Best input device innovation 2015

webwit · 27 Nov 2015, 21:21

Please suggest nominees for the Best input device innovation in 2015. You have to give a short motivation for each suggestion. The innovation must be newer than November 2014.

By voting in the third round of this category, you can win ErgoDox PVC cases and keyboard carry cases from FalbaTech!

The first round ends on Thursday 3 December, 00:00hrs UTC.

Current suggestions (this list is frequently updated):

Hypersphere rings
matt3o Topre PBT spacebars
Apple Pencil
Damped Cherry MX
Logbar Ring, wearable gesture control device that can do text entry
Force touch trackpad on recent Macbooks
Topre for their analog switch and actuation point control
Zslane's SHIFT-legend fix
E3E's hot-swappable LED complicated Alps

webwit · 29 Nov 2015, 23:11

No worthy innovations the past year?

ramnes · 29 Nov 2015, 23:16

Hypersphere rings, Topre PBT spacebars, double-shot PBT (2014 or 2015?).

Muirium · 30 Nov 2015, 00:29

Vortex's double shot PBT was quite a while ago. 2014 maybe 2013.

Matteo's PBT Topre spacebars are great — so good they should be standard equipment on all Realforces and HHKBs — but they're a fix for Topre's own mistake. PBT spacebars aren't a new thing, but they are on Topre.

Spoiler:

Actually, Hypersphere's rings are a similar story. I love those too, but again they're fixing a design flaw in the NovaTouch, via a method Topre already devised. Depends how strict we're being about innovation.

Matteo and Hypersphere put in plenty of work to make either of them happen. So either one is worthy of a prize. I just think of them more as excellent community projects in reverse engineering than something entirely new, like the NovaTouch was last year.

How about the Apple Pencil? There's nothing new about the idea of a stylus either, but the engineering they put into this with the iPad Pro's display is quite apparent!

webwit · 30 Nov 2015, 00:46

So double-shot PBT is out? Added rings and spacebars, the voters can decide if it is true innovation.

bhtooefr · 30 Nov 2015, 00:51

The only way the voters can actually decide (if there's nothing else eligible) is if there's a "no award" option, though.

Muirium · 30 Nov 2015, 00:54

Apple Pencil: no buttons.

DTAs: no award.

webwit · 30 Nov 2015, 00:57

That might be funny for some categories. "Pah, we liked nothing! Try better!"

mtl · 30 Nov 2015, 01:14

Maybe damped Cherry MXs, though I don't know if they're even available yet.

bhtooefr · 30 Nov 2015, 01:25

Logbar Ring, wearable gesture control device that can do text entry: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/17 ... escription (That actually sounds horrible, but might as well toss some more options in?)

Edit: So the Corsair Strafe RGB Silent has the damped switches, it seems.

Mind you, I'd still vote no award over this field.

webwit · 30 Nov 2015, 01:50

I would allow such a nomination.

Not in all categories, use with care.

mtl · 30 Nov 2015, 01:55

The force touch trackpad on recent macbooks is pretty cool.. nice tactile feedback for pressing on a stationary surface.

bhtooefr · 30 Nov 2015, 03:14

Go with announcement (September 2014, Apple Watch) or shipment (March 2015, MacBook Pro 13") on that?

002 · 30 Nov 2015, 05:20

Does it have to be something that's available to consumers? If not, I would like to nominate Topre for their analog switch and actuation point control

KRKS · 30 Nov 2015, 07:57

mtl wrote: Maybe damped Cherry MXs, though I don't know if they're even available yet.

That was innovated in mid-nineties by Alps with their damped switch.

Unless we use the Apple's definition of innovation, that's not a valid nomination.

matt3o · 30 Nov 2015, 09:34

002 wrote: Does it have to be something that's available to consumers? If not, I would like to nominate Topre for their analog switch and actuation point control

Definitely this deserves a nomination

7bit · 30 Nov 2015, 09:44

Zslane's SHIFT-legend fix:

Halvar · 30 Nov 2015, 10:25

002 wrote: Does it have to be something that's available to consumers? If not, I would like to nominate Topre for their analog switch and actuation point control

It's a great exercise in electronics to do that with a capacitive switch, but I'd really like to see a product they come up with before giving them an award. Or at least a product announcement that makes sense. A DT award at this point would be like giving a Nobel peace price to a newly inaugurated US president just based on promises from his campaign...

Muirium · 30 Nov 2015, 10:29

Always go with shipping date. So much pie in the sky out there for press release pasting "journalists". We don't need to pander to it for our adviews! (Spoiler: no ads here.)

Besides, Obama got that (foolish) award for two things. Being black and being not George Bush! So it had a logic in its way. But our political award is the Ping

trenzafeeds · 30 Nov 2015, 10:35

Does this have to be a company's innovation? E3E did some pretty cool stuff with his hot-swappable LED complicated alps.

Muirium · 30 Nov 2015, 10:36

No. And got a link?

trenzafeeds · 30 Nov 2015, 10:38

Will you kill me because it's from geekhack?

E3E · 08 Dec 2015, 23:05

Oh damn, haha. Trenza just notified me of the notification. Of course though, since I'm rather low profile on Deskthority, there won't be much support here for my project. It's understandable though. Thank you for the nomination, Trenza.

EDIT:

Thank you for the support, everyone! Like seriously, it was just a personal project... I never expected any kind of attention!

It really makes my day.

guk · 08 Dec 2015, 23:08

E3Eves wrote: Oh damn, haha. Trenza just notified me of the nomination. Of course though, since I'm rather low profile on Deskthority, there won't be much support here for my project. It's understandable though. Thank you for the nomination, Trenza.

webwit wrote: Currently ahead are, in alphabetical order:

E3E's hot-swappable LED complicated Alps
Hypersphere rings
matt3o Topre PBT spacebars
Topre for their analog switch and actuation point control
Zslane's SHIFT-legend fix

E3E · 08 Dec 2015, 23:15

guk wrote:
E3Eves wrote: Oh damn, haha. Trenza just notified me of the nomination. Of course though, since I'm rather low profile on Deskthority, there won't be much support here for my project. It's understandable though. Thank you for the nomination, Trenza.

webwit wrote: Currently ahead are, in alphabetical order:

E3E's hot-swappable LED complicated Alps
Hypersphere rings
matt3o Topre PBT spacebars
Topre for their analog switch and actuation point control
Zslane's SHIFT-legend fix

I'm sorry, I'm blind and pessimistic!

...And not quite used to how the board sub-sections work on Deskthority