I like the Mass Effect franchise's haptic adaptive interface.
Based on haptic technology.
The future of the keyboard...
- Thread starter Warped9
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I recall about 10-11 years ago on another BBS and again on THIS BBS a few years ago several rather intelligent posters exclaiming how touch screen of any kind would not catch on(in both cases the threads were about the LCARS interface on STNG)....they have been resoundingly wrong on every point.
In terms of desktops, yes they will still be around for awhile, they offer some advantages, I LOVE my current setup with a huge screen and multi-monitors, but eventually the transition will make the use of computers anywhere seamless, we won't even really notice the difference because integration is happening so steadily.
RAMA
The desktop computer isn't going anywhere, its just the right configuration to get stuff done, you can integrate computers into everything you can think of but it just isn't as good as the desk+desktop machine+mouse+the good old keyboard, they've predicted the end of the desktop computer just as many times as the end of the world by now
not gonna happen...
not gonna happen...
It will be a long time before someone comes up with something more efficient than a QWERTY board.
"Simpler" and "easier"? Sure. But in terms of getting work done, the keyboard is still the way to go.
"Simpler" and "easier"? Sure. But in terms of getting work done, the keyboard is still the way to go.
Why replace a simple, universal, time-tested device like a traditional keyboard with something that basically simulates a keyboard, only it's about a thousand times more complicated? Sounds like pure gadgetry for gadgetry's sake.
Plus the fact that you need the tactile sensation of individual mechanical keys. Touch typing with any degree of speed or accuracy is impossible when the "keyboard" is a perfectly flat, smooth surface.
There already is, and it's been around since 1936: the Dvorak keyboard.
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The gain provided by the simplified keyboard has been highly contested over the years and pretty much debunked.
It offers some advantages but also has its disadvantages. In the end it's pretty much a wash.
This is mostly because it's based on bad science--i.e. the idea of right-hand dominance. For example, if the concept were really true (or as significant as Dvorak suggested) almost every instrument in the world would be backwards.
Besides, not really relevant to my point.
You have any idea how noisy it is in my brain?
I am nitpicking here, but I don't remember anyone in the Mass Effect universe who used these interfaces wearing gloves? For instance, the pilot Joker always had his hands naked. So, how were they able to use these interfaces?
Since the earliest days, humans have used 'false' illumination to light the night time sky. In the beginning, they carried torches, then they progressed to oil lamps, than to electric lighting. The function for all three was the same, but the form changed over the thousands of years. I think the same will happen with the keyboard. I can't project what the next iteration of the keyboard will be, but I think it will do the same functions.
Since the earliest days, humans have used 'false' illumination to light the night time sky. In the beginning, they carried torches, then they progressed to oil lamps, than to electric lighting. The function for all three was the same, but the form changed over the thousands of years. I think the same will happen with the keyboard. I can't project what the next iteration of the keyboard will be, but I think it will do the same functions.
^That's a terrible analogy. A keyboard is just part of a chain like your light analogy. Before it came typewriters and before that pen and ink. It's one of the current tools for communication, just as the LED is one of the current tools for producing light. In the future there will doubtlessly be new ways of communicating that will replace the keyboard just as there will be new ways to create light.
And what is "false" about man made illumination?
And what is "false" about man made illumination?
Can I just a
It's false because it's not naturally made. Maybe I should have written human-made, or artificially made?
I was thinking of linking the keyboard to the typewriter and pen and ink. However, that chain doesn't work either. Although it's true that keyboards are used for writing, these devices are also used for commanding a computer to perform functions.
I think that any device that requires voice command and brain thought command will run into human created impediments. I have a speech impediment, and there are instances where humans can't understand what I say. Another impediment I can think is the effect of drinking on one's speech and thinking - I have seen my mother drunk on occasion - and I am dubious that a computer would be able to understand either her speech or her thinking. However, she can still type, and I can still type.
I was thinking of linking the keyboard to the typewriter and pen and ink. However, that chain doesn't work either. Although it's true that keyboards are used for writing, these devices are also used for commanding a computer to perform functions.
I think that any device that requires voice command and brain thought command will run into human created impediments. I have a speech impediment, and there are instances where humans can't understand what I say. Another impediment I can think is the effect of drinking on one's speech and thinking - I have seen my mother drunk on occasion - and I am dubious that a computer would be able to understand either her speech or her thinking. However, she can still type, and I can still type.
The haptic interface is used for more than just a keyboard. It simulates a holographic touch-screen interface. It's basically the computer itself and no monitor or keyboard, which are instead displayed holographically. The first ninety seconds or so of this video (starting from the 1:50 mark and ending at around 3:15) shows characters on a human starship using haptic interfaces at their stations. (Spoilers for Mass Effect 2.)
This was also in the Codex entry for the Haptic Adaptive Interface, but I'd omitted it because I didn't think it was relevant:
It's plausible that people in the military who know they're going to be working with haptic interfaces constantly would have such a procedure done. The military itself might even make it mandatory.
My big issue with haptic type displays is the fact that anything that's see-through can become difficult to make out by what's seen through it. I've never understood why anyone would want a floating holographic TV as seen in a lot of movies, as I want to clearly see the picture, not my roommate walking around behind it.
For me, I am not sure if I want to be working at an interface that has an orange background. I wonder what emotional effect this color will have on the user over an extended time. When I worked at Target some years ago, I learned for myself that the color red increased my feelings of depression and anxiety. One day, in the rec room, I thought of killing myself, and I quit the job that same day. (This store had painted its showroom and rec room walls an ugly dark shade of red, and there was red on the signs, on the uniforms, on the carts, and other locations.)
Here are two articles on color:
http://www.colour-affects.co.uk/psychological-properties-of-colours
http://11eleven-life.blogspot.com/2011/01/psychological-effects-of-colors.html
There is a famous story about a woman in the 19th century being placed into a room papered with yellow wallpaper. By the end of the story, she is insane.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yellow_Wallpaper
Here are two articles on color:
http://www.colour-affects.co.uk/psychological-properties-of-colours
http://11eleven-life.blogspot.com/2011/01/psychological-effects-of-colors.html
There is a famous story about a woman in the 19th century being placed into a room papered with yellow wallpaper. By the end of the story, she is insane.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yellow_Wallpaper
The lack of tactile response is no problem for the generations to come. You only depend on it because you are accustomed to it. There are videos on YouTube of babies playing around with iPads, demonstrating an uncanny mastery of the touch screen interface. It's remarkable. I feel old.
Broad touches with big buttons on a touch UI are one thing, PRECISION typing is a whole different story. It's the same reason that games like Fruit Ninja and Dance Central are great on Kinect while anything requiring precision or very accurate movements are an exercise in frustration. The same holds true with touch interfaces.
There's this:
http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/21/leap-motion-3d-motion-and-gesture-control/
I know, it screams fake, but then engadget went to visit them and shot their own video:
http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/25/leap-motion-gesture-control-technology-hands-on/#continued
Looks fun though.
http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/21/leap-motion-3d-motion-and-gesture-control/
I know, it screams fake, but then engadget went to visit them and shot their own video:
http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/25/leap-motion-gesture-control-technology-hands-on/#continued
Looks fun though.
Wrong. Tactile feedback is essential to high speed touch typing, because it lets your fingers know where they are by feel, freeing your eyes up to look at other things (the screen, typically).
If you're typing on a flat featureless touch-screen keyboard, you'll have to be continually looking at your hands.
Not to mention potential health issues caused by jamming your fingertips against a hard, flat surface for hours on end.
Keyboards with better feedback (e.g. mechanical keyboards like old IBMs) make it easier to determine how much pressure needs to be applied, as well.
Anyone who thinks they can type properly without a proper keyboard is full of it.
The only reason nobody uses mechanical keyboards (which, when built to a high level of quality, are superior to absolutely any other key-based input device that exists) these days is because it's cheaper for companies to just churn out crappy membrane keyboards instead, and even then, kids would rather use 'TOUCH SCREENZ INNIT' on their 'IFONEZ BLUD' than learn how to type properly anyway.
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