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Hardware

Single-handed, Offline, Portable Data Input? 39

Posted by Cliff from the look-ma-one-hand dept.
One Armed Bandit asks: "By now everyone knows the available single handed keyboard alternatives. What I've not seen available is a true portable one-handed offline input device. Gary Friedman's final concept for the DataEgg is a fantastic one. Unfortunately, it never made it to the market. I - for one - would pay a premium for this kind of device. I think one of the reasons that this hasn't been built is because of the requirement for users to learn a new input mechanism. In my experience, this is a more difficult perception to overcome than a skill to acquire. How many of you can navigate your various electronic devices by touch? Is anything on the market? Does anyone have a pet project?"

"The high points would be:

  • Single handed operation (probably chorded)
  • Local file storage
  • On-board display for visual feedback and document review
  • Uplink to host (USB, IR, Wireless)
I can't count the occasions which I'm walking down a noisy street (hence no voice recognition) and dying to jot down my stream of consciousness (without using two hands for a stylus and walking in front of a bus)? I would kill for something like this!"
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Single-handed, Offline, Portable Data Input? More

Single-handed, Offline, Portable Data Input?

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  • There would be more of them but . . . (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 16, 2004 @06:53PM (#8298839)
    The user base keeps going blind.
    • The user base keeps going blind.

      On the other hand, you have a very shallow learning curve, as almost every Slashdot poster is very familiar with the one-handed "chording" required. And advanced users have even learned how to keep from getting their keyboards sticky in the process.

      (Compare this to the demonstrated inability of most of the Slashdot crowd to ever learn how to handle softer, more feminine curves.)

      <voice="Triumph the Insult Comic Dog"> Hey, I kid, I kid!

      You're all Cassanovas here. Su

  • Cell phone with noise cancelling headset. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Godeke ( 32895 ) * on Monday February 16, 2004 @06:55PM (#8298868)
    Even in a noisy environment, you can take audible notes if you have a nose cancelling headset. With the exception of car horns, the traffic can't be heard. However, you also look like a homeless person jabbering to invisible people even more than the usual headphone+cell phone geek, because the normal cell phone pattern of speaking goes away. Nothing like randomly beginning to speak into the air to freak the locals out...

  • I can't count the occasions which I'm walking down a noisy street (hence no voice recognition) and dying to jot down my stream of consciousness (without using two hands for a stylus and walking in front of a bus)? I would kill for something like this!"

    Wouldn't a digital recorder built into a pen or something like a mobile phone with voice recorder built in be much better for this task?

    As for the device itself, the above usage of voice brings about what I think is the best interface and that's voice.

    • I'm not sure this statement is correct. I can definitely type faster with one hand than the amount of time it takes to train a voice recognition engine, speak, and correct the 15-20% of the document that is incorrect due to flaws in voice recognition.

      In other words, the statement "Improvement of our existing speech-to-text technologies may be required" is not only completely correct, but it nullifies your entire statement -- it's like saying that it's quicker to get to NY via matter transporter, but impr

  • KISS (Score:5, Funny)

    by falsification ( 644190 ) on Monday February 16, 2004 @06:58PM (#8298899) Journal
    Single-handed, Offline, Portable Data Input?

    I don't know. I happen to like PEN AND PAPER.

    • Very helpful suggestion. Well except that he'd need two hands for a pad of paper and pen. If it wasn't the case, he already said he'd use something like a PDA.

      Try some of these [google.com]

      • Details, details, details. Add a servent dwarf and you're back in business. Only one hand. Hell, with an adequate intelligence, this dwarf could make it so you didn't need to use *any* hands! It just gets better and better...

    • A small recording device; people use them all the time. Record your notes, transcribe them later.

  • Handykey (Score:4, Informative)

    by rqqrtnb ( 753156 ) on Monday February 16, 2004 @06:58PM (#8298903)
    Handykey [handykey.com], in New York, used to make a device that was both a keyboard and mouse. I got mine about 3 years ago, it had DOS drivers and they apparently came out with Windows and PS/2 drivers later. Plugs into the serial port for data, the keyboard port for power (only drew 9 mA or so.) It's chord based, most characters are two fingers, with the modifiers on the thumb; it had a velcro strap to wrap around the back of your hand to hold it in place.

    There used to be a FAQ about such keyboards; look at any of the RSI resources. Also look at the pages about the "Behemoth" nee' "Winnebiko" project, they used the one of the "bat" keyboard sticks.

    You might also look at some of the one-handed layouts for conventional typewriters that Dvorak came up with, along with the more well known layout. It depends on what you're trying to do...

  • ASCII chording keyboards (Score:3, Interesting)

    by rqqrtnb ( 753156 ) on Monday February 16, 2004 @07:04PM (#8298972)
    I remember from the early days of microcomputers, when real programmers used toggle switches and keyboards were outrageously expensive, there was a one-handed ASCII keyboard. It was a sphere with four finger buttons and eight thumb buttons. One was supposed to play a chord with the fingers, giving eight bits, and then press one of the thumb buttons, giving three more. It was attractive to a lot of people because the small number of moving parts made it cheap. You might be able to find one used. It would take a lot of training to use, and it might be very hard to get any amount of speed, but it's worth investigating.

    There was a commercially-produced keyboard of this form, known as the MicroWriter. It was - probably still is - quite popular among blind/disabled/special-needs users, though that was not its primary market.

    First incarnation was a hand-sized device with 6 keys (only the thumb had to move) with about 8K of RAM and an 1802 processor. It was intended for use as a portable word-processor. The same mechanics and case were used as an auxiliary keyboard for the BBC Micro (using a resistor network on the switches, fed to an analogue input port on the micro).

  • Folks /w arthritis & other disabilites hate th (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I have small hands. Worse, they have little to no grip. Both are because of a physical disability I guarantee you that I do not have fingers long enough to hold this and reach all the buttons.

    Worse, I can guarantee you that I couldn't hold it and push buttons - I don't have the grip or finger strength. I can hold a standard cellphone in one hand - but my thumb doesn't wrap around far enough to hit the buttons, and I wouldn't have the strength to anyway.

    This, and most one-handed input methods I've seen

  • CyKey (Score:5, Informative)

    by FesterDaFelcher ( 651853 ) on Monday February 16, 2004 @07:13PM (#8299062)
    CyKey [megasharp.com] uses a wirless connection to a PDA. Leave the PDA in your pocket, have the CyKey in one hand, and you are ready to Rock, I mean WALK!
    • Sorry, but CyKey is IR remote, not RF. It needs direct line of site and is therefore borderline useless.
  • There was a comment/story on a device on /. in the last year... one handed, shaped like a bicycle grip, depending on which combination of fingers you pressed it outputted a different alphanumeric character... can anybody remember the name, or anything more about it? I was trying to find it a few weeks ago...

  • a fancy new mobile phone (Score:2, Interesting)

    by keot ( 667523 )
    when i'm around the house, listening to the radio away from my machine and i hear a song i like, i take out my mobile phone, use the shortcut to load a text editor, tap the song name in using t9 predictive text input, and hit 'send via bluetooth' and it's on my machine for when i return.
    you can operate it single handedly, it has local file storage, a display and can trasmit data via bluetooth or irda or even email if you want to pay.
    it can also act as a telecommunications device. modern phones like the siem

  • big deal (Score:3, Interesting)

    by ajagci ( 737734 ) on Monday February 16, 2004 @07:33PM (#8299273)
    Another chorded one-handed input device, like we didn't have enough of them already.

    What would be nice to have would be a chorded one-handed keyboard with Bluetooth. A small display would then go into the glasses or into a wrist watch. That's a much more convenient arrangement than putting everything into a single "data egg" (with a proprietary and patented layout to boot).
    • I agree that the separate display is a fairly essential aspect, since presumably one wants a one-handed input device to be able to use it while doing (and seeing) other things.

      But how is keeping the display and chorded-keyboard apart going to keep it from being patentable? If you put any sort of effort into optimizing it, whoever comes up with it is likely going to have done some sort of innovation. That could include the layout of the device, or the way the chording works. And then s/he's going to be a
      • But how is keeping the display and chorded-keyboard apart going to keep it from being patentable?

        Because Bluetooth keyboards and Bluetooth HMDs already exist; what would there be to be patented?

        The main patents they can have on the DataEgg is the precise chording and design patents.

        And what is really wrong with it being patentable? I understand being pissed off at abuse of the patent process, but shouldn't it be more important that it works well than that no one is patenting it?

        For a data entry metho
        • Generally, I think you're talking about the general innovation of the combination of a bluetooth keyboard and HMD, whereas I'm talking about how the patent system is built around any little bits of novelty and utility. And I mean any. So I think we're arguing about two different things.

          And yeah, what you're talking about doesn't seem all that new. But rest assured that if there is something new about it at all, and your statement "What would be nice..." suggests that it would be, then someone who combin

  • Morse Code [makoa.org] using a sip-and-puff interface for disabled people; see the video [makoa.org]. For desktop or laptop use there is the DARCI Morse USB device [westest.com], though pure software methods shold be available somewhere. (And yes, technically it is International Morse Code [google.com]).
  • A device the size of a cellphone keypad, with full one-keypress English data entry?

    The SoftAva Q12 [softava.com] is a prototype of just such a device.

    Unfortunately, they don't produce the hardware, they simply licence it out, and I don't know if anyone is actually shipping it.

    Might be worth following... I'm sure someone will find it useful someday....

  • I think you are looking for this little beast: http://www.filewalker.com/

  • morse code (Score:3, Insightful)

    by NateTech ( 50881 ) on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @03:21AM (#8302486)
    I can't resist...

    Put a morse code key between your fingers. A simple microcontroller could translate to ASCII and store on Flash.

    A little shorthand to shorten up longer words and you're set.

    Not efficient, but very cool.

  • KISS again (Score:2, Interesting)

    by it0 ( 567968 )
    What about a mobile phone, especially 1 with T9 text input?
  • Logitech makes a pen which records your notes as you write them. Product info can be found here. [logitech.com]

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