It's a win-win.
For Apple, it means they do not have to make laptops with different keyboards. Reduces manufacturing costs, increases profits.
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Apple Researching Keyboards With Adaptive Displays on Each Key
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For Apple, it means they do not have to make laptops with different keyboards. Reduces manufacturing costs, increases profits.
Patent squatting...to counter the professional patent squatters. Gawd, we need an overhaul of the whole system to prevent patent squatting. It stifles innovation instead of encouraging it.
Sorry, this device would have too much tactile feedback to qualify as an Apple keyboard.
This is actually really great especially if done right. They keys can be clear and the displays can be beneath the keys. They can use e-ink technology which is as legible as paper. except inverted with black screen and white labels.
Some use case:-
1-Less cluttered looking keyboard for bilingual people
2-Option to make a keyboard any language really as it only displays the different characters on keys.
3-Easier to see the tool's icon in a specific app than to remember the keyboard combination: cmd+shft+alt+O
4-get rid of the touchbar.
Some use case:-
1-Less cluttered looking keyboard for bilingual people
2-Option to make a keyboard any language really as it only displays the different characters on keys.
3-Easier to see the tool's icon in a specific app than to remember the keyboard combination: cmd+shft+alt+O
4-get rid of the touchbar.
Oh god.
The Silicon transition was going so well. They just can't help themselves with the Mac can they?
The Silicon transition was going so well. They just can't help themselves with the Mac can they?
Love this idea. Would mean you don't need a touch bar across the top. You can restore a function row of keys and they could turn into anything you need. But with the benefit of actual keys to strike. Also from a gaming point of view that's pretty neat. Turn each key into what they are in the game. As opposed to remembering X fires or whatever.
As someone who types up long texts in multiple languages every day, I would love such a function.
Nobody said i was better than anyone else. Your reply is pretty defensive in light of a message that was not directed at you.
It sounds cool, but it also sounds expensive. I am sure for niche users it would be useful, but not worth the likely cost for most users.
Probably true, but if apple is going to put money into any component of its macbooks, I’d be glad if it was the keyboards.
I wonder how many people will be signing a different tune if Apple were to release this keyboard. Besides shortcuts for Photoshop, Illustrator, FCP X, etc I can see this being useful if you want to change the language of the keyboard like on an iPhone. If the keys still have travel, and behaves like a regular keyboard, this can be intriguing. On a laptop, I wonder how much battery it will drain. Heck, if they remove the Touch Bar in favour of this, it could be intriguing indeed.
I have also have the StreamDeck and the great thing is that it can be applied to different applications.
It is a great time saver! Cannot wait APple to implement this.
The plan is for the world to use emojis in all text documents as a universal language
For those users that think that this would be like extending the touchbar, IT IS NOT!
Look at the StreamDeck and then you will understand that concept.
www.elgato.com
This is great news if it is implemented correctly. FINALLY Apple is trying to innovate after 8 years of doing nothing!
You will have a single keyboard that can be customized showing the shortcuts for each different application you want to use. It saves thousands of hours so you do not need to be browsing through endless menues.
i.e.: If you use iMovie it would load the iMovie's shortcuts, if you use Logic it would load Logic's shortcuts, etc.
It would be a fantastic innovation, but hopefully, it is not an excuse for Apple to charge $4k for a Macbook Pro.
Look at the StreamDeck and then you will understand that concept.
Stream Deck XL
Elgato Stream Deck XL boasts 32 customizable LCD keys for advanced live production control. Tap to instantly trigger unlimited actions in popular apps like OBS Studio, XSplit, Streamlabs, Twitch and YouTube. Plus download new integrations and develop your
This is great news if it is implemented correctly. FINALLY Apple is trying to innovate after 8 years of doing nothing!
You will have a single keyboard that can be customized showing the shortcuts for each different application you want to use. It saves thousands of hours so you do not need to be browsing through endless menues.
i.e.: If you use iMovie it would load the iMovie's shortcuts, if you use Logic it would load Logic's shortcuts, etc.
It would be a fantastic innovation, but hopefully, it is not an excuse for Apple to charge $4k for a Macbook Pro.
No...Apple just will make more money out of us...unless you buy it physically in US.
Hey mate, I am also use this XL version as my control surface companion !!
Actually I wondering something like touch-bar hardware based on desktop, and Elgato Stream Deck fit the bills, and more powerful too
Want special keys to use in final cut or any app's special in any app? Boom, its done. Want a Chinese keyboard? Boom it's done. Want emoji on all keys for just a sec? boom its done! want to see all special keys while holding option? Boom.
Apple is researching keyboards with small displays on the keys to dynamically change the label on each key, according to a newly-granted patent filing.
The filing, spotted by Patently Apple, is titled "Electronic devices having keys with coherent fiber bundles" and was granted to Apple by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on the final patent day of this year.
The patent explains how each key on a keyboard could have "an associated key display" connected to "control circuitry in the keyboard" via a "coherent fiber bundle." Apple proposes that each key would be "formed from a fiber optic plate" with "opposing first and second surfaces."
While the patent stipulates that each key would need to contain a small display to provide the label, of which any compatible pixel array would work, the foremost technology put forwards by Apple is OLED. The key may be made from materials such as glass, ceramic, metal, or polymer, or even crystalline materials such as sapphire.
This system would allow the entire keyboard to be "reconfigurable" with labels that can change as needed. The patent highlights that keyboards could be reconfigured "for different languages, to temporarily convert a standard keyboard into a gaming keyboard in which keys correspond to particular in-game actions, or to otherwise modify the behavior associated with pressing the keys in the keyboard."
There is also the suggestion that each key could provide "visual feedback" to indicate the current status of each key, such as whether it corresponds to an uppercase or lowercase letter or an active ability when gaming.
Images included in the patent suggest that the adaptive keyboard could be used both in a laptop enclosure as well as a separate keyboard for desktop computers.
Crucially, this system does not interfere with the dome or scissor switches of physical keyboards. Unlike other Apple keyboard patents, such as one for a static glass keyboard or a full-size touchscreen panel, this proposition explicitly outlines a system to be used with moveable keys, so Apple could theoretically retain the design of its Magic Keyboard.
While patents do not necessarily prove what Apple is intending to bring to market, they can provide an interesting insight into what the company is researching and developing. Considering Apple has demonstrated its interest in adaptive displays on the keyboard through the MacBook Pro's Touch Bar, it does not seem unlikely that Apple would expand similar technology to each individual key at some point in the future.
Article Link: Apple Researching Keyboards With Adaptive Displays on Each Key
Not just a Desktop, but for a laptop, too!
My MacBook Pro is almost ALWAYS plugged into an external monitor and I use an external keyboard. That keyboard doesn't have Touch ID nor even a Touch Bar. The fact that these are on the internal laptop keyboard are completely 100% lost on people like me.
They seem like terrific features, but I sit over four feet from my laptop. 🤷🏻♂️
Please make an external keyboard with Touch ID and/or a Touch Bar!
The thing is, when you’re normally typing, you might only need to glance down at the keyboard at the start of your typing, maybe occasionally when you have to type a special character. The other thing about making the keys as changeable screens, is that your fingers and hands are, at least when doing normal typing, covering up the keys you’re using. So to see a specific key or keys, you need to move your fingers or hands away from the keyboard, which isn’t exactly an efficient way to work. Perhaps this is only meant for certain populations, where the western keyboard does not provide enough characters to be efficient in typing in that language. But I don’t see it being beneficial for the North and South American or European markets (not that it needs to be for all or none).
I would think that going to a glass panel keyboard with ForceTouch for simulated keystroke could be a better solution, but also realize that actual key movement remains an important part of our current most favored input method.
But to be truthful, the only keyboard they really messed up was the butterfly keyboard, and that was because they wanted to make it so thin (and because Ive had become deaf to criticism, too, I suspect). Apple's other limited forays with keyboards, I'm mostly liked a lot.
Exactly.... Those times, once every couple of years where I need a special character and know it is there if I press the opt key but can't remember which other key is required.
Due to arthritis, I require a split keyboard if I'm going to be typing for any length of time. For a portable, split keyboard you tend to be talking about a 60% keyboard with layers. To be able to switch the key representation depending on the layer would be excellent.
99.9% of the time, I don't need to look at the keyboard. But that 0.1% can be annoying as a young kid during 'why' stage.
In the late 80s, I had a coworker who said windowing systems were for the weak-minded... That is until he had the opportunity to work on a Unix workstation with X11 for a while. Then he thought it was the best thing since the invention of the wheel.
Additional thought: It would make it a lot easier to experiment with transitioning to a new keyboard layout such as Colemak, Dvorak, Workman, or even a unique one to you.
I've been looking at new keyboards... One of the manufacturers has a utility that will run and produce a heatmap of those keys you use most frequently. The goal is to allow you to generate a keyboard layout that makes your most heavily used keys in the most convenient locations. The ability to change the graphics on the key easily or to correlate with your keymap would make that a lot easier.
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