Next step - Oled display underneath ;)

JoOngle

no haptic response, no thank you
trying to type on full sized hapticless keyboard is just a huge pain in the ass.

Plus im pretty sure as soon as you get a few drops of water on the keyboard you will get false positives, from the sensor believing that drop is your finger. i think we all know that nothing ruins a comment on gizmodo like a million k's

Dapole

@sparx104: [www.artlebedev.com]

Optimus Tactus my friend.

Some day in the year 2467....

Metkis

Why use a camera? - just use a touchscreen. Actually, creating a touchscreen sized keyboard with a display underneath would be great - you would be able to reposition the keys along with changing the graphics on them.

Would perhaps be useful as an addon to a keyboard - ie. replace the number keypad on the right of a keyboard with a touchscreen and allow you to configure it how you want...

Wonder if I can patent that.

sparx104

I am curious how this "feels". I am a touch typist and need to feel the keys to know where I am. It would be fun to try, not to sure its practical though. (Not to mention the cheetoh laced fingerprints that nerds will leave all over it.)

Curves

Oh my God, this would make clean up after firing a round off so much easier after an accidental "long distance" finale.

XM8500

Why be conceptual about a device which actually should be eliminated all together. It is kind of like musing about what a 24th century buggy whip:

- adaptive carbon nanotube based flexible whipping action
- auto targeting interface, just look at the spot on the horse you want to hit

If they are going to design a non practical "futuristic" piece of gear, at least design for a future where there is a fast mode of interaction with the machine.

RainyDayInterns

I need keys. No-Key is a No-Go for me. Something has to click when I press it.
Even silicone keyboards give you feedback when you type on them.

Hvedhrungr

Thank god. Someone need to punch Steampunk straight in the balls.

Dook_In_The_Urinal

@XM8500: You man after a long night of "gaming"?

strider_mt2k

@iTheophilus: Absolutely. No flexibility of position, no support for wrists, great opportunity for litigious society.

ps61318

RSI here we come...

iTheophilus

@Curves: Pound your fingertips on your desk for an hour. That's how it feels... no response at all. It appears to be flat glass, so unless they put some nubs on the home keys or something, you're back to watching your fingers...

StarChaser Tyger

@Dapole: I think it would be great if I could afford a guy to stand next to me and make a clicking noise every time I touch a key. With special sound effects for back spacing and deleting, and maybe for use of the number keypad.

Then I shall have arrived.

ps61318

@Curves: Perhaps a new generation of typing devices will have people adapt, so that instead of pounding the keys, they'll just lightly wiggle their digits.

frigg

Cool... But I can't imagine it being all the healthy for you fingers?

DJTripleRRR

Don't show it to Doctorow

MarlboroTestMonkey7

Pretty but dumb. You need to feel the keys to touch-type. That's why the word "touch" is in touch-type.

Pender

@DJTripleRRR:
Combine it with some of this technology and you don't need to touch the board at all.

jige

I hear ya @RainyDayInterns: One day soon keyboards will only be used by mutes.

ANoel

I once designed a keyboard. They thought I was mad. The keys were all nipples. Home row was....perky!

SigmundTheSeaMonster

Gives new meaning to the phrase "go pound sand".

Bueller

I am sure these keys actually have feelings (don't we all). This keyboard appears to actually have letters that are raised underneath so you can feel the letters beneath your fingers and if it doesn't then HELL I just came up with a damn good idea for version 2!

It looks like they actually have squares around the keys so if that were raised rubber it would make sense that you wouldn't have to look at the keys to type. I still don't get the applications though since I prefer the traditional keyboard unless it was waterproof and you really needed to type in the pool/bathtub/boat/thunderstorm. I agree it wouldn't be great for a full time keyboard but for 6 hours a week it should be good.

Grifter

I really hate today's keyboards_

Even those companies that keep trying to invent the better keyboard are still using a form factor from the 1850's_ Even today's ergonomic keyboards are a joke_

I like the look - but someone needs to really come up with a better design form_

uberfu

They had calculators like this in the 80's. So, Welcome to 1980-something! :)

Greg

This thing looks pretty cool, but I think I'll stick with my Das Keyboard.

Lazarus511

@Greg: Definitely the 80's.

End of line...

DeadWriter

"Haptic Response" is overrated. If you can't learn to operate on a physically non-responsive control surface how can you ever expect to survive being married?

Seriously though, we're getting very close to the time when the whole notion of a control surface may be on the way out. Even monkeys can teleoperate robot arms with their minds and the only feedback they get from that is a squirt of apple juice.

Where computer input is concerned, I'll take a virtual interface over a physical device any day. If I could have light up "keys" appear in the surface of my glass desk, I would be happy to toss my keyboard.

Not so for performing music or doing other creative things in physical space... I wouldn't want a virtual guitar or a remote control hammer and chisel or a telepresence sexual aid.

inkswitch

@inkswitch: Not so for performing music or doing other creative things in physical space... I wouldn't want a virtual guitar or a remote control hammer and chisel or a telepresence sexual aid.

I still have a manual typewriter for some tasks. J.K. Rowling still uses a pen an paper. For some, writing is a creative process.

DeadWriter

@inkswitch:

""Haptic Response" is overrated. If you can't learn to operate on a physically non-responsive control surface how can you ever expect to survive being married?"

Brilliant.

diverguy

[www.touchfreecomputing.com] seem to have made a thicker version of this already aimed at doctors.

neurocache

with what I have seen done with a camera and a cardboard box, this should be fairly simple to include multi-touch with. Today that should be a no-brainer.

jiveabillion

Typing in the bath is a serious sign of blogging addiction. Oooh and one more thing ..also a serious sign or smell of your burnt body (zaaappp electric!!!).

Glitzh

stunning.

mmttss

How can you touch type? It's a must to look at the keys. There needs to be some edged so you know what you're typing.

michaelleung

I'm not so sure under water would work too well, the water moving around might mess with the camera and you might get some sgludfghasdfughasdhgkasjhs thing like that

MisterCow.Pnoy

Didn't I see this in Tron?

chinesedentist