

The iPad's 'Ultimate Typing Accessory' Is A Dud - JJColao
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jjcolao/2012/07/11/the-ipads-ultimate-typing-accessory-is-a-dud/

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beefman
I spent ten minutes with mine and threw it in the trash.

Edit: But I'm not disappointed. First, I expect a certain failure rate with
venture funding. Second, it was worth it to me just to see if they could pull
it off. If I got a working keyboard overlay out of it, that would just be a
bonus. Finally, I didn't expect they'd pull it off, because it's a really hard
problem (which is why Apple doesn't have a solution for this).

------
smackfu
Another dud, an iPhone case that blocks reception:
[http://a.wholelottanothing.org/2012/01/lessons-for-
kickstart...](http://a.wholelottanothing.org/2012/01/lessons-for-kickstarter-
creators-from-the-worst-project-i-ever-funded-on-kickstarter.html)

It actually surprises me that more big kickstarters don't fail on fulfillment,
but I think that is because they are Strongly Encouraged to outsource it to
one of kickstarter's partners.

------
gotrythis
There are also positive reviews like these:

[http://www.zdnet.com/touchfire-ipad-keyboard-enhances-
text-e...](http://www.zdnet.com/touchfire-ipad-keyboard-enhances-text-entry-
and-is-made-in-the-usa-review-7000000536/)

[http://www.padgadget.com/2012/07/11/hands-on-with-the-
touchf...](http://www.padgadget.com/2012/07/11/hands-on-with-the-touchfire-
keyboard-overlay/)

------
URSpider94
One thing that's come up in this article, it seems that Kickstarter's members
are often willing to give free money to developers. Why?

Kickstarter is referred to again and again, even by posters in this
discussion, as a "micro-investment" site. That's a nice thought, except that
Kickstarter funders get zero equity in what they produce. This makes great
sense in funding an artist to create a new piano concerto, or produce a
documentary on Rwanda. It also makes sense for development or improvement of
Free Software, where the world will benefit from the result. It makes much
less sense for people to fund the for-profit development of hardware that will
ultimately be sold at a mark-up.

Have we somehow fooled ourselves into thinking that we are improving the world
by bankrolling the creation of a more stylish iPhone dock? Or, is it the
street cred of saying, "Yeah, I knew them when they were on Kickstarter..."?

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sedev
It's worth remembering that Kickstarter is ("merely") a way to codify and
publicize promises.

 _Keeping_ promises is no easier than it's ever been.

~~~
Shoomz
A very good point and something that needs to be built into the Kickstarter
framework. Some way of keeping ideas 'easy' to fund, but still hold the
initiators to a high standard for excellence/delivery.

------
SpikeDad
How an "entrepreneurial reporter" gets his editors to print his article - be
sure to bash an "Apple" product and be plenty insulting to "Apple" fans.

Of course, there are plenty of Kickstarter products that produced crap, plenty
that folded for no reason. But only the "Apple" ones get you a certain
article.

Garbage.

~~~
JJColao
In blogging there's little editorial oversight, thankfully. Otherwise we
wouldn't be able to write anything. Here's how the article came about since
you seem to view journalism as some kind of conspiracy: The Touchfire people
reached out to me, sent me the Touchfire for review, and I reviewed it. Simple
as that. I'm not bashing Apple fans since I clearly am an Apple fan in that I
make known that the Touchfire is unworthy of a "beautiful" device - i.e the
iPad. (Yes, I had fun with the lede though.) As for some kind of Kickstarter
bias, I wrote a very positive review about the Zboard which was a Kickstarter
project. I'm all for informed pushback from readers, but that's an awful lot
of unfounded speculation.

------
ChuckMcM
Interesting, the article slams it for fit and finish (manufacturing issues)
rather than functional issues. I suspect this will be the biggest thing people
learn using kickstarter, manufacturing is not straightforward as one might
hope.

~~~
mikeash
It criticizes both aspects, although it spends less time on the functional
issues, presumably because it really doesn't do that much. Here's the
paragraph dedicated to the problem with the functionality:

'One benefit touted by the Touchfire creators is that you can rest your
fingers on the keyboard without accidentally producing a string of nonsense.
The problem with that statement is that it’s not true. Especially when typing
on an angle, my resting fingers easily made it through the thin plastic layer
to create fun words like “eoran” and “nadskj”.'

It also says that it's "pretty gratifying" to type with, so it seems to be a
mixed bag, functionality-wise.

------
Mythbusters
That makes the whole keyboard cover for Surface really interesting. Microsoft
has made keyboards for many years though so I am hoping that they are aware of
possible problems and hopefully will be able to avoid it.

~~~
taude
I agree, the Surface keyboard cover looks like it might make it the best of
both worlds...a tablet that I can actually use on the road with me to get some
typing done, and then docked at home into my normal keyboard/mouse/monitor. As
it is now, I hate typing so much on the iPad that I use it mostly like a
larger phone. Just a little tactile feedback will go a long way.

BTW, I'm still awaiting my TouchFire to arrive, and I'm still hopeful that it
improves touch typing on the iPad, especially since this review was a bit of a
mixed-bag

~~~
Terretta
My apologies, I should have replied to you:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4232558>

------
ComputerGuru
I'm more worried that products like this will put an end to the ease of
crowdfunding.

A few more duds like this that raised over $200,000 for developers and
engineers clearly without the technical know-how and prowess to pull something
like this off and deliver what they promised just makes it that much harder
for people to have their projects taken seriously on kickstarter in the
future.

~~~
famousactress
I'm not worried about that, I'm hoping it happens. It obviously _should_ be
harder to have your project taken seriously and raise 200k. I adore
kickstarter, but it shouldn't be a gold rush for anyone good at making videos,
but not products.

~~~
laironald
I agree with this point and I too adore kickstarter. Generally, the startup
advice I've been receiving is to show vision by creating a really solid pitch
rather than actually building (or only build for pitch purposes). I understand
why this would be the case since if I can build the right emotional state
which leads to the same or better outcome (raise $$) at a fraction of the
time/cost, why wouldn't I? However, this has caused me to be jaded. Instead of
getting excited about new products, I'm now very cautious. I'm asking
myself... is the focus on the sales approach right for this product or does it
weaken its credibility?

------
crikli
I help fund the iKeyboard, which was (is) very similar to the Touchfire. It's
an excellent execution of what I now see as a fundamentally flawed concept.
Having to remove an object from my iPad when I want to switch apps, which is
often, sorta sucks.

IOW, the suck of messing with the iKeyboard > the suck of trying to touch type
on the iPad.

~~~
glhaynes
I'm not familiar with the iKeyboard — you have to remove it to switch apps? Do
multitasking gestures help with that at all?

~~~
nik_0_0
Any attachable keyboard on the iPad will be the same. When the keyboard hides
itself (on the home screen, or any other screen without the keyboard input
selected), you are left with a keyboard covering 25% of your real estate.
However this review seemed to note that it is possible to click through the
keyboard, which is a good thing in that regard.

~~~
glhaynes
I'm sorry, I don't follow. If the keyboard is hidden, why is there then "a
keyboard covering 25% of your real estate"?

~~~
URSpider94
What he is saying is, if you have this plastic keyboard attached to your iPad,
then you are stuck in software-keyboard mode. If you dismiss the software
keyboard, then you have no access to the UI now displayed on the bottom half
of the screen, without pulling off the plastic keyboard.

I tend to agree -- there are only a very few iPad apps that are designed to be
used 100% of the time with the soft keyboard displayed. Even in mail, for
example, you switch back and forth between browse and edit mode.

------
kmfrk
I recently received a DVD that was a reward for sponsoring a Kickstarter
project back in the days. At first, I was worried that the DVD might be
region-locked, considering I live in Europe and had it shipped overseas. And
while that wasn't the case, what _if_ it had been? What would people do?

It made me think that there should be a satisfaction rating available to
users, after they receive their reward, digital or physical. It doesn't have
to do anything at first; it's just there for the people behind Kickstarter to
see if someone seriously fucked up. People like these guys or these guys:
<https://twitter.com/jb/status/214437340737843200>.

They could divide the reviews into two categories. 1) Did you receive your
product? 2) Did you not receive your product?

The first is more relevant, because it describes the end product rather than
the logistical issues that aren't - usually - as important. They can be
ignored at first.

It's going to bite the Kickstarter people in the ass, and I think we need some
kind of middle-of-the-road solution between goodwill and project creator
ratings.

Who knows, maybe we'll see companies who offer Kickstarter insurances in the
future.

~~~
icebraining
You should remember that the rewards are not supposed to be the main goal of a
Kickstarter project, but more like an appreciation token for your donation.

~~~
simias
It's not the goal of the project, but I'm sure they are pretty much the only
goal of the donation... Or do you think people would donate _at all_ if there
weren't any gifts?

~~~
mikeash
And that's exactly the problem. There's a massive mismatch in expectations.
People treat it like a store, where it's more like a micro-scale venture
capital investment, without the potential for a huge return.

~~~
URSpider94
Kickstarter is actually NOTHING like a micro-scale venture capital investment.
It's not an investment at all. It's a donation.

~~~
mikeash
But it's not a donation at all in many cases. Frequently, you give money in
exchange for a product, promised at some future time, generally for a discount
over the ultimate retail price. That's an investment, with the finished
product being the reward, and the risk being the potential failure of the
project. Yes, Kickstarter _calls_ them donations, but when people are putting
up money in exchange for a promise of being delivered a product, it's hard to
believe that's what they really are.

~~~
URSpider94
That's not an investment, any more than buying a keyboard or an iPhone dock at
the local computer store is an investment. It's an advance downpayment on a
product purchase, with no recourse if the seller never delivers you the
product, or delivers something that doesn't meet your expectation.

