Ilya Vedrashko has a post about a virtual keyboard.
Another step from the big tangible stuff of the past to the small ephemeral stuff of the present. Of course, moving from books, letters, and vinyl to email, blogs, and mp3s may free us from some clutter, but it creates new problems. For a few examples, see Nick Monfort and Noah Wardrip-Fruin's Acid-Free Bits, regarding the difficulty of preserving electronic literature. And see this story regarding a family's attempt to get access to their dead son's email account. (If these were physical letters, they'd almost certainly be returned to the soldier's family.) And of course, DRM'd digital music can restrict the user's ability to use, leading to this sort of stuff.
Does the virtual keyboard raise any similar issues? Probably not. Any other candidates for virtual replacements?
Very cool. Not only would this be ideal for mobile devices, it could have uses in MMOs and other games. Imagine flying a starship with directional controls instead of WSAD keys. Sort of a virtual Steel Battallion interface, without having to shell out the extra couple hundred dollars for each game.
Conventional keyboards are versatile and adapt well to many applications, but this opens up a world of endless and inexpensive UI possibilities (assuming one can get past the lack of tactile response).
Posted by: Theo | Feb 22, 2005 at 15:03
You know, if you sit right down and think about it, we're on the road to a day when there's going to be a whole world that's virtual. It'd be just like our world, but virtual instead of real. That's what I think.
Posted by: Edward Castronova | Feb 22, 2005 at 21:54
:P
Seriously, I wonder whether voice and motion input will make the virtual keyboard obsolete before it really takes on.
Posted by: Edward Castronova | Feb 22, 2005 at 21:55
Did you read Tad Williams' "Otherland" series, Edward? =)
I can see many wonderful applications for something like this, assuming the templating for the keyboard is highly customizable not just in key assignment, but also in actual layout... and assuming that the IR tracking is sophisticated enough to track multiple simultaneous "keypresses". In other words, if it let you define via software radically different styles of "keyboard" than exist today.
For more conventional keyboard replacements, I'd think that (setting aside the coolness factor) this would be a total non-starter for me given the complete lack of tactile feedback... touch-typing on something like that would take far more hand-positioning discipline than I possess.
Posted by: Barry Kearns | Feb 22, 2005 at 22:29
Ed wrote:
>You know, if you sit right down and think about it, we're on the road to a day when there's going to be a whole world that's virtual. It'd be just like our world, but virtual instead of real. That's what I think.>
Absolutely. At this point, almost anything we can imagine is in our grasp.
>Seriously, I wonder whether voice and motion input will make the virtual keyboard obsolete before it really takes on.>
Good question, who knows?
Posted by: Jim | Feb 23, 2005 at 05:00
I realise this isn't a post about virtual keyboard, but about the gradual disappearance of the tangible in favour of the intangible. However, I'll do the typical TN early-poster thing and talk about the example rather than what the example was illustrating.
Virtual keyboards (or projection keyboards) have been out for several years now. Slashdot discussion here. I first saw them on TV as a tool for surgeons, because real keyboards are too germ-attractive to use in an operating theatre.
What's new about this keyboard in Ilya Vedrashko's post is that it's built into a mobile phone. That opens an amazing number of doors for game designers! If you can use it to project something other than a keyboard, you get a) a screen big enough to see, and b) a screen you can interact with. Never mind pong, you could play Subbuteo on that!
Richard
Posted by: Richard Bartle | Feb 23, 2005 at 06:34
Ted -- wow, fascinating concept -- someone should do a blog about that!
Richard, I'm honestly not sure what the post is about -- probably depends on your interpretive community. As far as games go, I guess the eye toy is kind of similar in the new possibilities it creates for new forms of interface -- though the laser projected interface map does make this more fun -- esp. if the map can morph, right?
Regarding choice of science fiction -- I wasn't thinking "Otherland" so much as "The Diamond Age". My thought was, just looking around: what things around us can be made smaller and more intangible? Obviously, practically invisible nanotech machines could play a major role in cleaning up clutter.
Posted by: greglas | Feb 23, 2005 at 10:15
I think you guys are jumping the gun. This isn't a virtual keyboard. It's a real keyboard. It just works differently. Incidentally, it also uses motion detection (of sorts) to work.
It's an awesome idea though. I can't wait for the next generation of them. I want that customizable interface that was mentioned! :)
Posted by: MM | Feb 23, 2005 at 13:21
Also, it's not hard to imagine a mouse... doesn't someone already have one of those?
Posted by: MM | Feb 23, 2005 at 13:22
Good point MM. We aren't really talking about subverting the "real" in favor of the "virtual" here. This is an input device, not a storage medium, and as such I don't think there's any blurring of realities going on here.
The greater impact here is the mobility and customizability of the device. Think of how cellular phones have changed the way we live and communicate, then apply that to computing and gaming. Imagine a handheld, internet-capable computer that can project its own input device and screen, and you have a very different way to play.
I love the idea of being able to create sliders for such things as throttle control, things that conventional keyboards are poorly suited for, or for being able to create a labeled button of any size, shape or color for my favorite keybinds.
Posted by: Theo | Feb 23, 2005 at 15:56
MM wrote:
>I think you guys are jumping the gun. This isn't a virtual keyboard. It's a real keyboard. It just works differently. Incidentally, it also uses motion detection (of sorts) to work.>
Sort of... it's a device that simulates a keyboard. It can be a lot of other things too, so virtual might not be wrong, just misleading.
Posted by: Jim | Feb 23, 2005 at 22:26
Whether this is a real or virtual input device, it has something missing: Feedback.
Sound is often an undesirable form of feedback. What's the first thing you turn off when you buy a new mobile phone? (Apart from the PIN code.) Key tones. Then you're only stuck with the annoying mechanical clicks that you can't do anything about.
And even if you can use sound to confirm input, it doesn't work as a guide to your input. If you can't feel the keyboard then you have to look at the keyboard instead of the screen. It's even worse to replace force-feedback devices such as throttle controls, wheels and pedals. I don't see this as much of a replacement for today's input devices, especially not as game controls.
But I'd agree that it's a cool new thing that opens up for a wealth of new possibilities.
Posted by: Hans Terje Bakke | Feb 24, 2005 at 06:54
Clever publishers will find other ways to provide feedback. Maybe overlay the projection onto a pliable(latex?) mat that can be unrolled on any surface with raised "buttons" that pop back when pressed, providing a similar experience to using a traditional keyboard.
I always leave my key tones on, just quiet. ;-)
Posted by: Theo | Feb 24, 2005 at 09:16
A lot of people have already said what my biggest issue with this would be: namely, tactile feedback. I think that people would adjust though.
I see it as similar to how I adjust between a regular sized keyboard and a laptop. As long as I have a point of reference (the little raised bumps on the "f" and "j" keys) I can adjust pretty quickly.
Posted by: Jim | Feb 25, 2005 at 23:14
I am curious how they would implement a feedback response for the blind. I can understand with the growth market of games for phones, the need for an expanded input interface, but if the virtual keyboard is the primary input one mught run into some problems.
Granted, mobile phones tend to have the most innovative interfaces out there. One will just have to watch and see what the future holds.
Posted by: Nathan Johnston | Feb 26, 2005 at 20:30
http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2005-03-04/screens_feature.html
"So, where’re all my records and CDs? They’re inside the laptop. DVD player? Laptop. Newspapers? I read Google News in the morning. Where’re my magazines? I read Metropolis Online, I write stories for SciFi.com. Where’s my TV? I got no TV: Compared to Web surfing on broadband wireless, watching a TV show is like watching ice melt. I tried real hard to sit down and watch a television dramatic episode recently – it felt like watching Vaudeville, with a trained dog act and a guy juggling plates. TV is dying right in front of us. It’s become a medium for the brainwashed, the poor, and the semiliterate. Where’s my fax machine? Laptop. Mailbox? Laptop. Filing cabinet? Laptop. Working desk? Laptop. Bank? Laptop. Place of business? Laptop. Most people I deal with have no idea I’m here in California. They’d never think to ask me. Why should they? They send e-mail, they get what they want, game over."
Posted by: greglas | Mar 07, 2005 at 10:33