MacRumors Giveaway: Win a Futuristic 'Tap' Wearable Keyboard

[MacRumors]

For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with Tap to give MacRumors readers a chance to win one of the company's Tap Keyboard & Mouse setups.

The Tap, priced at $179, is a futuristic keyboard that you wear on your hands, using a series of finger taps to type different letters, numbers, and symbols.

Tap fits over your thumb and each of your fingers, with adjustable rings that can fit a wide variety of fingers. Sensors are built into each finger ring to detect the movement of your fingers, translating gestures into words for a novel, type anywhere experience.

There are different taps for each letter. A single tap of the thumb, for example, creates an A, while a tap of the index finger makes an E. To create a K, you tap your thumb and ring finger, and to create a B, you tap your index and pinky fingers at the same time.

Learning to use the Tap Keyboard takes just a few days thanks to a well-developed iOS app that walks you through each gesture one by one and then gamifies the learning experience by requiring you to beat tapping mini games.

We reviewed the Tap Keyboard earlier this year and were able to learn the taps in about a week with 30 minutes of practice per day.

Mastering the Tap keyboard will take some time, weeks to months, perhaps, but your typing will get faster as your fingers get used to the gestures. Some Tap users can type up to 60 words per minute, mimicking traditional keyboard speeds. Tap can also be used as a mouse replacement in a special mouse mode that involves using the thumb.

Tap works as a keyboard replacement on all of your iOS and Mac devices, like any other Bluetooth keyboard. There are also select Tap games that have Tap support and are played using unique tap gestures. Tap is fully customizable, so you can create Tap Maps for different games and use cases.

We have two of the Tap Keyboards to give away to MacRumors readers. To enter to win, use the Rafflecopter widget below and enter an email address. Email addresses will be used solely for contact purposes to reach the winners and send the prizes. You can earn additional entries by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, subscribing to our YouTube channel, following us on Twitter, or visiting the MacRumors Facebook page.

Due to the complexities of international laws regarding giveaways, only U.S. residents who are 18 years or older and Canadian residents (excluding Quebec) who have reached the age of majority in their province or territory are eligible to enter. To offer feedback or get more information on the giveaway restrictions, please refer to our Site Feedback section, as that is where discussion of the rules will be redirected.

a Rafflecopter giveaway​

The contest will run from today (September 28) at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time through 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time on October 5. The winners will be chosen randomly on October 5 and will be contacted by email. The winners will have 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address before new winners are chosen.

Article Link: MacRumors Giveaway: Win a Futuristic 'Tap' Wearable Keyboard

 

[michael siccofield]

Is this a futuristic keyboard or a saturday night sex toy?

 

[subjonas]

This could be really useful for my work!

 

[thasan]

Lol. Skin in our hands on those areas are thinner and never meant for repeat contacts for prolonged periods. Who designed this poc?

 

[tex210]

Wish it recognized sign language.

 

[EdT]

Learning the keys takes a few days but mastering takes weeks to months when practicing 30 minutes a day?

What on earth is my incentive to learn a new -and not standard- keyboard?
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Is this a futuristic keyboard or a saturday night sex toy?

Of course it’s not a Saturday night sex toy. It’s a Wednesday afternoon sex toy wannabe.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Lol. Skin in our hands on those areas are thinner and never meant for repeat contacts for prolonged periods. Who designed this poc?

I'd imagine using this subjects your skin to about as much trauma as wearing a glove or rings... that is to say, none.

Also, you don't automatically have tougher skin anywhere... you get tougher skin from repeatedly subjecting the area to stress.

===

I used to want a TAP for composing texts while driving. Now that my car drives me, I'm free to just use the phone like normal.

 

[B4U]

Wish it recognized sign language.

Then it would type the F-word repeatedly!

 

[jonnysods]

Using that looks as easy as pie!!

 

[CrystalQuest76]

I read about this sort of technology in a SF series of books written by Paul Preuss (with ideas from Author C Clark) called "Venus Prime." The books were published between 1988-1991.

 

[FourDegrees]

For once, I don't regret not being eligible for the draw.

 

[zantafio]

reminds me of a scene from Brazil

 

[ThunderSkunk]

Hm. Looks like a pretty useful tool to avert carpal tunnel.
Clearly not important to todays teenagers. ...yet.

 

[smirking]

This is awesome. I can’t vouch for this specific implementation of a chorded virtual keyboard, but we need to see more products like this. Typing on small touchscreens for long periods is just not good for your hands, neck, or shoulders. Not to mention it’s not as fast as something like this once you get used to it.

 

[Plutonius]

I'll pass but good luck to the people who enter.

 

[doctor-don]

Can I listen to my phone's tunes with my Bluetooth AirPods at the same time I am using this device?

Will everything come out in lower case (or all in upper case)?

It certainly is not the same idea as what was presented on TED several years ago.

 

[thasan]

I'd imagine using this subjects your skin to about as much trauma as wearing a glove or rings... that is to say, none.

Also, you don't automatically have tougher skin anywhere... you get tougher skin from repeatedly subjecting the area to stress.

===

I used to want a TAP for composing texts while driving. Now that my car drives me, I'm free to just use the phone like normal.

What I meant is... skin there isn’t used to repeated rubbing. I work with wearables. An approach like this is a big NO NO because of this in our community.
I personally think it Would have been easier if there were separate finger caps.

 

[smirking]

It certainly is not the same idea as what was presented on TED several years ago.

Was it this exact product that was introduced at TED? There's more than one such implementation of a wearable keyboard. They're actually nothing new. Different implementations of chorded keyboards have been around for decades.
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What I meant is... skin there isn’t used to repeated rubbing.

It doesn't look like there's a lot of shifting of the device to cause rubbing, but if there was... yeah that could be an issue. On the other hand if I had enough hand pain to make normal use of a smartphone very uncomfortable, I'd choose to develop calluses instead of nerve damage.

It's an interesting take. I like that people are doing stuff like this even if I'm not sure if it's the implementation I'd want to use.

The thing is, I don't think it even needs to be rock solid as a typing device for something like this to be an invaluable assistive device. If this merely makes it a lot easier to navigate and edit after you dictate text, it might be very very useful and in that use case physical stress would be a lot less of an issue.

 

[kildraik]

Handheld contraception.

Cool.