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Apple Researching Keyboards With Adaptive Displays on Each Key

TrueBlou said:
This is why I can’t buy any ‘Pro’ MacBook nowadays, I despise the TouchBar with a burning passion. I did try, for six months, to get used to it, but nope it had to go. I like actual physical keys to adjust volume, media transport, screen brightness and so on. I don’t want to have to faff with a sodding TouchBar.

Having said that, I’d love the TouchBar, if they had it there in addition to a proper row of function keys. Now that combination I could definitely happily live with.
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I have to admit, I actually like the volume/brightness—those are the only functions I enjoy using it for; anything continuous does make sense to me. And to be honest, there are some good applications of the technology in Logic (and probably lots of other software), but since I never look at the keyboard, I never think to use them. As for the function keys, I personally don't miss them. I do much prefer having the physical esc key (on my 16" MBP), mind you...

I think part of the problem, for me, is that in my studio I use my laptop with an external keyboard, and as a second display, which puts the Touch Bar out of comfortable reach. So if I did really train myself to use it, then I'd have a weird disconnect between working in the studio and working when I'm out. Or I'd have to reconfigure my studio in some weird way, with a laptop where my keyboard is, which would be really weird. Possible, but weird.
 
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TrueBlou said:
This is why I can’t buy any ‘Pro’ MacBook nowadays, I despise the TouchBar with a burning passion. I did try, for six months, to get used to it, but nope it had to go. I like actual physical keys to adjust volume, media transport, screen brightness and so on. I don’t want to have to faff with a sodding TouchBar.

Having said that, I’d love the TouchBar, if they had it there in addition to a proper row of function keys. Now that combination I could definitely happily live with.
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I can't remember how many times Siri and search has popped up, and other unintended things that have happened... I never knew my fingers rested on those areas before, and all it takes is a touch, and sometimes barely that... *shrug*
 
Hmm... Actually, thinking about it in context of my last post, it could be a bit disastrous for my setup if they did add changeable keys like this, and I wound up loving it and wanting to use it all the time... then they'd be obliged to release a separate keyboard with the same tech—if only for me! :) (Though I think a lot of people would suffer from them introducing a serious disconnect between external monitor/"docked" use and normal laptop use.)
 
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PinkyMacGodess said:
I know, it's not something that happens constantly, but I find that I have to proofread posts to make sure that I don't have sporadic repeated characters. And the whole ; instead of ' has gotten bad. *shrug*
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I'm not sure, but you might as well have it fixed now since it slows down your workflow.

From what I remember of the issue, the culprit is dust and debris that get under the key. Apple "fixed" the issue be adding a membrane under the keys. Apple either adds that membrane to your keyboard or they replace the keyboard with the membrane one.
 
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If Apple had any real insight, they could invest in Siri and make her so bright that keyboards could eventually become obsolete. Sure, those with speech impediments would still need some form of interaction, but for the most part, I believe the technology is there. Sadly, only Microsoft has shown an interest in advancing voice recognition through DARPA. Don't quote me because I'm still trying to locate the old article.
 
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Apple can get rid of the Touch Bar entirely if it had a touch screen keys. The functionality of the Touch Bar itself can be moved to the space bar, as you can still use that to add things like sliders and such. The biggest problem with a keyboard like this is how dirty it will get over time. But if the keys are glass I guess it would be easier to clean. They need to make it waterproof though.
 
macsplusmacs said:
Did that ever ship? gave up following them a long time ago.
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Frankly doesn't matter—it's prior art.

I don't blame Apple per se but this is such a dumb patent. It clearly shouldn't be patentable. Perhaps it will get rejected, or invalidated in court, but the fact we live in a world where it would even be worth your while to try patenting something like this is nuts.

This isn't a new problem, so I don't know why I'm surprised. But geez...
 
Blackstick said:
I don’t even look at the keys. Save me the money and skip it 😆
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Most will not look at the keys for apps used for typing. But if the App does not use typing most of the time it can be useful to have one keystroke shortcuts for most of that apps features in a way that takes away the learning curve to more advanced features the app may have that most skip because they never bother to look through the menus and learn them.
 
PinkyMacGodess said:
Thinking of how they could pull this off, having images on each key cap, I can't think of a way short of making the keyboard a flat piece of glass like the touch pad, which sounds horrid, but sexy too. It would make the keyboard a heck of a lot 'thinner', so is Jony going to be jealous? Whether they put 'fences' around where the characters are will make it more interesting, but technically *any* keyboard could be setup for *any* language. I don't know how it would be typing on basically a larger iPad screen, but it's not like we haven't been in training for that to happen. Maybe they could embed a 'taptic engine' and give the impression of key clicks. *shrug*

It could actually work...
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Apple would use elements of their other products or buy a company with a good idea on the matter. The keys can either feel like the Touch Bar or be harder like the curved glass on an Apple Watch or be flat with a tiny black border like the new design of the iPad Air. This may be one of the things they are spending R&D money on but might not fully implement.

They do seem to be looking for a way to get rid of the Touch Bar as so many people complain about it. If they can turn the F keys and number keys into mini touch screen buttons and activate them for other functions when text input is not necessary I think it would be a good compromise between usefulness and keeping things familiar like everyone is accustomed to. If you're typing the keys are what they have always been, if your hands are off the keyboard and you're using the mouse those keys would switch to something more useful like shortcuts and such.
 
That would be really nice. As a Logic user, it would be really helpful! Very interesting for all production apps. For changing the language I'm not sure it will work because there are keys that are physically different depending on the layout (f.e: French and Spanish layouts have the bigger return key). In any case, this would make much more sense than the touch bar (that was not too difficult though 😅 )
 
Oh look! A sneak peek at future abandonware!

If the use case is serious, they should do this on some form of desktop keyboard.
 
That could be very cool for certain fields....We could have dedicated keyboards for ProTools, Adobe Premiere, After Effects, Avid Media Composer, etc and not have to use the assorted rubber keyboard map covers. When you open the app, the associated keyboard file comes up...automatically.
 
kc9hzn said:
Dvorak keyboard confirmed!

Joking aside, this seems mildly useful, but I’d really prefer the ability for keys to change sizes. Instead of just having a keyboard that can change its display and layout in software, imagine it being able to change its physical layout on demand. It would require a new mechanism, sure, but picture a surface that can change the number of keys to just the number needed for a game, that could shrink the other keys and give you a full numpad when you need it, or that could even change into a single octave piano keyboard. Picture something like the iOS keyboard, except with actual raised surfaces, separation between keys, and key travel, like you get from an actual hardware keyboard.
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I’m only a little surprised this is the only mention of Dvorak layout in the thread. Do you use it or just familiar with it?

I touch type and can switch back to QWERTY but it takes me a bit to get acclimated. That said, there are times, like entering passwords or key command combinations that makes you want a properly label keyboard. Fortunately, I can pop off the keys and move them around to make a Dvorak layout. Only problem is the keys with the bump so you can locate your position. Leaving those keys and the corresponding keys they should be switched with, I use whiteout and grey marker to relabel. Doesn’t work that well, but good enough that I wouldn’t necessarily pay another hundred dollars for video key caps.
 
darngooddesign said:
I don't know why people think it's going in a laptop; an external Magicker keyboard is the logical place for this tech to debut.
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The patent has a photo of a laptop and mentions that it could go in both a laptop and a desktop solution.
adaptive-keyboard-patent-laptop.jpg
 
darngooddesign said:
I don't know why people think it's going in a laptop; an external Magicker keyboard is the logical place for this tech to debut.
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Apple didn’t bring backlit keys or the Touch Bar thing to external keyboards, hence it’s logical to doubt if this will make it to external keys.

The true value of course lies in consistency for all keyboard operated Apple products.
 
I know Apple likes to experiment.. in fact, that's all they really do, they never really learn what breaks and what doesn't because they re-use it again later..
 
Tech198 said:
I know Apple likes to experiment.. in fact, that's all they really do, they never really learn what breaks and what doesn't because they re-use it again later..
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That makes no sense to me. If you’re using something again, there will automatically be lessons learned from your previous years of production.
 
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