Cool Leaf input devices create the keyboard of the future circa 1982
By Tim Stevens 
posted March 4th 2010 9:43AM
posted March 4th 2010 9:43AM
posted March 4th 2010 9:43AM
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@dtremit
Plus if it gets dirty in the kitchen, just put it in the dishwasher.
I have seen calculators used with transparency projectors for teaching. But I see no real use for keyboard.
Omfg I want this NOW.
Price?? Availability?
This thing will look terrible once you smudge it up with a few fingerprints.
sure looks cool but i would rather go for my button boy.
http://twitter.com/apoorvparijat
They will have to pry my Model M from my cold dead hands before my fingers touch a flat keyboard.
How long do you have to type on this before it starts to hurt? Physical keyboards are way better.
Looks like the perfect keyboard to wall mount next to one of those mirrored displays for the bathroom if it had a trackpad. It wouldn't be used much (just switching movies and that sort of thing), so form over function would make sense.
OMG hu cares bout typin or 4 dat m@r UzN ful wrds n crrct gramA? u oldies r d prob so jst leaV or WE!
@Ed T
Please tell me you wrote that as a satirical post, because if not...
Good god!
They should use air pocket keys...
This might be the dumbest gadget that I have seen in quite some time.
So let me get this right... you are making a keyboard, so clearly you have the room, but you eliminate the single best thing about a real keyboard - and that is the physical keys?!? Brilliant!1!!
:rolleyes:
@Hazdaz
This might be useful in places like hospitals because it's easy to clean. Keyboards are among the dirtiest objects we touch in everyday activities.
@Ed T
They have been making water-proof/shock-proof keyboards for years and years now that actually have physical keys, so I don't see the point of removing the physical keys for that purpose. Some of these you can take and literally throw in a dishwasher or completely submerse in water - they are made to be cleaned.
(and truthfully, even most "regular" keyboards can be washed too, just you got to make sure they are dry when you replug them in)
If I had this, it would be strictly for the awesomeness factor. No one would be allowed to touch it. lol
Use it for short typing tasks like using the search in a media library or Netflix while at your media center. Not for lots of work. Just quick, occasional stuff.
That's pretty much what I see this being used for, if at all.
@jocozo3 Exactly. I'd actually expect this to show up more at trade show booths and bookstore/library search kiosks. Nobody will be writing essays there, and it would be very easy to clean. Basically anywhere that an on-screen keyboard would be good enough.
You know it does look really awesome, but how fast can a person touch type on that? I see my 100 wpm dropping to like 15wpm on that thing. Future is having an all flat surface but still retaining all the advantages of physical buttons.
http://vintagecomputing.com/index.php/archives/383
'buttonless' keyboards were tried before. They failed for many of the reasons that have already been pointed out (can't tell where your fingers are without looking, horrible stress problems).
They (and this) have a place in medical applications or other locations where sanitation is more important that ergonomics or productivity.
@tordall
No! No medical application, please :) I'd HATE to use this at work, as we use EMR now. Besides, between good hand washing habits, disposable gloves, and common sense sterile technique our bases are covered.
is this product available for sale in the market currently?
The T-1000 is putting himself back together!!!
I like! Nice, but is there any tactical feedback when typing on it?
The amount of travel (distance something moves when a force is applied to it) that the keys on a keyboard has been made shorter and shorter- starting with the typewriter (approx 1") and evolving to an Applesque keyboard (approx .125").
Why is this?
People type a lot more than they used to, due to pen/paper losing its prevalence. We also type a lot FASTER. It simply isn't possible to type fast on a keyboard that has 1" of travel on each key. It would take significantly longer to type 1000 words on a keyboard who's keys had 1" of travel compared to a modern keyboard. The shorter the distance that you must press a key in order for the computer to register that it has been pressed, the faster you can move onto the next key.
@pnaddaff i'd say this may be true for this horrid a travel distance of 1". but with common keyboards/low profile keyboards/touchscreens, the difference in travel would (in my opinion of a fast typist) be negligible to more important factors (such as finger precision and coordination). think of top notch record-keepers of the time back in the 80's. those guys were blazing fast. i don't think a slightly shorter travel distance would improve on the speed much. esp. when you consider the shortcoming of non physical keyboards - the necessity to in fact accentuate fionger travel in order to properly register hits as opposed to swipes.
@rzl Even on a touch surface, your fingers themselves compress, giving you at least a few mm travel.
The problem with typewriters was that you actually had to push the keys, follow them down with your finger. Laptop keys have so little travel and resistance there is no real pushing involved, just tapping. What little tactile feedback there is serves to keep you on the home row.
How much is this baby?
it would be nice to see a hands on video with this, to see how easily you would lose the positioning of your hands on the keyboard
I can do without buttons on my phone, but I could never not have buttons on my keyboard - my typing would just be a mess.
It may be waterproof, but does it work when wet? If there are beads of water, you're capacitively coupling (Water is a high-k material by comparison to whatever it's made of) sensors to each other.
this is the clash of the designer and the user. as a designer yeah glass and touch is sexy, its cool and different, and gives everything a cool look and feel, however you just cant beat the tactile feel of hitting a button. just as die hard gamers still use wired mice, sometimes you need old technology to do a better job. As a gadget-o-holic i like touch but its just not natural enough yet. my archos i can type like a 1st grader, and my ipod i can type a little faster, but they cant match the kwerty on my touch pro
Bad Guy desk. Tron. 1982. Right on the money.
I disagree with the myriad comments stating that a flat surface would cause finger fatigue.
1) repetitive stress to the muscles in your fingers by depressing a key the for the full throw is not good for your fingers over time, and far worse than the minimal stress your fingers would take from tapping a flat surface repeatedly. Hold your fingers just over a hard surface, now tap it very lightly. This is what's required to register a key.
2) Tapping a touch-sensitive surface requires the most minimal of force. There may be some adjustment period to learning to type very gently, but, after doing so, touch-typing speeds would increase greatly.
@nbolmer The problem is that it would be very difficult to avoid drifting from the home position. Your hands are more aware of your keys than you might realize, and actually adjust themselves while typing.
Try pretending to touch type on a table for about a minute and see how confident you are that you've been pushing the exact same places the whole time. The only other feedback you'd get with this keyboard is when you start typing "fail" and it comes out "rq8o".
@Treefingers That's a fair point, but a simple bump on the F and J key, just like on a typical keyboard, would let you locate the home row.
I own a small pub in Northern California, we use a POS system which is touch-screen based. I have no trouble touch typing on it, except for the oddly placed shift key, which I have to glance down at.
Holy sh*t, that is so sexy. I'd happily go through some pain to use that.
Hey Editor. Whats with doctors and nurses?
@ongadget The keyboard, being waterproof, is far more sanitary and easy to clean than a traditional one. Perfect for hospitals and the like.
@ALL For all you worried about the fact that it's a 'touch screen' keyboard there is on vital piece of information missing from this. It's not simply typing on a piece of glass which would be unforgiving and painful to say the least if you worked with it for a long period of time. I'm not saying that keys aren't fantastic and that there is nothing like them.
But this Cool Leaf is also built with an input mechanism that combines electro-static capacity type touch panel and a load sensor giving it the feel of a real keyboard.
Now for those who don't get what that means... It's not just a piece of glass. It actually flexes and gives under your fingers even if the give and movement is miniscule or even seemingly non-existent compared to say, my Macbook Pro's tick tick tick tick keys.
Just felt that should be put out there since I didn't see it anywhere in the article or in any comments.
*smiles and winks*