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Toys Hardware

AlphaGrip's 3D Keyboard Ready For Pre-Orders 346

Posted by timothy from the seeking-hundredth-monkey dept.
bic2k writes "AlphaGrip has opened their doors to pre-orders this past week. (Previously mentioned here.) Press release can be found here. They look a lot like an xbox controller, but contains 42 buttons and a analog stick. Shows up as a standard USB keyboard and mouse. Has a USB expansion slot, which will possibly be used for wireless connectivity. They claim typing speeds of 50 WPM or better after a month or so. They're waiting for 5000 pre-orders before going to manufacturing, so it may be awhile before they actually ship these."
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AlphaGrip's 3D Keyboard Ready For Pre-Orders More

AlphaGrip's 3D Keyboard Ready For Pre-Orders

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  • How Fast? (Score:2, Troll)

    by ttyp0 ( 33384 )
    Is 50 words per minute suppose to be good? I can easily double that on a QWERTY keyboard.

    • Re:How Fast? (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Lucky you, I can't even think that fast.

    • Re:How Fast? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by mrgreen4242 ( 759594 ) on Monday August 09, 2004 @10:48PM (#9926146)
      I agree... I have never had any sort of touch typing training, and honestly just use a glorified hunt and peck typing method, but still manage to type around 70wpm... seems like a pretty useless product.

      Also is anywone else reminded of an old product (maybe from 10 years ago?) called The Bat [eaglecom.bc.ca] (at the bottom of that page)?

      Rob

      • There's no way you can hunt and peck 70wpm. No friggin' way.

    • Re:How Fast? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Googo ( 695955 )
      try doing that on a qwerty without a table or stand in front of you to put the keyboard on while stonding. Well I guess you could hang the keybord from your neck or something, but i'm pretty sure it will feel awkward as hell and you won't be moving around much then.

  • If it really can... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Zorak Man ( 732141 ) on Monday August 09, 2004 @10:39PM (#9926090)
    if you can really get the advertized 50wpm, this would be a great for a latop. I hate these damn compact keyboards and touchpads. It would be alot eaiser then carrying around a real keyboard, and it has a mouse joystick to boot.

    • Re:If it really can... (Score:3, Interesting)

      by JVert ( 578547 )
      I think we are stil SOL.

      I bet you dont like mini laptop keyboards because you have big hands. Doesn't sound like they cater to us "big handers".

      Would be nice, maybe they will make a bigger model cause I got a tablet PC screaming for a mobile keyboard.

      • My biggest disappointment with the 17" powerbook is that they used a dinky little keyboard with huge spaces on either side. WTF? They could have fit an almost-full-sized (less the numberpad) on there!

        That was the one thing that kept me from taking my big hands and running out there to buy one the day they came out.
        • Hah! I renember that, I was storming the office asking everyone how it could make sense. The mac guys showed me their keyboards and said "its the exact same size without the keypad".
        • I haven't measured mine but it feels full sized to me. If not, it's close enough that I don't notice. I switch keyboards from machine to machine all the time.

          Maybe I'm just used to a slight variance, then. Hm.

          • Maybe I'm just used to a slight variance, then. Hm.

            Maybe thats my problem. After a decade of using a particular style of PC keyboard (short enter key, wide backspace, backslash above enter key), typing on anything else is difficult.

            In fact, even though I haven't used a commodore 64 in 5 years or so now, I can still remember some of the keyboard layout (shift-2 is "). I came across this layout on a Japanese iMac keyboard a couple of years back and was amused by it.
    • and touchpads

      You mean the finger-wagger? At least that's what I feel like I am doing when I use the damn thing so that's what I call it. My laptop has an eraser style track-point too.

      The manufacturer was kind enough to build in two pointing devices into this model and I really don't like either style.

      For a while, I just carried a USB mouse, later switched to Bluetooth because I could get such a module that fits into my laptop.

  • What in the name of all that is holy.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by felonious ( 636719 ) on Monday August 09, 2004 @10:41PM (#9926105) Journal
    How can I type on something that is shaped like a tooth? Looks like the N-Gage engineers have worked their magic once again!

  • Like so many alternative keyboard, it will have (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Rosco P. Coltrane ( 209368 ) on Monday August 09, 2004 @10:41PM (#9926108)
    - a great design
    - very clever shortcuts
    - decent to great keying speed after training
    - a real potential to help people with RSI
    - a manual to teach the user to "key fast in less than xxx weeks without effort"
    - an absolutely insane retail price
    - zero chance to make any sort of dent in the entrenched PC-104-type keyboard market

    • Bah. (Score:5, Interesting)

      by SatanicPuppy ( 611928 ) <Satanicpuppy.gmail@com> on Monday August 09, 2004 @10:53PM (#9926174) Journal
      The makers of these keyboard replacements always act like learning an entirely new style of typing is so easy that we should be ashamed for even thinking for a moment that it'll be hard.

      In reality, most of us have spent years and years learning to type on a standard keyboard. It's a specialized skill.

      Moreover, as it DOES look like an X-Box controller, and as I know how ten hours of marathon gaming can kill my hands, I wonder how they can really be sure it's MORE comfortable. I mean, my keyboard may have little to reccomend it, but, worse comes to worse, I CAN type on it without having to grip anything (Mmmmm Carpal), which would be impossible with their keyboard.

      • Re:Bah. (Score:2, Interesting)

        by tsarin ( 217882 )

        as I know how ten hours of marathon gaming can kill my hands

        During normal typing, your hands -- hell, your entire body -- are nowhere near as tense as during marathon or any other gaming. When I bother firing up a game on my peecee (I haven't a console, so I can't make any comparisons there), I'm leaning forward, I'm tense, I'm on edge waiting for the next baddy; I have to get him before he gets me, after all. When I'm typing, though, I'm leaning back, I'm chill, I'm kickin' it. I expect there'd be much t

      • Re:Bah. (Score:3, Funny)

        by Chess_the_cat ( 653159 )
        ...and as I know how ten hours of marathon gaming can kill my hands...

        Skim over that sentence quickly and see what you get...

    • Re:Like so many alternative keyboard, it will have (Score:5, Insightful)

      by killjoe ( 766577 ) on Monday August 09, 2004 @10:56PM (#9926185)
      "zero chance to make any sort of dent in the entrenched PC-104-type keyboard market"

      Why?

      Because most people are not touch typists. They want to see the keys their are hitting.
      Most people don't want to learn a new layout and then become flustered when they attempt to use their computer at work/home/friends house or whatever.
      Most people end up needing to press weird control sequences of their favorite program and unless the keyboard is very carefully designed these types of two and three letter combos are harder on fancy keyboards.
      Most people have no real desire to pay over a hundred for any keyboard no matter how revolutionary.
      Most people have occation to type one handed. Whether it's because you have a phone in your hand, or otherwise :).
      • Because even the special $99 price is still too much?

      • I think you hit it with #1..

        Most users have no clue where their keys are. They hunt and peck.

        Most of us are used to what we use. The first time I got on a Microsoft Ergonomic keyboard, the bottom row was (is) split in the wrong place for the way I type. I think it was the "B" key on the wrong side. I touch type, but aparently I don't do it in the absolutely correct Microsoft way. :)

        I was looking at alternative keyboards a while back. It would be nice to have one that's "better" than a Q
      • Heh, your last line (despite its intent ;) ) reminds me of when I was in highschool. As budding programmer, I was pretty damn quick on the keyboard, even one-handed (due to some combination of laziness and possibly *that*). In English class, we all were in the lab typing our papers. I think I was fooling around with Word Macros or some bolonga because I hated English class, so I was just screwing around with one hand on the keyboard and one hand holding my head at a slant. My teacher must not have noticed I
    • Interestingly enough, if you look closely at the images your fingers would rest quite closely to where they should (i.e. the 'right' letters) when using a QWERTY layout. I don't recall seeing this in previous alternative keyboards.

      Then again your remark about the price pretty much summarizes my decision not to try it out :)

    • For someone to make a dent I think it might be better if there were some transitional technologies to move people gently along in the right direction rather than just doing a full rework and have people reject it outright because it looks like a tooth :)

      Say, we first rework the PC-104-type keyboard into something that is more efficient to use. I don't mean something like this Microsoft Elite Keyboard [microsoft.com] but a keyboard that re-aranges the keys into a layout that is physically quicker to type with and makes mo

    • 99 USD [alphagrip.com] doesn't sound that insane to me. I'm definitely considering pre-ordering one!
    • 104 keys? The only true keyboad doesn't have 104 keys, it has 101.

      It's the IBM Model M keyboad that doubles as a self defense weapon. Mine was made in 1986/09/06 and still works great.

      Never speak of this 104 key bs again.
    • I had a hard enough time when I used to type on an "ergonomic" keyboard - not in the typing, which was great, but when it came to moving across the office and keying stuff in on random people's keyboards. Although it did keep 'em off mine for the most part. Still, these days I just use conventional (even laptop most of the time) keyboards and keep my wrists angled - using a curve rather than a strict home-row approach. Works fine.

      But that's the point. Just like Norton Desktop, weird keyboards may or ma
    • insane price ... Have you ever tried to get plastics made as an individual or small company? Got news for you, its *damned expensive*. I was trying to get a product made the size of a hockey puck, two pieces, not complicated. The mold costs alone were like $10,000.

      I bet the mold costs for that thing are like $100,000.

      If someone knows more about plastics then my amateur ass, please feel free to correct me.

  • Gorillas need not apply... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by nzgeek ( 232346 ) * on Monday August 09, 2004 @10:42PM (#9926111) Homepage Journal
    Those with large hands may not achieve the same typing speed as users with small to average sized hands.

    I guess this is the opposite of the giant XBox controller fiasco [penny-arcade.com] then?

    Seriously though, this would be great for a hacked XBox or PS2 Linux, but do they honestly think deskbound users will use it because "the AlphaGrip allows you to shift your body position frequently or even constantly without affecting your data input." I meam come on people, take a 5 minute break for gods' sake. Just get up and walk around or stretch. You don't need a $100 device to do it for you.

    • Well, I do stretch and take breaks, but I might be interested in something like this. Occasionally I'll sit leaned way back in my chair whilst I type - the particular way my office is setup it's actually quite relaxing and I can get "in the zone" programming. But the keyboard prevents me from doing it for any length of time, this thing though, might let me lean back and relax for an hour or so
      • Hrrm true... but don't you just stick your keyboard in your lap for those hardcord coding sessions? I suppose you do get interrupted when leaning for the mouse all the time.
        • Yeah, usually that's what I end up doing. The mouse isn't much of a problem since I've memorized most of the ALT keys (And being in an IDE I don't need to TAB out much) but I'm a crappy touch typist. Keyboard laid flat, fingers in proper position and I'm ok. Put the keyboard in my lap and it's all out the window. Learning how to type on something like this might make it easier to really lean back and relax without hitting the backspace key 30% of the time hehe
    • "I meam come on people, take a 5 minute break for gods' sake. Just get up and walk around or stretch. You don't need a $100 device to do it for you."

      Last time I replied to something as silly as this statement I was told to have a nice day. So i'm just gonna let it go. BTW you dont NEED a keyboard anyways, windows comes with an on screen keyboard.
  • I'm still looking for a one handed keyboard+mouse+controller where I can type still type 60wpm and keep my other hand free to... umm... (barely audible) fast connection... (mumble) pr0n ftp...

  • Just in time for Doom 3! (and Cache/Mirror) (Score:3, Interesting)

    by william_lorenz ( 703263 ) on Monday August 09, 2004 @10:43PM (#9926115) Homepage
    The page is rather slashdotted right now, but I managed to get a glimpse. Looks like this thing is just in time for the Doom 3 [doom3.com] mania, with more buttons than you can shake a boomstick at! Looks like quite the excellent Doom 3 controller to me, although an additional toggle joystick would help things more. And there's a Google cache right here [google.com]. Finally, I also found this prototype design [theapplecollection.com] of what looks to be another model -- interesting stuff.
    • Have you actually played Doom 3? Yes, there are separate keys for each of the (different?) weapons, and the flashlight, but from what I've played, Doom 3 has a much simpler control system than games like Unreal and Battlefield. They certainly succeded in making a simple, old-school shooter.

      For Doom 3 the only buttons I use (other than the arrow keys and mouse) are (F)lashlight and (R)eload.

  • Errr... (Score:5, Funny)

    by iamdrscience ( 541136 ) on Monday August 09, 2004 @10:44PM (#9926124) Homepage
    Seems like it would be pretty nice if only I had three hands.

  • Discrimination, yet again.... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by stox ( 131684 ) on Monday August 09, 2004 @10:44PM (#9926125) Homepage
    "Those with large hands may not achieve the same typing speed as users with small to average sized hands."

    Some of us have large hands. Will someone please build a keyboard for us!

  • Sweet! (Score:5, Funny)

    by ShallowThroat ( 667311 ) on Monday August 09, 2004 @10:45PM (#9926130)
    Now i'll be able to blast my way through level 7 in Word XP!
  • I can see this as a viable way for players of emulators or other games with poor or non-existant joystick/gamepad support to use a game pad in their games, other than that it is just a Neat Toy (TM)

  • Tendonitis? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by nzgeek ( 232346 ) * on Monday August 09, 2004 @10:47PM (#9926143) Homepage Journal
    When I look at the pictures of that thing, I can't help but wonder how you're meant to grip it and type at the same time.

    Similar to the problem I have with a mousewheel (I get a sore hand/finger from holding my finger above the wheel), I can imagine holding my fingers above the AlphaGrip's buttons while at the same time trying to grip the whole thing would be tendonitis city.

    Anyone actually seen one of these in use and can confirm this for me?
    • You have it upside down, the letters go on the bottom.
      • I meant 'hovering' your fingers above those bottom buttons. I imagine if you put enough pressure on them in order to grip the thing, then surely you'd be pressing the buttons constantly?

    • Re:Tendonitis? (Score:4, Funny)

      by Enrico Pulatzo ( 536675 ) on Monday August 09, 2004 @11:27PM (#9926337)
      Simple, double-sided tape. Since your keyboard and mouse are now one item, you shouldn't need to have your hands on anything else. The next version is promising to have a handy little nose scratcher attachement as well, so when your hands are effectively glued to this device, you can still scratch yourself. Scratching your crotch with a controller still isn't testing very well, except amongst a surprisingly high percentage of female testers...
    • I believe the white paper [alphagrip.com] on their site resolves this issue:
      Unique grip allows the device to be held between the palms, freeing up the fingers for typing
  • Not enough buttons! When going to a gamepad I always miss the flexibility that having 104 keys to bind gives me. If only it has dual analog sticks, though.

  • Gaming? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by CoreyGH ( 246060 ) on Monday August 09, 2004 @11:01PM (#9926212) Homepage
    I can't say that this looks like it can take the place of a keyboard/mouse combo; at least, not for FPS games. It looks like it'll behave much like a console controler.


    This may be off topic but I ache for the day someone will make a crossplatform (console/computer) FPS so that I can finally prove to my disbeleiving pals (and myself) that a good computer FPS player will always dominate a great console FPS player (each using their respective platforms). Sure you could hook up a gamepad to a computer and just play PC halo but then the console guys always fall back to "it doesn't have the same feel as an Xbox."

  • Im' uisng one rghit now. (Score:5, Funny)

    by antikarma ( 804155 ) on Monday August 09, 2004 @11:08PM (#9926244)
    Iv'e been uisng a prtoypote of tihs for a wilhe now. I lkie it a lot. I can tpye sxity wrods a mintue wtih aobut one precnte acucrcay. Im' tihknnig aobut getitng rid of my QEWTRY kyebarod atlogehter.
  • The keyboard looks spiffy, but that 50WPM isn't impressive. I already type at over 100.. Well, as fast as I think. :) If I have to stop and think about something, I stop typing. I wonder what my WPM could be on this. I blame my typing speed on years of playing the piano and sax. Oh ya, and writing on FidoNet. :)

    Is FidoNet even still alive?

  • 1.Replace that joystick with a trackball. Maybe keep the joystick if you can fit it, dont fret if you dont.

    2.Make a big version, if your going for a niche market, go for the niche consumer.

    3.Get the hell off your high horse. Yea $100 sounds reasonable if you have seen the device in person, felt it, and felt confident you could control it. Frankly I would still wait 3 months for something so new and read alot of reviews. You expect me to spend $100 on a new joystick without even feeling it?
  • Does anyone think it would be good for coding?
  • How are we supposed to use this [alphagrip.com] with one hand?

    LK
  • ...and normally upon seeing some lame attempt at a keyboard replacement, such as this, I'd ask, "Gee, pre-orders? How much is shipping to Fantasyland?"

    But then I realized, shipping would cost a dime, because they're already in Fantasyland.

  • QWERTY - not for slowing typists down (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 09, 2004 @11:28PM (#9926342)
    The claim that QWERTY was designed to slow typists down to avoid jamming typewriters is misleading.

    What the QWERTY system tries to maximize is alternating keystrokes with the left hand and the right hand - most common words alternate between right and left hands when typing. This stopped most jamming because jams most frequently occured when there were repetitive keystrokes on one side/one row/one column of the typewriter's keys.

    This actually increased typing speed - many people are capable of speeds in great excess of 50 wpm. Also, though a lot of people hunt and peck, almost everyone who uses a computer in their job (whether it be a programmer or not) does touchtype, from sheer necessity. The amount of time it would take a slow typist to learn how to type 50 wpm on this device could easily be spent increasing their current typing speed to well over that on a regular keyboard.

    • QWERTY - yes, for avoiding jams (Score:5, Informative)

      by Moraelin ( 679338 ) on Tuesday August 10, 2004 @07:28AM (#9927803) Journal
      Actually, while QWERTY wasn't designed to slow people down, it _is_ designed to avoid jams.

      The thing is, the contraption consisted of (more or less) a semi-circle of thin levers, each with a little hammer with an embossed letter on it. All were aimed at the same position on the paper. You press a key, and purely mechanically the lever would swing the hammer at the paper. (Well, actually, at the ribbon.)

      Also, because it was a purely mechanical contraption, the cheapest and most reliable way to build one was: keys that are close on the keyboard, would also activate levers which were close to each other.

      Jams would happen when two close enough levers would be activated at the same time. Or close enough. The closer the levers were, the more likely you'd get a jam. (Again, purely coincidentally, this also meant "the closer two keys were".)

      E.g., pressing "Q" and "P" at (almost) the same time would never jam. They swung from opposite directions, and it was pretty much guaranteed that one hammer would simply hit on top of the other. E.g., "A" and "S" at the same time (e.g., while typing "ASSASSIN") would pretty much always jam.

      So basically, QWERTY:

      1. was just supposed to prevent jams. (Which cost more in typing speed than a couple ms worth of more finger movement.)

      2. was not designed to do anything to typing speed as such. Neither maximize it, nor minimize it. Whatever typing speed difference it produced, it was "side effect", rather than "goal". (And, again, a lot of it came from jam prevention rather than anything else.)

      3. the _only_ typing speed consideration it received at all, was a rigged tech demo. Ever wondered why the "QWERTYUIOP" row? Because the rigged tech demo was basically "Look! I can type 'TYPEWRITER' quickly! It must be an optimal layout!" Hence all the letters in the word TYPEWRITER had to be on a single row.

      (Hardly a scientific study, but PHBs bought it anyway.)

      Furthermore, I'd point out that:

      A. It did a piss-poor job even at spacing common letter combinations apart. E.g., even in their tech-demo "TYPEWRITER" they have letters which are near each other: "TY", "EW", "ER", and thus prone to jamming. "W" and "R" aren't that far apart to be jam-proof either.

      B. if you've ever used one of those purely mechanical typewriters (no, some electronic thing doesn't count), you'll notice that typing was a different exercise on those. It involved keeping your hands above the keyboard and hitting the keys pretty hard. At the very least it's _not_ the same RSI prone position you'd use on a normal PC keyboard.

      C. a PC keyboard doesn't jam.

      D. Even if you do type the wrong letters on the PC, the cost of errors is next to nil. Correcting a mistake was a _very_ time consuming operation on a mechanical typewriter, since it involved physically erasing or covering printed stuff with white paint. By comparison, hitting backspace on the keyboard costs a small fraction of a second.

      Etc.

      So basically I'm saying that the considerations from which QWERTY was born, not only were imperfect to start with, they bear exactly _zero_ relevance to a computer keyboard. That QWERTY still works well, is more of a testimony to the fact that people can learn _any_ keyboard layout well enough, than some inherent advantage.

      QWERTY, Dvorak, even alphabetical order, IMHO you probably just type faster on whatever you have more exercise. That's all.

  • Why would touch typists switch? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by msblack ( 191749 ) on Monday August 09, 2004 @11:42PM (#9926408)
    I already type over 50wpm on a QWERTY keyboard. Why would I want to switch? My desk is already equipped with an under-surface keyboard try to prevent RSI problems. For /. readers and techies, the best keyboard change would be returning the CONTROL key where it belongs: next to the A key. How many people use the CAPS LOCK key more than the CONTROL key? At least DEC got that right with the VT-100. I'm still using an old Keytronic keyboard because nobody manufactures keyboards with a DIP switch to swap the CAPS and CONTROL keys. It still drives people nuts when they use my keyboard.

  • Yet another flop to be. (Score:3, Informative)

    by Gldm ( 600518 ) on Monday August 09, 2004 @11:44PM (#9926418)
    This reminds me of the SpaceOrb. I tried one, hated it, and returned it. Why? It just didn't have the precision of a mouse or joystick.

    Likewise, I learned to type on a dvorak keyboard. I don't anymore. Why? Let's see.

    1. Finding a programmable keyboard can be expensive or irritating. Fortunately I found some old Gateway Anykeys that still worked for $10 each.

    2. Relearning to type. This took me about a month to get past 1/4 of my existing typing speed (30wpm vs 120wpm).

    3. Lack of portability. This was the real killer. It wasn't typing on MY keyboard that became irritating, it was typing on OTHER PEOPLE'S keyboards that did. Because I'd have to switch back over to qwerty again to do any work on any other system at a job or at a friend's house or for my parents etc.

    I did find my hands were much less tired, so I assume were I a chronic RSI sufferer, I'd consider putting up with the inconvenience. But short of hauling my own custom keyboard around, there's no solution to the pain of having to re-adapt every time you go somewhere else. Are people going to carry this thing with them and hook it up to friends/coworkers/bosses/clients computers to do work? I doubt it.
  • Like others on this thread, I touch type well above 50 wpm. Heck, I could approach 35 wpm with Graffiti 1 on a PalmPilot using a stylus.

    This "3D" keyboard looks like it would be pretty uncomfortable after a typical 8 hour workday. How much does that sucker weigh? I don't have to hold my QWERTY keyboard...

  • Blast from the past... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by hunterx11 ( 778171 ) <hunterx11@g3.1415926mail.com minus pi> on Tuesday August 10, 2004 @12:09AM (#9926521) Homepage Journal
    The quadruple bucky [astrian.net] strikes back!
  • Where's the key? What am I supposed to when I need to SysReq, or Print Screen? To say nothing of Pause, or Break...

  • Painful (Score:3, Insightful)

    by iamdrscience ( 541136 ) on Tuesday August 10, 2004 @12:28AM (#9926590) Homepage
    It seems like with this "keyboard" you'd have to have your fingers curved and somewhat tensed to hold the controller at all times. This would seem to me to cause more discomfort than a regular keyboard where for the most of the time, most of your fingers are relaxed.

    This seems to be a recurring problem with many "alternative" keyboards like chording keyboards and such. Particularly it seems to be a problem with keyboards intended to be more "mobile". So a tip to you keyboard tinkerers out there: design your keybaord so that your fingers are lax and fully extended while no keys are being pressed.

  • This latest non-qwertyuiop ... (Score:3, Funny)

    by chris_sawtell ( 10326 ) on Tuesday August 10, 2004 @02:02AM (#9926849) Journal
    ... is a very cleverly designed keyboard. Looks just like a nice generous pair of boobs. With that look, it can't help but succeed. Must be designed especially for dotty slashers. Be in quick or they'll all be sold out before you can turn it on.

  • Completely useless (Score:3, Interesting)

    by JRHelgeson ( 576325 ) on Tuesday August 10, 2004 @03:27AM (#9927158) Homepage Journal
    Right now I am typing with both hands on my laptop, in the dark. I cannot see the keys. Sometimes I choose to type with one hand, albeit slowly, but it works when your other hand is holding a kid, or eating ice cream. Other times I stand up and key in letters one at a time using a single finger.

    This keyboard offers none of this flexability. Obviously someone thought this to be a good idea, but didn't realize that it should be left at that. They need to meet up with the No Hands Mouse people. http://www.footmouse.com/

    Why would I want to go from xx WPM down to 0 when my only option is to use both hands.

  • Appearances (Score:3, Funny)

    by stonecypher ( 118140 ) * <stonecypher@gm[ ].com ['ail' in gap]> on Tuesday August 10, 2004 @05:05AM (#9927393) Homepage Journal
    They look a lot like an xbox controller, but contains 42 buttons and a analog stick.

    Oh, so more like a simplified X-Box controller.

    Listen to the rabbit. [sparked.net]

  • Finally. .. (Score:4, Funny)

    by mikael ( 484 ) on Tuesday August 10, 2004 @07:12AM (#9927759)
    ... a console controller for playing 'nethack'.

  • Here is why I probably won't try it.... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by StressGuy ( 472374 ) on Tuesday August 10, 2004 @08:19AM (#9927990)
    * In my experience, joystick/joybutton mouse is almost as bad as a touch pad for doing CAD.

    * In practice, my hands are not constantly on the keyboard. I'm referring to documentation, looking things up, drinking my coffee, etc. This looks like I'd have to carefully put it back in its stand everytime or else wind up hitting unwanted keys.

    It's a good try, but I don't think it suits my needs. Keep trying though, I still want something I can use on an airplane.

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