Comments on: A Tablet PC friendly desktop keyboard

By: LCH

LCH — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 19:22:28 +0000

I like your mockups; they give a good sense of how a dual screen device would work. I think we’ll see some products like this down the road. The OLPC 2 might be one of the first that gets the most attention. I think I’ve seen a dual screen music reader that’s shipping now. However, there’s a big difference between a specialized reader and a full functioning system as you describe.

One thing your post points out very well is how a dual screen might actually be used in an app like Photoshop. I really like the idea of the main display being used as a preview if you will. Illustrates how there can be a nice division between viewing and controlling an app. One display is focused on each.

By: mbear

mbear — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:21:02 +0000

Personally I'd rather see an entire keyboard made from a single touch sensitive LCD screen. Sort of like the one I described for my ideal laptop. I know there's a similar concept from the people who designed the Optimus Maximus keyboard, but they haven't entered production yet. Personally I'd like Microsoft or Logitech to buy the idea and bring it to market. Then we can benefit from economies of scale and purchase from a known vendor. And since Microsoft and Logitech have an international reach, the keyboards could easily be customized to support various keyboard layouts via software updates. Plus, because it's basically a second display, users could decide what they want on the screen (email notification, music player controls), and where it should be. In fact, we could develop nice, application specific user interfaces for the keyboard. How about a piano keyboard for music programs, or an ArtRage style palette interface for PhotoShop/Illustrator? Maybe an electronic "shuttle" for video editing? And that doesn't count the keyboard shortcuts for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc. Imagine pressing the ALT key and seeing the keys show "File", "Edit", "New", "Bold", "Italic", etc. Sort of like the old paper overlays that came with WordPerfect back in the day.

By: LCH

LCH — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 04:11:19 +0000

http://www.gottabemobile.com/Lenovo+Unleashes+The+ThinkPad+W700+Mobile+Workstation.aspx

Forgot the link

By: LCH

LCH — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 04:11:07 +0000

Lenovo announced today the ThinkPad W700 with a Wacom digitizer built next to the touchpad. It’s kind of close to what I’m talking about here, but I’d like to see a display where the digitizer is.

By: jkendrick

jkendrick — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 01:56:12 +0000

Very timely Loren. Watch for a notebook announcement tonight that you will find interesting.

By: LCH

LCH — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 01:26:18 +0000

I like the idea of being able to see email notifications, etc on the keyboard even when the system is “off.” That’s an added twist. Maybe a motion sensor would turn on the display when someone is around, otherwise the display would be off unless you tap on it or hit a key or something.

Now I guess none of this helps all those people with standard notebooks and for that I’ll have to put my thinking cap on….right now I’m leaning towards some type of digitizing surface that slides/snaps over the screen or the keyboard. hmmm.

By: Lora

Lora — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 01:22:35 +0000

At first, I thought of the Synaptics touchpad that supports gestures, but it could be so much more.

So, taking this a step further —
If the integrated digitizer + display were detatchable SideShow-like unit, then could carry it around. SideShow would allow you to see email, play audio / video, see a game stats, etc. when walking away from the desktop.

Might be a gaming angle too, like with the SideShow on the Logitech gaming keyboard. http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/keyboards/keyboard/devices/3498&cl=us,en

Like you said, there are a lot of people out there who could use “Tablet & Touch” technology, but don’t because they don’t realize all they have to do is attatch a graphing tablet or that graphing tablet is still indirect (no display).