Multi-Touch Keyboard Technology

PhoenxHwk writes "University of Delaware's webpage is running a story on the new Multi-Touch Keyboard by Fingerworks. This was on Slashdot once before, but the product is no longer vapor! Fingerworks's products are gesture-based keyboard-and-mouse "surfaces" that require zero force to work with - they are hailed as a product to both combat RSI and make working more efficient."

I don't want a new keyboard!

[dildatron]

All I want is one key [courtoffside.com].

"any" key?

[misterhaan]

now what will everyone do when faced with "press any key to continue..."?

'any' key? it doesn't even have an 'enter' key!

Continued journalism

[Fjord]

I'm glad to see they are continuing their policies [slashdot.org] on advertisements here on /.

You would think a slashvertiser would strengthen their site before getting a link to their front page put up, though.

/. vapor

[mattsucks]

... but the product is no longer vapor!

Too bad the U. of Delaware's web server is ....

gestures

[Anonymous Coward]

To open a file, you rotate your hand as if opening a jar; to zoom or de-zoom, you expand or contract your hand.

Some interesting gesture possibilities for looking at pr0n come to mind.

This is great!

[nizo]

Eventually, he said, the computer password could be a gesture known only to the user.

Finally, my favorite one-fingered gesture can be used to choose windows from my GRUB menu.

other useful gestures...

[gosand]

To open a file, you rotate your hand as if opening a jar; to zoom or de-zoom, you expand or contract your hand.

This would be great for browsers...

making a fist and moving the hand in an up-and-down motion will go to www.persiankitty.com

extending only the middle finger on the left hand will go to www.riaa.com

extending only the middle finger on the right hand will go to www.mpaa.com

extending both middle fingers will send you to www.microsoft.com

Re:zero force?

[goldenfield]

Maybe instead of zero force, they USE the Force. They've got thousands of Midocholorians trapped in the pad...

*waves hand* You will open Mozilla to Slashdot...

Somebody has to say it...

[Rude Turnip]

"This is not just a little step in improving the mouse, this is the first step in a new way of communicating with the computer through gestures and the movements of your hands. This is, after all, one of the ways humans interact."

This thing is going to be *HUGE* in Italy.

Hmmmmm

[Hamster Of Death]

I can see the porn industry jumping to adopt THIS technology!

Fantastic News Source

[L. VeGas]

University of Delaware's webpage

I'm glad to see this wonderful source of information being featured on /. I wish you could also promote my other primary information source,
Bakersfield Community College Gazette.

Douglas Adams saw it first

[MrEd]

This is getting closer and closer to that ideal user interface - something that's so complicated that you just wave your hand in its' general direction and hope that it does what you want.

I like my interfaces old-school. Dials and knobs, please.

Re:"any" key?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd say this may easily become the first keyboard in the world to actually *have* an "any" key. My vote would be a flat-hand slap onto the touchpad --- that's as close to "press any key" as it'll ever get.

Re:Er...

[travdaddy]

Require zero force to work with? Is that even physically possible?

Sure!
I use zero force at my job already.

Re:great product

[rplacd]

I confess, while reading a long document/web site/whatever, I unconsciously play with my keyboard's nipples.
That won't work with this keyboard...

Re:great product

[naasking]

One of the best thigns about this keyboard [...] Remeber the article just recentally here about mouse [...] Furthermore, it is hard to keep your fingers in the correct locations, since, with the exception of two little raised dots, there are no physical boundries between the keys.

Hmmm... yes, I see the problem...

Laugh people, it's a joke. :-)

Re:I don't want a new keyboard!

[mh_tang]

Sometimes in Windows, you need to use all three keys [inria.fr] though.

Re:Douglas Adams saw it first

[Brian Kendig]

So we'll be able to make complicated things happen just by waving our hands in the air?

I guess Arthur C. Clarke *was* right -- any sufficiently advanced technology *is* indistinguishable from magic.

Headboard

[Tablizer]

I always wished that a face-based or head-based interface on the keyboard would become popular, because then the boss could not tell the difference between sleeping and typing.

Re:its just a really quiet orc peon....

[falzer]

Zug zug!

Re:Er...

[falzer]

Me too, I love work! I can stare at it all day.