AlphaGrip - Rethinking the Keyboard

Is the AlphaGrip a controller?  Nope - it’s a keyboard.  The standard QWERTY keyboard layout we have today was invented in 1874, due to the high rate of mechanical failure of manual typewriters when the keyboard was laid out in a standard ABC layout.  Since keyboards have become commonplace, and no longer face the same difficulty typewriters do, a number of new layouts (most notably, the Dvorak layout) have been tried, but in general, with a few exceptions, the keyboard has remained the same.

No longer!  AlphaGrip has reinvented the keyboard.

The AG-5 interfaces with computers via a single removable USB cable. It uses a simple chord-like keyboarding model and an integrated trackball to provide complete keyboard and mouse functionality in a unique form factor that looks a bit like a console gaming controller.

The learning curve on this one is probably pretty steep, but with the popularity and familarity of console gaming controllers, could it be the next generation keyboard?

Read More |  ArsTechnica