I tweeted to Logitech that their portable keyboard (one of which I own) is okay, but it would be better with legs to prop it at an angle. Logitech replied that they'd pass along the suggestion.
In my blogs and videos, I've long railed against rotten keyboards, including those from Apple, which seems unwilling to produce great keyboards.
People experience physical problems using desktop and mobile keyboards, of course. Kids who have grown up with touch screens are less likely to complain. But if that's the case, why aren't they using touch screen keyboards in front of their computers?!
Once you get used to predictive touch keyboards -- at least those that display the word you're beginning to type -- they have some value. It will be interesting to see whether the RIM-type keyboard -- which attempts to predict the next word -- will be accurate.
I'm a big fan of augmented reality glasses. But it will take years before we know whether they will become the next generation of input.
I'm wondering what the long-term effects will be of using a keyboard on an iPad. I don't think laying it flat and using it is very ergonomically beneficial. Neither is the use of thumbs all day long. That leads me to believe that all of these solutions are stepping stones to other alternatives not viable yet, though I'm sure somewhere teams are hard at work coming up with other options.
The type of keyboard preference, as Mary alluded to may be based on what you grew up with. It might be partly generational as to which appeals to certain customers.
As for predictive words or phrases - I think this has potential, especially if you use the same phrases or names over and over again. This is certainly a benefit in Microsoft Excel, where you need only type a letter or two and the entire cell content appears from having it in another cell on the spreadsheet. That idea could be a keeper!
See, you don't know what you're capable of! Yesterday it was a mouse, today it's a touch keyboard and tomorrow....piloting the first manned expedition to Mars.
All these touch keyboards, especially with their increasingly advanced features, require getting used to. I'd suggest one to two weeks of steady use, perhaps even a month. I'm not suggesting that even the majority of users will like touch keyboards, but daily use can improve a person's performance.
The market certainly has spoken on the question of touch keyboards for phones, and large screens with touch keyboards are the rule, while physical keyboards are the exception.
Some people even prefer a phone's touch keyboard to physical buttons, although I wonder if these people understand the concept of "touch (hehe) typing."
As for predictive keyboards, they might prove useful if the predictions are accurate and people get used to them. As I noted, SwiftKey offers such a software keyboard. Some people like it, some don't.
These keyboards still horrify, but it's good to know effort is being put into improving them. I think I'd find the predictive keyboard very distracting.
I've been using RIM devices since they were alpahumeric pagers, so I can easily use my fingers to type. As for touch screens on phones, well, you know how I feel about them! Typing on a tablet when it's placed on a desk is okay for a few sentences, although some people don't mind typing on tablet touch screens.
If you spent a week or two using tablet keyboards, such as those developed by Microsoft, you might get used to them. It would become more natural. Still, there's nothing like a large desktop keyboard, and I take one of the larger portable Bluetooth keyboards -- about the same size as the Apple Bluetooth keyboard -- for the iPad when I want to use it for writing.
LED lightbulbs will be used not only for home and business lighting automation, but possibly also for locating shoppers inside stores and transmitting data at hundreds of megabits per second.
Businesses helped neighbors with Internet access and mobile device charge-ups during Sandra. Following that example, enterprises should consider preparing Internet disaster plans to help the public during disasters.
A survey by JD Powers found that customer interest in product features is lessening as phones evolve. Rather than features, price is driving purchases, and that change could have a dramatic impact on how IT departments secure these devices.
Companies need to take advantage of new technologies to simplify interfaces, improve capabilities, and enhance back-office processes. But they can't upgrade their Websites too often.
The iPad Mini is the latest iteration of the exploding tablet category. Because most tablets are WiFi-only, they create a new kind of mobile network. The problem is that we don't have issues like roaming and security defined for this new world.
A recent release of the popular TweetDeck app for Twitter power-users gives new life to software that had previously taken a wrong turn. Here's a quick walk-through of the new TweetDeck, to show you why it should be at the top of your Twitter toolkit.
New tools like laptops, tablets, smartphone, and wireless connectivity let us work from San Diego to Katmandu, and anywhere in between. But time management remains a problem.
Wells Fargo uses social software to replace email chains and help its sales team collaborate more effectively to land deals, according to Kelli Carlson-Jagersma, VP Collaboration Strategy for Wells Fargo. Mitch Wagner spoke with Carlson-Jagersma at the E2Innovate conference
Many enterprises view high-speed broadband connections as ubiquitous. Yet in about 20 percent of the country, businesses and their employees do not have access to even DSL connections. This shortcoming diminishes enterprises' ability to support their employees.
Expert Integrated Systems: Changing the Experience & Economics of IT In this e-book, we take an in-depth look at these expert integrated systems -- what they are, how they work, and how they have the potential to help CIOs achieve dramatic savings while restoring IT's role as business innovator. READ THIS eBOOK
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