
Adaptive Hardware: Context Aware Interfaces (2013) - BorisEm
https://www.microsoft.com/appliedsciences/content/projects/AdaptiveHardware.aspx
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pixelcloud
Anyone remember this keyboard?
[http://www.artlebedev.com/optimus/](http://www.artlebedev.com/optimus/)

Super expensive, but pretty interesting concept.

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glenneroo
So what happened after 2010? It seems like they could have brought that last
one to market with a bit of polishing.

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TYPE_FASTER
I'd rather have OLED keys than the strip on the MBP.

Sure, they would effectively be function keys, but you could see what the keys
do for all the various apps without having to learn and remember.

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gaukes
This is what I was hoping the new MBP keyboard would do.

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victornomad
I own a Thinkpad X1 second generation with a touch bar, its not as
sophisticated as this or the new MBP but I really hate it.

It lacks feedback when pressing the button. Trying to find the correct button
without looking to the keyboard is quite difficul since the virtual buttons
dont have relief. I find it as well quite annoying since moving your sight
down makes you feel out of place

If you check online the Thinkpad X1 2nd gen is one of the most hated
Thinkpads, because of the touchbar and the trackpad...

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eDameXxX
Off-topic: I suppose my link [1] did have wrong title or timing to be noticed
;)

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12809915](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12809915)

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iyn
Happens all the time and IMO it's mostly timing-related.

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digi_owl
Was this the keyboard they built using a touchscreen and a bunch of
transparent keycaps?

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rasengan
The last video looks like the Macbook Pro.

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userbinator
What I find amusing is that through the series of videos, the "keyboard"
slowly morphs from something with plenty of tactile feedback, moving keys, and
other "physicalness" to a tactile-less flashy touchscreen thing that I would
not want to be typing on for any length of time. Nevermind the fact that the
keys can show images that change; to me, a good keyboard is one I can operate
effortlessly and comfortably _without_ looking at it.

At the other extreme, there's
[http://www.daskeyboard.com/](http://www.daskeyboard.com/)

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taneq
I've been using a Das Keyboard Ultimate for the past couple of years, I love
the feel of it. I've got the Cherry Brown switches so it's a tad quieter than
the full clicky ones, too. They're very vulnerable to liquids, though - one
teaspoon-sized splash of water on mine and the 'w' key stopped working. In the
end I pulled it apart and swapped the switches around (who uses scroll lock
anyway?) and it's fine again, but I was surprised how little it took.

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klkvsk
There is also another MS Applied Science project that is a mix of Surface and
TouchBar-like enabled keyboard:

[https://www.microsoft.com/appliedsciences/content/projects/D...](https://www.microsoft.com/appliedsciences/content/projects/DisplayCover.aspx)

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cake93
Of course! This is cool in so many different ways.

I can imagine a large touch bar with stylus input (!) would actually be
useful.

Also a trackpad at the top of the keyboard would be perfect for working on
trains and planes!

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infodroid
Why not expand the conventional laptop trackpad area into a touch display?

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yoz-y
I would guess that the problem is with the angle at which you would have to
bend your neck to look over there. But it would be interesting to see a laptop
with two integrated touch screens and the keyboard in between the two.

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TheGuyWhoCodes
It's a cool concept, which might help a bit with productivity but it didn't
leave the research phase at Microsoft so on this one Apple got there first
because they delivered.

I'd assume now that it's out there other manufacturers like Lenovo, Dell and
HP will try to copy them.

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ethbro
Here's the question I have. If you have morphing context aware keys, how do
you avoid the tragedy of disparate iconography across apps?

I haven't watched much of the material, so pointers welcomed. But "ctrl+s in
this app saves" seems preferable to "which icon is save in this app"?

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matt4077
Apple (used to be) very good about getting developers to adhere to the
standards. Failing that, I'm hoping for an intermediate layer where developers
expose the actions but users can customize the presentation.

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iyn
I remember seeing it for the first time on HN few years ago and it's still
relevant: [http://hijinksensue.com/wp-
content/uploads/2013/08/2012-06-1...](http://hijinksensue.com/wp-
content/uploads/2013/08/2012-06-19-surface-tension.jpg)

OK, before you kill me: I know it's not the same thing and Apple actually
brings value to the table with their products (even if sometimes it's 'just'
polishing the UI/UX). What I don't like is that most of the world will gladly
accept everything that Apple sells as Apple's fantastic and groundbreaking
ideas, forgetting about the prior art.

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tambourine_man
Shipping a product is quite different from a publishing a paper.

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UlysseBottello
Microsoft throwing shades at Apple.

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bdcravens
How so? This is from 2010.

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abrookewood
It's more a case of someone on HN reminding everyone that Apple didn't really
'revolutionise' the keyboard and that everything old is new again. Lenovo did
this (adaptive keyboard strip) when they replaced the function keys on the X1
Carbon with something similar to what Apple are doing now. FWIW I absolutely
hated it. Edit: Added lenovo.

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ethbro
Mods edited it. I think the date is key. This isn't MS speaking to Apple, just
HN reminding us how science gets done.

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bdcravens
I also suspect it's drive-by commenting, drawing conclusions based solely on
the article title and personal bias.

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arkitaip
It's a shame that keyboards with programmable key images didn't get more
widespread usage beyond Optimus [1]. I currently have a Corsair K95 RBG
keyboard and it's programmable 18x3 keys [1] are near unusable because I can
never figure out what G1 or G2 does. But if I had programmable key images...

[1] [http://www.artlebedev.com/optimus/](http://www.artlebedev.com/optimus/)

[2] [http://www.corsair.com/en-us/landing/k95-rgb](http://www.corsair.com/en-
us/landing/k95-rgb)

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amelius
Do people actually look at their keyboard when typing?

I think tactile feedback is still the biggest possible feature of a (real)
keyboard.

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noir_lord
Some people probably do, I don't, half my keycaps wore off within a few
months.

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renke1
The programmers's war wounds.

