
A Physical Flick Bluetooth Keyboard by Google - indream
https://www.google.co.jp/ime/furikku/
======
pklausler
It's that time of the year again, isn't it.

This year, I've been telling people that it's rude not to rewind YouTube
videos when you're done watching them, so that they'll load faster for the
next person.

~~~
Palomides
you could add another level to get more technical people by saying it's an
artifact of their buffering system

~~~
pklausler
I like that, but actually I've been telling them that playing a video that
isn't rewound causes an exception to be thrown, and that's slow.

~~~
arethuza
Much better to have two screens, one for the content and another to display
any errors to the watcher. Or maybe one screen that is either broken or it's
not?

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kyrra
It's worth pointing out that they actually built the device and have a rough
guide on how to build your own: [https://github.com/google/mozc-
devices/tree/master/mozc-furi...](https://github.com/google/mozc-
devices/tree/master/mozc-furikku)

It looks like they have the code to make it work with an arduino.

edit: edited to indicate it's real (instead of saying "may have built"). They
aren't selling it, but you could build your own.

~~~
tlrobinson
The only April Fools jokes I enjoy are absurd things that someone has actually
implemented in code/hardware/etc. Anyone can write a ridiculous fake blog post
about being acquired by $ARCHENEMY_COMPETITOR in 5 minutes, but it's been done
before dozens of times and is just a waste of everyone's time.

You could also see this as wasted effort, but they probably had a lot of fun
working on it.

~~~
ProblemFactory
You might enjoy
[http://www.stupidhackathon.com/](http://www.stupidhackathon.com/)

~~~
tlrobinson
Yes! I've seen a few of these, but hadn't looked at the whole list. Fantastic.

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saboot
There is a keyboard similar to this, except it's even more strange.
Introducing the DataHand :
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DataHand](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DataHand)

~~~
livingparadox
I'd consider buying one if they were still selling...

~~~
OctoberVlahos
The Twiddler 3 chording keyboard seems like something you might find useful.
[http://twiddler.tekgear.com/](http://twiddler.tekgear.com/)

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kbd
This actually looks very similar to the MessagEase keyboard (which is a real
thing)

[https://www.exideas.com/](https://www.exideas.com/)

Edit: here's their video:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45gR-J0Yj6M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45gR-J0Yj6M)

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djrogers
Thanks for the reminder to stay off the internet tomorrow...

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chickenbane
Direct link to the video:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LI1PysAlkU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LI1PysAlkU)

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Zikes
I fell for it, right up until the "Flick Sensor".

Happy April 1st, Japan.

~~~
zodPod
Dammit. I was all excited. This looked really cool. I wanted one in English.

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PascLeRasc
If there's a competition to how long it took to recognize the joke, I believed
it up until the chocolate bar. Then again, I don't know any of these kind of
syllabic languages.

~~~
nerfhammer
Emojis are turning English into an ideographic language. Look at Kappa for
example.

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joering2
Come to think wouldn't the keyboard that each keys give you 3 or 4 chars with
one single action (push) speed up writing process tremendously??

T9 doesnt even come close!!!

~~~
emeraldd
This used to be a thing....

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FrogPad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FrogPad)

I'm not sure they ever made it too far but I always wanted to get one.

~~~
cstross
I bought one, so I can attest that the hardware was real (bluetooth, left-
handed model). Alas, it's lost somewhere in a pile of boxes left still-not-
unpacked from my last move, and they went bust some years ago -- rumours of a
new low-profile version similar to the Apple chiclet keyboard have failed to
materialize as hardware so far.

The thing worked, and worked surprisingly well for single-hand typing (if, for
example, you had an injury to the other paw). Trouble is, it cost more than a
regular QWERTY keyboard, was slower (all those chording shift-states), and
wasn't ambidextrous (left-handed and right-handed models had differing
layouts, IIRC).

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Tiksi
I'm probably strange in wanting this, but I wish there was a bluetooth 3x4 T9
keypad with a small lcd that shows the content of the input box. Basically a
Nokia 3310 as an input device to a smartphone. For whatever reason I found t9
input a lot nicer than swyping/tapping on a touchscreen keyboard. I didn't
have to watch my fingers or pay attention at all to type like I do with
touchscreen querty keyboards. I've toyed with the idea of building something
like that but it would likely be too bulky without professional tooling that
requires $EXPENSIVE_PRODUCION_RUN

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rcarmo
Loved it. Regardless of the yearly madness that pervades tech circles on this
date, it was cute (perchance whimsical), well conceived, and executed with a
lot of polish.

Kudos.

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EdiX
I don't get it. Not even as an april fools joke.

~~~
xmfcx
It didn't really feel impossible, did it? With today's technology, typing over
chocolate bars seems natural ;)

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natchiketa
I'm going with the Drum Set version:
[https://www.google.co.jp/intl/ja/landing/drumsetkeyboard/](https://www.google.co.jp/intl/ja/landing/drumsetkeyboard/)

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jedmeyers
Last time I saw those kind of buttons in software in the Gambit REPL app for
iOS. They are gimmicky but kinda useful.

[http://i.imgur.com/5sVU3z1.png](http://i.imgur.com/5sVU3z1.png)

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Terribledactyl
I don't think the joke is the keyboard itself, not really. But I have weird
fascination with mechanical computing combos.

Rather the startup, absurd change the world with chocolate, city blocks, and
radical version changes video.

Disrupt keyboards.

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cs702
Make sure to watch the video -- especially the part in which the team
introduces a way to use half-eaten chocolate bars for keyboard input... it
gets even more surreal after that.

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enobrev
This is amazing. Ever since I was a boy, I've wanted to type on a half-eaten
chocolate bar.

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j0e1
I wish it was true. Tap dancing while typing. Humph..

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snuxoll
And now I'm sad again that the DataHand is dead.

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shogun21
It begins...

Man, though, I would actually like to buy and use that!

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obilgic
I would actually use that emoji keyboard.

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awinter-py
this would be 1e6 better with e-ink keys

