Don't tell me you're still using a keyboard that has little plastic keys with
springs underneath. You are?! Cripes, next you're going to tell me you need to
refresh your ink ribbon. Or that you need more of that liquid-wite-paper-out
stuff. This is the 21st century man! Get with it!
You can start by getting a TouchStream keyboard ... why? No moving parts,
that's why. No gaps between the keys to get gummed up by dried salsa or shorted
out by spilled soda. No trackball or mouse taking up room on your desk and
collecting goodness-knows what kinds of bacterial filth on its little wheels.
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You type on the TouchStream by lightly tapping each key with a finger, you
don't even have to exert enough effort to push down a key. That means less
chances of repetitive stress injury since your fingers do less work. For online
chatters and message board regulars, it also means having more energy left for
dipping nachos.
And while that's fairly cool, the TouchStream's real power comes into play
when you need to "mouse" around or hit a keystroke combination (or "chord", as
typing experts call it. (And as guitarists call it, for that matter. Maybe these
typing guys have some musician-envy issues to work out)).
Like a nervous date, the TouchStream keyboard is always watching where you
put your hands. As your fingertips approach for a keystroke, the TouchStream
takes an image of your finger placement and compares it to its library of
gestures. "Cut" by touching down your thumb and middle finger and then pinching
them together -- like you were picking the word up. "Paste" by separating the
same fingers -- like you were dropping the word in place. "Copy" by just tapping
with the thumb and middle finger on the keyboard but without bringing them
together. Move the mouse around by dragging any pair of adjacent fingers on the
keyboard. And that's just the tip of the chording iceberg.
So clean the gunk out of your old-fashioned keyboard and go buy yourself
something more modern. Then we'll talk about your haircut.
TouchStream ST keyboard: $329
http://www.fingerworks.com/
-- Robert Myers
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