Slashback: Dry Mars, Wet Doc, Keyboard Teaser 159
Optimus keyboard may have a real release date? Jacket writes to tell us that the much talked about Optimus keyboard has a suggestive message on their website. With "Good things come in small packages February 1, 2006" could it be possible that this holy grail (for some) keyboard could be available in our near future?
Yet another delay for Blackberry court case. ahsile writes "TheGlobeandMail.com is reporting that 'NTP Inc., the company suing Research in Motion Ltd over the Blackberry e-mail service, wants more time to respond to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's preliminary rejections of its patents.'
Lakebed theory on Mars all wet? Sensible Clod writes "The Meridiani Planum region on Mars, long believed to have been covered with water millions of years ago, may not have been so wet after all, according to a new study from the University of Colorado at Boulder. From the article: 'The new study indicates chemical signatures in the bedrock, interpreted...as evidence for widespread, intermittent water at Mars' surface, may have instead been created by the reaction of sulfur-bearing steam vapors moving up through volcanic ash deposits. Known as Meridiani Planum, the region may have been more geologically similar to volcanic regions in parts of North America, Hawaii or Europe.'"
US-CERT statistics not all they are cracked up to be? jtshaw writes "Tectonic has an interesting article about the latest US-CERT stats. The actual vulnerabilities for a hand full of OS's after wading through the data: Microsoft Windows - 44, Apple Mac OS X - 21, IBM AIX - 21, HP-UX - 15, SCO Unix - 9, Red Hat Linux - 7, Suse Linux - 12, Debian Linux - 10, Gentoo Linux - 5, FreeBSD - 13, NetBSD - 2. It appears to me that commercial unix systems and open source *nix systems did pretty well compared to Windows on the vulnerability front."
Stem cell papers, confirmed fakes. An anonymous reader writes "The committee created to investigate stem cell researcher Hwang Woo Suk has confirmed that his first and second papers were faked. 'dashing hopes that his work is a breakthrough in treatments for diabetes and Parkinson's disease. [...] The panel backed Hwang's claim that he cloned the world's first dog.'"
FTC objects to Netflix settlement. AtariDatacenter writes "Although some question the validity of a recent lawsuit against Netflix, many users were up in arms about the terms of the settlement, which seemed like more of a marketing gimmick. Today, we learned that The Federal Trade Commission agreed, and asked the judge to reject the terms of the settlement."
New Crossover Office fixes,among other things, WMF exploit. ubuntuincleelum writes "Just on the heels of the announcement of new WMF security vulnerabilities Codeweavers is releasing Crossover Office 5.0.1. A bugfix release, this release features a fix for the original WMF bug. Among the changes in this release: Improved support for Gnome, improvements in Debian packaging and improvements in general for operability on Debian and Debian Derivatives."
Optimus (Score:5, Insightful)
Its highly unlikely that they will release a product by 1 Feb (a a resonable price , say $500). The price of high res OLED displays (required for each key!) is simple too expensive even now. Maybe we will see that in 2007. Notice that their site does not have a clear release date (which it would to hype up the launch).
Re:Optimus (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Optimus (Score:1)
Re:Optimus (Score:2)
My guess is this keyboard will cost more than some computers, but for some it might be worth it (it IS massively cool).
Re:Optimus (Score:2)
It's not for ordinary typing; you don't need dynamic keycaps for that, but for showing shortcuts for whatever app (or game) you happen to be running; or perhaps if you need to switch to different languages. Or maybe you want your "Windows" key tobe a Gnome footprint.
Anyway, sadly it looks like vapourware.
Re:Optimus (Score:3, Informative)
Dynamic. For those of us that type in 3 different alphabets it'd be great (especially when trying to learn the key combos for different accents). Change for games, etc. I usually don't look at the keys when typing in the Latin alphabet either, but I seem to when typing in other ones (and trying to do the changes in my head).
Re:Optimus (Score:1)
Re:Optimus (Score:2)
Re:Optimus (Score:2)
Only thing that makes it "cool" are the diamonds and gold. Ugly as hell, and no features to speak of.
Re:Optimus (Score:2)
Having said that, this is vapourware that people genuinely seem to want. I certainly would love one, if it were possible.
Certainly, the finished product would be wildly different from the photoshops we see on the websites.
Can you imagine the power consumption? Not to mention possibly needing a cooling fan (the thing would need some kind of internal processor). The whole thing would generate quite a b
Re:Optimus (Score:3, Informative)
Very funny. I can imagine the power consumption. this OLED screen [epn-online.com] is about as big as I expect the Enter-key on the Optimus will be. The Optimus images show 140 buttons. Even if every button would be as big as
Re:Optimus (Score:2)
Re:Optimus (Score:1)
Re:Optimus (Score:2)
Re:Optimus (Score:4, Insightful)
Has anyone considered the ramifications of the "BLUE KEYBOARD OF DEATH" scenario when Windows halts with a BSOD.
My first serious note is; Why hasn't Apple jumped on this like stink-on-poo. This seems like an item that would be right up their alley.
Second; Depending on the SDK, of course, imagine writing applications that can modify the keyboard based on available program options.
Scenario: Using `less`, the left and right keys are dimmed while the up arrow is red (indicating that you're at the top of the document) and the down arrow is flashing green with a number (indicating the number of rows remain in the document.) As you scroll down, the remaining lines decrease.
If this gets popular, how long 'til spam infiltrates your keyboard? Where's my backspace key.....what the... \/1@6®/\
Re:Optimus (Score:5, Interesting)
My thoughts exactly. I must admit I'm a bit frustrated that even geeks who like the idea of this keyboard doesn't seem to view it as more than a cute toy. I think it might revolutionize human-computer interaction (I explain this in more detail below). Imagine the new Mac Book Pro with a keyboard like this, and application support in every Apple application...
Scenario: Using `less`, the left and right keys are dimmed while the up arrow is red (indicating that you're at the top of the document) and the down arrow is flashing green with a number (indicating the number of rows remain in the document.) As you scroll down, the remaining lines decrease.
While this is cute (and I would love it), it's not good enough.
Scenario: When you point your mouse at a text-input area (such as the one I'm typing in right now), the keyboard is a regular keyboard with a few cool shortcuts. When you're done typing, and click at the browser area (in which you can't type), it all changes. Suddenly, keys are instead shortcuts to Reload, Back, Home, this type of stuff. The "/" key is a magnifying glass, and when you press it, you get your regular keyboard to indicate that you can enter text to search in the page.
While surfing, the Email-key on your keyboard starts pulsating with an envelope, indicating that new mail has arrived (Biff in your keyboard baby!). You switch focus to your MUA, and the keyboard buttons transform into icons for Reply, Forward, Write new, Next unread message... You reply to the new message, and voilà, there's your regular keys again.
When you're done, the IM key starts blinking... Well, you get my drift.
So, what does this change in your UI? Well, for starters, we can finally get rid of all these space hogging, most often ugly, shortcut tool-/buttonbars. All of this functionality will instead be available in the keyboard. Learning shortcuts in a new application will be a breeze - the first times you're using it, the keys show what they mean, and after a while, you have it in your fingers and can make all keys turn black, effectively cloning the Das Keyboard [daskeyboard.com]...
The real action, of course, happens in applications with heavy use of shortcuts, such as Photoshop, Word, Eclipse and other IDEs, and the ruler of them all: Emacs! Imagine pressing Alt, then Meta, then Ctrl... While the keys are updated to reflect their current functionality!
Again, people view this as cute; I view it as a potential user interface revolution in the hands of someone like Apple (or preferably Gnome!).
Re:Optimus (Score:2)
Spending all day looking down at my keyboard though? That's got to do some damage, right?
Re:Optimus (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Optimus (Score:3, Insightful)
The same thing with me and Eclipse or IntelliJ Id
Re:Optimus (Score:2, Insightful)
I don't see how this will help. Have you ever watched somebody new to computing do the "hunt and peck" when they're looking for the 'J' key? Just think, if they can't even see the 'J' key, wh
Re:Optimus (Score:2)
Don't forget the virus/adware possibilities... (Score:2)
Seriously, it does seem promising, but like most improved keyboard designs, we'll probably never see it adopted. It's a problem of human inertia.
Blinking keyboard... (Score:2)
And I thought that animated GIFs were annoying: no way I'd want a carnival of winky-lights dancing all over my keyboard, even if having modal key labels turned out to be a good idea.
This'd be a fine replacement for some touch-screens, since you'd get the flexibility of updatable labels with the usability of actual, pressable buttons. But i
Re:Blinking keyboard... (Score:2)
What if it played "Wizards of Winter [google.com]" at the same time?
Re:Optimus (Score:2)
Key combinations could do all the work, and be intuitive to boot. After learning for a period (by looking), eventually one could touch-type-control any application they use frequently.
I can think of even nifty uses...that are just cute. How about a screenshot/thumbnail of the next desktop or console in the Fx key when you press Alt or Ctrl?
I like the idea of Biff and IM
Re:Optimus (Score:2)
Well, I think I would like to keep the File, Edit, View menus, but good riddance to the Toolbar (which already is removable in most apps, at least in Gnome).
I like the idea of Biff and IM on the keyboard (although I personally hate IM), this could extend to CRM and ERP systems as well. Workflow that appears on your keyboard. "Ms. Gradenko, why haven't you processed those fo
Re:Optimus (Score:2)
Bah. What a load of self-indulgent shite. Two words, mate. Peak Oil. [lifeaftertheoilcrash.net]
Civilization is right now on the verge of falling apart permanently - and we are at the beginning of a century of global war for the very last of the planet's natural resources if the US gets its way - and here you are still drooling over the ultimate symbol of the very overconsumption that brought us
Re:Optimus (Score:2)
Re:Optimus (Score:2)
PS Love your sig, watched that episode of Firefly again tonight.
Re:Optimus -- one step further... (Score:2)
Combine the Fingerworks zero force keyboard with the o-led display. Now that would be a serious keyboard!
Re:Optimus (Score:2)
Re:Optimus (Score:1)
--Neth
Re:Optimus (Score:2)
Not high-rez at all (Score:2)
Likewise, my understanding was that the larger the display, the more expensive it becomes. This, like chips, is because of the increasing fragility and the increasing likelyhood of a manufacturing defect sending it all to pot. But these are postage-stamp size screens, and as such should be much cheaper.
And except for the red background in one of the pictures, th
FOSS equivalent of optimus keyboard (Score:1, Informative)
http://www.qliner.com/hotkeys [qliner.com]
Windows only at the moment
Re:FOSS equivalent of optimus keyboard (Score:1)
yeah, I can trust their judgement
anyway, do you even know what the functionality of the Optimus is - it's the freakin keys, not the mapping, we can do the mapping already !!!
Not quite as cool (Score:2)
Meridiani Planum (Score:2, Funny)
Which means it bears no similarity to volcanic regions in New Zealand?
Optimus (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Optimus (Score:1)
It's in the initial stage of production.
We hope it will be released in 2006.
It will cost less than a good mobile phone.
It will be real.
It will be OS-independent (at least it's going to be able to work in some def
Re:Optimus (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah, because I know I demand my keytop displays to be locked to a 60fps update, otherwise it breaks the illusion.
Re:Optimus (Score:2)
Re:Optimus (Score:1)
Aww, the Russian geeks are shy! How cuute.
US-CERT faulty stats (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.osvdb.org/blog/?p=79 [osvdb.org]
Likewise, good ole
Case for water still strong (Score:5, Informative)
The new study indicates chemical signatures in the bedrock, interpreted...as evidence for widespread, intermittent water at Mars' surface, may have instead been created by the reaction of sulfur-bearing steam vapors moving up through volcanic ash deposits.
The famed 'blueberries' present in the Martian sediments are concretions. On Earth they only form in the presence of water. They are very widespread in the sedimentary layers of Meridiani. The article gives no alternate explanation. Such concretions are not present in the fumurole-altered sediments of Solfatara Crater. That does not mean the Martian sediments are not volcanoclastic in origin, but the case for water immersion is still strong.
Re:Case for water still strong (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Case for water ... eh. (Score:2)
In the laboratory -- i.e., on Earth -- blueberries have also been demonstrated to form in the presence of high-intensity electric arcs -- e.g., lightning. A lightning-strike on Earth releases enough energy (if efficiently employed) to excavate an 85-foot crater, but most of its energy is dissipated in the atmosphere ("boom!"). On Mars there's very little atmosphere to absorb such
Re:Case for water ... eh. (Score:2)
Fulgurites will not be perfectly spherical like the blueberries, they tend to be flattened shapes. Nor would they be uniformly distributed in the host rock. Also the blueberries were examinied closely enough to see that they are not made of glass like fugerites. They are mostly hematite. I can't say much about lightning conditions on early Mars, except that lightning is less likely to discharge in a thinner atmosphere. But with all of the particulates flying around in the atmosphere I wouldn't be surprised
Re:Case for water ... eh. (Score:2)
If lightning is "less likely ... in a thinner atmosphere", that means charges build up longer before it discharges, releasing more energy when it does. However, a thinner atmosphere (particles or no) is no inherent limit on lightning. What matters is ionization and
Re:Case for water ... eh. (Score:2)
Zap the soil lying there right on the surface and see what happens. Yes, loose hematite balls.
You don't know what your are talking about. Here [menzelphoto.com] is a picture of a Fulgerite. The lighting discharge gives the dendritic tubes cylindrical symetry. They are not spherical. Also the process of annealing does not fractionate hematite from the surrounding rocks. How would a lightning strike do that.
Incidentally, how do you imagine those "particulates flying around in the [wispy] atmosphere" get there -- thunder
Re:Case for water ... eh. (Score:2)
Nobody said anything about current fractionating anything from rocks. When we look at the places where blueberries are found we find nearly pure hematite soil, the natural place to get the material for a hematite spheroid. "Lightni
That keyboard looks cool, but... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:That keyboard looks cool, but... (Score:1)
I've only ever used old keyboards, like circa 1990. I somehow accumulate them. The only times ive switched are after hitting it (before dumping windows) and another that I got bored of what id written on it.
Makes me glad I haven't broken down and bought a shiny new one.
Re:That keyboard looks cool, but... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:That keyboard looks cool, but... (Score:5, Funny)
I don't know how old this Silcon Graphics one is but it has a "YES Netware Approved" sticker on the bottom and I bought it *used* 3 yrs ago. None of the keytops show's the slightest wear, despite all day use sine it arrived.
I could hit burglars with the beast and still keep typing.
even at $400, 2 years is only $4 a week
I'm sure I'd pay $400 for the gee whizzest keyboard in the world, esp. if no other geek in town has one.
The bitches'll be on me like gnats on a dog's dick when I attach mine to my laptop at the WiFi hotspot.
Re:That keyboard looks cool, but... (Score:2)
SirWired
Re:That keyboard looks cool, but... (Score:2, Funny)
You have to be more specific (Score:1)
Attach what to your laptop? Your dick or your keyboard? Well, I guess technically, the former is already attached to your laptop.
Re:That keyboard looks cool, but... (Score:2)
Re:That keyboard looks cool, but... (Score:2)
"Good things come in small packages" (Score:3, Funny)
Re:"Good things come in small packages" (Score:2)
- A box with a handful of customizable keys that you use in conjunction with a regular keyboard, like the USB numeric keypads some people have.
- It will use B&W LCDs instead of colour OLEDS.
- It will be twice as thick as the rendered Optimus keyboard.
- It will cost $100 or more.
- The drivers and configuration software will be flakey.
- It will not stand up to a year's worth of regular use.
Seriously, I like the original idea, but it's not practical right now.
Re:"Good things come in small packages" (Score:2)
Korean (Score:1)
The world's first dog ? (Score:3, Insightful)
Perhaps the submitted meant "the first to sucessfully clone a dog"
Talking of dogs, you can sponsor the poor beggers here [dogstrust.org.uk] (after looking at the one I sponsor)
Re:The world's first dog ? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:The world's first dog ? (Score:2)
What next?
For real ease of use, there must be 2 keys only (Score:5, Funny)
Re:For real ease of use, there must be 2 keys only (Score:2)
Do+undo == try. So there is a try
That's it, I'm turning to the Dark Side.
Re:For real ease of use, there must be 2 keys only (Score:2)
Re:For real ease of use, there must be 2 keys only (Score:3, Funny)
Re:For real ease of use, there must be 2 keys only (Score:2)
No, three. (Score:2)
I dont see it (Score:2, Insightful)
They obviously dont even have a protype worth photographing because all their pictures are CG.
The whole thing makes me suspicious.
It says "It will cost less than a good mobile phone". I really cant see that happening. The displays will cost alot, but the microcontrollers to make this thing be "OS-independent" would put it over $200-$300 alone I think.
"It will most likely use the OLED technology (e-paper is sooo slow)."
Its just a keyb
Re:I dont see it (Score:1, Insightful)
[ironic remark]yeah, i know what you mean... just like winamp... http://www.winamp.com/about/team.php [winamp.com] [/ ironic remark]
Re:I dont see it (Score:2)
$200 - $300 for a microcontroller? Maybe I'm confused about what you are trying to say but last time I checked, good-enough "microcontrollers" were only about $4 each in bulk. I'm guessing the keyboard is USB, and will just work like a normal USB keyboard if it is connected to a system t
Re:I dont see it (Score:1)
The features they outline would require alot of in-keyboard intelligence. To be properly "OS-independent" it would require a good bit of processing power in the keyboard.
Yes it is fairly cheap to manufacturer, but its not a cheap feature when bought to have a "mini" computer in a usally passive device.
will just work like a normal USB k
Actual Date (Score:2, Funny)
Re:I dont see it (Score:2)
Re:In Soviet Russia... (Score:2)
dude, these are former soviets...these kind of jokes
Not necessarily a joke -- there are at least seven "Moscow"s in the USA. One might think that the original, oldest, largest one wouldn't require disambiguation, but US newsreaders seem to think, for instance, they need to say "Paris, France" in case viewers think they're talking about Paris, Texas.
that keyboard looks pretty sweet... (Score:1)
what is it with computers lately... first they want me to pay for 2 video cards (sli, crossfire) then two processor cores.....Now with the $500 keyboards....
I'm going to have to take out a 2nd mortgage when i upgrade my current pc at this rate....
jeeze....
Interveiw with Lebedev regarding the Keyboard (Score:1, Informative)
Almost Identical to a Type 6 (Score:1)
Those Keys are pretty swank, though I don't really see the point in it, Who looks at the keyboard when they type anyway?
Re:Almost Identical to a Type 6 (Score:1)
Unless you're learning to type in different kbd layouts, yeah there's not a lot of point to have 100+ keys have little pictures. If it was just the hotkeys on the left, that would be cool, cuz you could program whatever apps you wanted onto it.
Re:Almost Identical to a Type 6 (Score:2, Insightful)
It's not for typing.
There are several applications that use an incredible number of essential [logickeyboard.com] keyboard shortcuts.
I work at a video editing firm, and every Avid suite has a custom, color-coded keyboard. This sort of thing is very useful in non-typing situations. If it was context-sensitive, and would display the new commands when you go into, say, After Effects, your work would get done faster.
This is for the video editor who switches between Avid and Final Cut Pro. Or the 3d animator who switches b
SCO has best flaw/user ratio. (Score:5, Funny)
That's one for each user, fantastic!
Re:SCO has best flaw/user ratio. (Score:2)
How I deal with opt-out subscription plans (Score:2)
I've gotten in the habit of using a temp card number for most
Should have included that Damn CD story (Score:3, Informative)
Netflix owns (Score:2)
Screw the settlement. If you don't like Netflix, drop it. Bunch of fucking whiners.
Re:Netflix owns (Score:2)
you should be happy that this settlement it being tossed back. Too many time corporation have gotten away with settlements that only benefit them instead of punishing then for wrong doing.
Microsoft is just Better at Broken Software (Score:2)
Three broad categories. Nobody other than Microsoft managed to create software buggy enough to qualify for their own category. PR geeks somehow manage to turn this into a plus for microsoft.
That various reporters managed to mis-construe this seemingly obvious fact is only peripherally CERT's fault. I've been on the inside of enough
URLs for the Patch & Story (Score:2, Informative)
Note: I don't even know if these work. Avery reported that he couldn't get any exploits to actually run on Win 98. Use at your own risk.
Re:US-CERT stats (Score:2)
Also I think time between discovery and mitigation would be another interesting datum.
Discovery to fix time averages for MS (Score:2)
Confirmed by Microsoft according to the article.
In 2003, Microsoft took an average of three months to issue patches for problems reported to them. In 2004, that time frame shot up to 134.5 days, a number that remained virtually unchanged in 2005.
I'm certain that critical flaws for other OSes are always fixed faster.
Re:US-CERT stats (Score:3, Informative)
True. They count as incorrect in that they duplicate entries in the data.
if a kernel or major package vulnerability affects one distro, it affects them all (mostly). Do we count a buffer overflow in an abscure SCSI card driver once, or once per known distro using that driver?
For a fair comparison, the recent WMF exploit affected all know versions of Windows at least back to Win95. Do we therefore count it 24+ or
Re:Optimus button (Score:2)
Re:Other evidence (Score:2)
Treating some random new paper or two from a couple scientists and ig
Re:I am a Touch Typist (Score:4, Insightful)
A friend of mine who does use FCP has a neat modified Apple Pro keyboard called the Logic Keyboard that replaces a number of the standard keycaps with color-coded keys labelled with icons from the program. Also, I could see gamers really latching onto this. The more complex games get, the more likely it is that you'll need a richer set of commands which are most easily accessed from the keyboard. Even the picture from the website shows the keyboard relabelled for Doom. If you play a lot of games this would be a godsend.
Re:Netflix (Score:2)
I always thought a lawyer shuold get 15% or an equal share, whichever is less.