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Apple Researching Keyboards With Adaptive Displays on Each Key
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I think that if pro users, however you define them--or really any others, aren't impacted by this when typing, and the price doesn't go up too much for all users, this wouldn't be a bad thing. Even if the images on the keys aren't immediately responsive, it wouldn't be that bad, so long as those who touch type and who have their shortcuts memorized aren't affected. Basically, the shortcut just shouldn't be delayed. I could actually see this as really useful to training your fingers to find those shortcuts, emojis, or whatever, for those who want to use them. It would be fantastic to use with a different alphabet or to be reminded of different shortcuts for different apps when needed.
Flip it around with a touch screen (like a yoga) and so many design and illustration apps could be augmented. I could see a future with all that, contributing to users with all kinds of pro, 1337 (lol) and recreational demands
Flip it around with a touch screen (like a yoga) and so many design and illustration apps could be augmented. I could see a future with all that, contributing to users with all kinds of pro, 1337 (lol) and recreational demands
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Exactly. And teenagers type with their thumbs and only expect to have to type the first few letters for every word they type.
Anyway this type of keyboard is probably for the Oriental market. One where there are too many emojis to put on a keyboard. Wait, what I mean is too many character glyphs. Once we get to only typing emoji then we can harmonize the oriental keyboards with the backwards roman keyboards.
Typing words is so old and out of fashion. We need to progress to 1000 BC like the orientals and only use pictures and glyphs.
Agreed. I type very fast, but if the ”nobody looks at the keys so this is useless” people were right, there would be no need to print characters on the key caps in the first place. Keyboards with blank key caps aren’t very popular, after all.
This would be funny if it showed any understanding of why people hate the Touch Bar.
Hint: the problem with the Touch Bar is not that it is a display. It’s that it’s non-tactile, with keys moving around, not requiring any pressure to activate, and not providing any tactile feedback to indicate that there has been activation.
for those of us buying things like this to simplify Logic and Pro Tools, an automagically morphing keyboard would be amazing...
People: we just want a great keyboard
Apple: here's a butterfly keyboard
People: No, we just want a great keyboard
Apple: Fine, we'll use scissors again. But you gotta at least like the touchbar?
People: NO, we just want a great keyboard
Apple: Okay, let's make the whole keyboard into tiny touchbars....
Apple: here's a butterfly keyboard
People: No, we just want a great keyboard
Apple: Fine, we'll use scissors again. But you gotta at least like the touchbar?
People: NO, we just want a great keyboard
Apple: Okay, let's make the whole keyboard into tiny touchbars....
I’m surprised by the negativity. This has been a useful idea for the future that’s been floating around for 30 years by my memory. It’s just not yet been able to be implemented very well yet.
Does anybody remember the cardboard keyboard overlays for various applications?
Sure, a pro will learn their regular keyboard shortcuts after a lot of practice, but only for some software, and many still don’t at all. The method of learning by looking up an index is very cumbersome, and in most applications outside or word processing the keyboard layout is near enough meaningless. It would obviously be useful if not essential for a device to display what the keys actually do, even if you do fancy yourself as a pro keyboard wizard.
Does anybody remember the cardboard keyboard overlays for various applications?
Sure, a pro will learn their regular keyboard shortcuts after a lot of practice, but only for some software, and many still don’t at all. The method of learning by looking up an index is very cumbersome, and in most applications outside or word processing the keyboard layout is near enough meaningless. It would obviously be useful if not essential for a device to display what the keys actually do, even if you do fancy yourself as a pro keyboard wizard.
Finally, Apple please improve the keyboard by adding dynamic displays that can show specific functions for the software that I use! This seems like such a simple but hugely important improvement to input hardware that's only advancement in the last 25 years has been ever increasing thinness. A Stream Deck like keyboard would improve my work efficiency tremendously and would not harm my gaming as well 
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Shweeew - saved - Apple will need to thank you, as I am sure they had NO idea this existed. 🙄
Patents can exist for each way to skin the cat. Just a guess, but I am pretty confident that Apple’s legal team has confidence in the uniqueness of their application. Just like OLED has unique patents versus QLED, and Micro LED, etc - all for a TV screen that appears pretty similar to all the other TV screens in your google search.
Very helpful for typing in other languages, e.g. for special characters, and especially if you want to type in a language that uses non-Latin characters. Looking forward.
Some people always arrive late at parties
Did they ever sell that, btw? I seem to recall they sold a strip of 6 or 8 keys or something, but I don’t remember the keyboard actually being sold.
Yes exactly! At some point I even went ahead and bought a couple of silicon sleeves for FCP, blender, houdini, etc... it’s useful but it’s a bit annoying even with separate keyboards with them.
I wonder if it could be ePaper which use power only when it change state ?
👏 Generalizations 👏 are 👏 generally👏 true.
The sky is generally blue.
Yep. They file patents on all sorts of stuff all the time, and most of it never ends up in a product.
I don't care if it's wired instead of wireless - I'm hoping there is a way to bind them together and not hijack communications between the two.
I currently have a MacBook Pro, and want to add a beefier M1/M1X iMac whenever it releases, but will dearly miss TouchID to access 1Password. Unless I can use a ubikey to enter that password it will blow chunks typing it in constantly!
I'd love to have a set of blank keys for my Razer, but then I couldn't get the LEDs to shine through them. Gotta have those RGB lights now.
It's funny how musical instruments don't generally have note labels, but keyboards do. Most everyone who plays an instrument learns the notes eventually.
Everyone is different and everyone likes different things, you are not better than anyone else because in your mind what you do is better; I am a lead UX Designer in a multinational corporation that’s the world leader in this market, and it’s a pretty big market, I use my computer for work an this doesn’t make me any better that a nurse that only uses their computer to message friends and uses emoticon, or a lawyer that only use a wordprocessor, or an old lady that plays bridge online with teir smartphone, neither I think does make you better, whatever you do.