshold, and possibly quite a lot of smoothing and de-noising), then select the whole result and give it a finite line width (depends on the size of the image, but not "thin") and no fill colour. The benefit of the tracing route is that - because the result is a vector - you can make a nice smooth outline from a pretty low res image. It might be a bit "hairy", though - you may have to clean up the result a bit (if you want to look at it closely; a thick line might hide the problems).
HTH.
--
Fluppeteer
I've had thoughts for a while of producing a mud-type game with an entirely simulated AI. Not allowing language helps a lot, which may make multi-player interaction a problem, but it would be nice to pass a Turing test in a silent environment. It would only work in the right kind of game, obviously (so this has been an interesting discussion thread to read).
All I really had to contribute was: I thoroughly recommend "Inferno", a short film from 2001 about a FPS based on a learning AI, with the film told from the point of view of one of the AIs (who falls in love with the player).
For a comedy, it's actually quite informative about how this kind of thing could turn out if the AI was intelligent enough.
Keys are aligned with natural movements of fingers to insure proper posture when typing
This is a good thing.
It would be, but they're not aligned with natural finger movements. Without doing horrible things to by wrist, anyway. Maltron and Kinesis keyboards are properly curved and aligned with finger movement; a flat layout isn't. This keyboard seems to have gone out of its way to make life harder for both touch typing and hunt-and-peck.
Alphabetical letters are easier to find and keys are color-coded on the NSK535R to aid hunt & peck typists
Easier to find if you have never typed before, otherwise they will be just as hard to find.
As other repliers have said, alphabetical doesn't work because of arbitrary breaks (except with a 26 keys in a line, or arguably Q=A,A=B,Z=C,W=D etc.) Once learnt, it's no easier or faster and just adds another layout which you can't use on other people's machines. Dvorak and the Maltron layout at least add something. Unless, of course, every study ever done on this subject is wrong and the market research of the designer is correct after all... (The layout I do want to learn is inverted QWERTY - so I can type things in for slow sales assistants when their keyboards are upside down to me...)
I particularly like the idea of colour-coding the keys; obviously you'd never be able to understand what an alphabetical character looks like without help, and that's more important than having contrasting colours which would let you actually see the label. It's an idea used on toy computers to encourage children to play with the bright colours. It's useless to adults.
All keys can be easily reached from the home position
This is true if you have small hands.
I don't like the look of alt-anything. I can reach everything on my Kinesis without moving my hands; I can reach everything on my Libretto's QWERTY keyboard too...
Shift keys are centralized and shift characters can be typed one-handed for assisted applications and handicapped
This may be a good thing
I'm having trouble working out which keys are "shift" - Windows already has a "sticky" shift option, I believe, so the idea of having a smaller key where it's harder to chord than the traditional large "little finger" shift keys seems bizarre. Rotating around my thumb to try to shift something isn't my idea of comfort, even if my thumb was the right shape for those keys. I'm not sure what's "one-handed" about this; I've never had a problem on QWERTY (although admittedly split keyboards make one-handed typing a bit harder).
Making the user reach over the function keys in order to type anything is a stroke of brilliance, though. Excuse me while I accidentally brush a function key once in a while (whilst being unable to see what I hit), and have to remove my hands completely from the keyboard in order to work out which rarely-used key I meant to hit. (The point of function keys being where you can see them is... oh never mind.)
Editing keys are integrated
This also may be a good thing
Or idiotic. It makes it hard to navigate with one hand and tap in the occasional character with the other, as I tend to on QWERTY (the other hand is in the way); it makes one-handed typing harder in general. (Admittedly the Kinesis keyboard has the same problems, but at least it gains something in return.)
The keyboard has a smaller footprint, which allows the mouse to be placed right next to the typing keys
This is not necessarily good, a smaller keyboard may just cramp your hands and typing leading to more mistakes?
There are plenty of small keyboards on the market, with traditional layouts. Many of which offer a far more accessible key arrangement. I recommend the Gyration cordless keyboard, btw. If this keyboard is aiming to be small, there should be less plastic around the keys. The Libretto keyboard does, admittedly, take some getting used to (the keys are closer togeth