Keyborgs! 21 Bizarre Keyboards
Bizarre layouts. Bizarre shapes. Bizarre locations. Bizarre technologies. Did I mention these keyboards are bizarre?Posted by Harry McCracken | Monday, October 19, 2009
Portable computer keyboard
Patent filed August 18th, 2000
This keyboard was meant for use in handheld devices, and whatever it gained in compactness, it lost in sheer weirdness. Some of the keys pivot up into place, and the layout bears just enough resemblance to QWERTY to make all the ways it diverges from it even more confusing. You were supposed to use your left hand to type on the larger section, and your right on to type on the pivoting addendum–I think. As with all keyboard patents, the filing for this one confidently explains how quick and efficient this all was.
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October 19th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Number 20 does exist:
http://www.virtual-laser-keyboard.com/
it works, but typing with your fingers on a table hurts and you couldn’t really touch type the way you’re used to because your fingers partially obstruct your thumbs… Cool but pretty useless.
October 20th, 2009 at 9:44 am
Now here is a great example of a good product with bad marketing. This kind of keyboard is for a very narrow market but it is perfect for that market. The market where you will on occassion need keyboard access to some system but the environment in question is to hostile for that kind of equipment like a factory or other non-technical equipment friendly environment.
Imagine going to a production line in some factory and one of the systems is down. You could use a standard keyboard even one that is perhaps durable but wouldn’t it make more sense to have sometrhing like this ion place wehere a keyboard of light pops up when you need it and then is discarded (in a sense) till needed again? You could put this in places where dust & other air bourne matrials make regular keyboard use difficult if not impossible.
Another great use would be in space where the space you have in whatever vehicle you are in is very limited and every ounce of material you add to the vehicle increases the expense to put the thing into space.
October 22nd, 2009 at 8:36 am
I use the Dvorak layout. It’s easier, quicker, and has been readily available since the Apple //c first added it to their hardware. First, since the commonly used letters are all on the home row, and it is common for words to be spelled with alternating consonants (right hand) and vowels (left hand), it would be easier even for the left-handed, but you could just get the left-handed Dvorak layout if you wanted. QWERTY, as you pointed out, was designed to slow you down. Frankly, that’s insulting to the consumer, and I won’t be so insulted.
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:26 am
It’s really too bad you aren’t offering a ‘view all in one page’ option for this story.
October 26th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
#10 looks like SafeType Keyboard. Oh, and it seems to have mirrors to ease learning.
Which one corresponds to Kinesis’s Contoured Keyboard?