Topic: Valve says it's jumping into the computer hardware business

[oohhboy]

That is true enough. but it does raise the question as to why anybody would pay $50 for a five year old game like Call of Duty 4 unless you are rolling in the money. Not too sure hw long the current system would last given Steam's hugh advantages in that corner of the market. It just makes to much sense for both the developer and consumer perspective.

[Chozo Ghost]

Voice, like motion control, is sci-fi tech.  It looks cool in a movie so everyone wants it without thinking how ridiculous impractical it would be to use in the real world.  They put that stuff in movies because it looks cool and is more visual stimulating then seeing someone slowly working a normal computer.

Even with the issue of precision aside, I don't think speaking can be as fast or efficient as an old fashioned mouse or keyboard. In the amount of time it would take someone to verbally command a computer to do a certain function someone could just simply use a mouse and keyboard to cycle through a drop down menu and then have it done with a single mouse click. That's a lot easier, quicker, and simpler than saying "computer scroll down. computer highlight this. Computer cut this. Computer paste this." That's a relatively simple task, but to perform it with voice commands would take a lot of time, and I'm not really even sure how it could work... but with a mouse and keyboard you can do it in like 5 seconds.

[oohhboy]

There are some very narrow situations where voice command makes sense when it comes to gaming. In depth wingmen commands in games like Freespace 2 which has a deep enough command tree with a lot of time and controls pressure is ripe for voice command. but most games don't need voice command and forcing it is no better than waggle or using Kinect.

Then there is the issue of voice commands having a strong North American Bias which means a lot of non-american english speaking countries either get no support or is so limited it is rendered useless. Forget other langauges if english can't get it's act together.

Here is a situation where even professional humans get it wrong even though to a native speaker it is unambiguous and clear. Machines don't stand a chance.

[Ceric]

You guys are picking examples that are horrible for Voice command. 

Searching for a specific file.  Opening Programs.  Doing something while your hands are already occupied with the mouse and keyboard.  Just think of anything in your life where you need someone else to do something.  I need a different tool soon while working on the car I'll send my son to get it not because he can find it faster but because I can finish what I'm doing and its more efficient.  I need vent to start running while I'm login into MMO. Etc.

[shingi_70]

Your assuming someone is always at their computer in the first place.

And in all honestly the mouse at least probably wont go through any big changes. The reality is the mouse going forward will become more niche so to speak.

Touchscreens and touchpads are going to become the norm sooner and not later. This is mostly the by product of the slowing desktop market.

Look at all the windows 8 hardware that has been shown off. Most of it has been Hybrids,Convertibles, and Ultravbooks with touchscreens. That and windows 8 kind of sucking with a mouse but being great with a touchscreen/touchpad is evidence.


Apple too has been about the gestures the past few years as well.


And don't get me wrong the mouse isn't going away as their are times I need it because a touchpad isn't precise but it hasn't something I have used on a day to day basis at home for about 3 years.

 http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/09/the-not-very-tabletly-windows-8-tablets-of-ifa/
 http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/08/the-pcs-of-ifa-2012-hybrid-computers-for-a-hybrid-operating-system/
 http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/09/can-a-touchscreen-fix-windows-8-on-the-desktop/

[oohhboy]

MacOS and OSX have had voice command of that type for years, but it is mostly used by disabled people. Setting up the system to do anything else but the most basic commands built into the system uses far more effort than to do it normally and that is assuming that the computer picks up every word correctly or that the computer is even listening at the time so it doesn't drop half the sentence. It can and does work, but for the average person it just isn't worth that kind of effort.

[ThePerm]

Those of you suggesting changes to keyboards, you do realize these things aren't just made for GAMES, right?  The computer keyboard isn't a videogame controller at all.  It's just been shoehorned into that role.  You can't just experiment with new keyboard designs without taking into account the non-gaming functionality a computer is used for.

im not just talking about altering the keyboard for gaming, i'm more talking about making a keyboard more functional then an Ipad. desktops are stuck in a rut. There are some advantages to desktops that the others don't offer, but also disadvantages.

Evolve or go extinct.

[Morari]

I'm more talking about making a keyboard more functional than an iPad.

They already are. Namely, I can actually do things with a keyboard.

[Chozo Ghost]

desktops are stuck in a rut.

The Wheel has been stuck in a rut for thousands of years, but there's no reason to reinvent it. Just like how graphics can hit a wall where they can no longer be substantially improved, so too does it go with other things. There's a limit to how much you can improve something. Any further improvements of the keyboard's basic layout and design would be minimal at best. Sure, a touch pad or something like that could be grafted on, but there isn't going to be a radical overhaul (and there doesn't need to be either).

[ShyGuy]

Old people scared of change, or common sense preservation?

[ShyGuy]

There IS room for improvement. Check this out, the Razer Blade laptop.



Such simple yet brilliant improvements. Move the touchpad from it's awkward home below the keyboard to the right side, and turn it into a mini touch screen with ten programmable picture keys.

[ThePerm]

that's basically what I was talking about, but that's a laptop not a desktop. I'm not talking about getting rid of most of the keys or duct taping a lot of new stuff. I'm talking about little improvements. Some things have gaming in mind. If I were to design a computer from the ground up. Obviously, the typing part of the keyboard would have to be kept in tact. I was reading an article on how qwerty came to be a couple of months ago and it was cool. How many of us use the second window key? The arrows are there, but how many games use them for movement? There are a lot of ways you could make a keyboard nicer.

If I were to make a PC though it would need a newer custom operating system.

[shingi_70]

Huh a gaming computer that doesn't look like crap.

And isn't that more of a keyboard fix. If it doesn't come with the sektop people aren't likely to use. I recall seeing an iphone app that did the same thing and let you customize your game per configuration.

[Stogi]

You will never be able to get past a letter input device like a keyboard. It has to be there or at least available. Where innovation can come is through other avenues of input such as touch, motion, sound, and even expression. But really the most potential lies in how the computer interacts with you and not it; i.e. A.I. There are things I do countless times on my PC but that I have to repeat constantly; for example, producing music, writing a document, and browsing the internet. Why can't my computer index my past papers and learn from them to the point where I can give it a topic and the appropriate information and it will write it for me in a syntax close or very close to my own? Why can't my PC look over my past musical projects and produce one of its own? And finally, why can't my computer offer new ideas of collaboration based on articles on the internet that I have read (refrigerator bed anyone?)?

Obviously we don't have the technology available to where any person with a reasonable amount of money can buy it, but it does exist and it will happen eventually.

[Louieturkey]

How about a keyboard like this?
Configure the keyboard any way you want.

[Ceric]

How about a keyboard like this?
Configure the keyboard any way you want.

The problem with the Optimus family is that it is really expensive for a keyboard.

[Stogi]

How about a keyboard like this?
Configure the keyboard any way you want.

The problem is no one would actually use it in any sort of inventive way because you would meet a keyboard in the wild and be pretty much fucked trying to conform to the norm.