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One thing that I always find fascinating is how an object, or a way of
thinking, was modeled 25, 50 or 100 years ago, and how we keep going on
with the same design without trying to think if it's actually the right
one, or to challenge our way of thinking with a different one. Keyboards
are one of those things. We all know the
[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qwerty][origin]] of the QWERTY layout,
why the keyboard has this shape, and so on (the
[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_keyboard][wikipedia]] page is a
good read). Let's take a look at this tweet from
[[http://technomancy.us][Technomancy]] (who, for the the record, also
has some
[[http://www.flickr.com/photos/technomancy/4397554484/][interesting]]
keyboard ideas :)
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I wonder how long it'll be before we can look back and laugh at the idea
of poking a QWERTY soft-keyboard on a touch screen. Hope it's soon.
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--- Phil Hagelberg (@technomancy) January 14, 2013
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That's exactly what I'm talking about: we keep reproducing the same
design without questioning it's benefits (I've no doubt that people at
Apple and Google have tried a lot of alternatives, an they probably
decided to stick to this one because it's the most common and people are
used to it. Still, it doesn't mean we have to stick with it). But even
for physical keyboard, we keep the same design: a large space key (why
?!), a capslock key (who need that one, even remapped to "control" I
feel like it's a bad place to physically put a key on the keyboard),
large enter/shift keys, etc.
I'm not a keyboard nerd. But sometimes I take a look at some new and
strange models, sometimes I try one of them, and I might even buy one,
like the [[http://www.typematrix.com][TypeMatrix]] (that one I really
liked).
So, when [[https://twitter.com/obra][Jesse]] announced that he was
working on a keyboard, I got /really/ excited. His layout is very
interesting (it seems to be inspired by the kinesis), and the shape is
also innovative. I also remember reading that he suffers from RSI, which
mean it's something he will be careful bout. Take a look at the mapping:
there's only 52 keys, control/shift/alt are repeated, but with this
shape it makes sense, since they're dedicated to one half of the
keyboard.
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You can
[[http://blog.fsck.com/2012/12/building-a-keyboard-part-1.html][read]]
[[http://blog.fsck.com/2012/12/building-a-keyboard-part-2.html][about]]
[[http://blog.fsck.com/2013/01/a-pound-of-sculpey.html][his]]
[[http://blog.fsck.com/2013/01/pinkies-and-your-brain.html][progress]].
He's also publishing [[http://www.flickr.com/photos/obra/][pictures]] on
his flickr account.
I really hope he will be able to build this keyboard and manage to
manufacture it (maybe a kickstarter project ?). I'll definitely be in
line to get one.
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