Apple patents keyboard with dynamically changing key functions
Apple may be preparing to reinvent the keyboard.
Dec 31, 2020 report
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Business
Apple may be preparing to reinvent the keyboard.
Dec 31, 2020 report
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Consumer & Gadgets
Will more foldable and dual-screen PCs be more like the norm rather than the novelty? CES 2020 has shown promising signs that good things are coming down the pike.
Jan 08, 2020 weblog
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Consumer & Gadgets
Could your smartphone be spying on you?
Apr 04, 2022
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Engineering
Researchers are developing a new technology that uses hand gestures to carry out commands on computers.
Jan 05, 2022
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Engineering
Researchers at NIT Silchar, India, have recently developed a new dynamic hand-gesture-based keyboard character recognition system. This virtual keyboard system, presented in a paper published in Springer's Journal of Ambient ...
Jan 24, 2019 feature
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Consumer & Gadgets
Touch+ announced yesterday that it is available on its makers' Ractiv website for $74.99: Ractiv is offering this product as an add-on for a computer, evolved from a crowdfunding campaign last year for Haptix. Touch+ is ...
Aug 06, 2014 weblog
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Security
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) cyber security researchers have developed a new attack called Malboard. Malboard evades several detection products that are intended to continuously verify the user's identity based ...
Jun 06, 2019
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Computer Sciences
In recent years, computer scientists have developed artificial intelligence-based techniques that can complete a wide variety of tasks. Some of these techniques are designed to artificially replicate the human senses, particularly ...
Jan 06, 2021 feature
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Consumer & Gadgets
(Tech Xplore)—A new portable, modular laptop has come on the scene, a laptop powered by the Raspberry Pi. One notable feature is its sliding keyboard.
Oct 15, 2017 weblog
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Software
Google released a built-in virtual Braille keyboard for blind and visually impaired users last week. The new TalkBack keyboard was enabled Thursday on devices running Android 5.0 or later. Distribution will continue throughout ...
Apr 13, 2020 report
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A keyboard instrument is any musical instrument played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include various types of organs as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments. In common language, it is mostly used to refer to keyboard-style synthesizers.
Among the earliest keyboard instruments are the pipe organ, hurdy gurdy, clavichord, and harpsichord. The organ is doubtless the oldest of these, appearing in the 3rd century BC, although this early instrument—called hydraulis--did not use a keyboard in the modern sense. From its invention until the 14th century, the organ remained the only keyboard instrument. Often, the organ did not feature a keyboard at all, rather buttons or large levers which were operated by a whole hand. Almost every keyboard until the 15th century had 7 naturals to each octave.
The clavichord and the harpsichord appeared during the 14th century, the clavichord probably being the earlier. The harpsichord and the clavichord were both very common until the widespread adoption of the piano in the 18th century, after which their popularity decreased. The piano was revolutionary because a pianist could vary the volume (or dynamics) of the sound by varying the vigor with which each key was struck. The piano's full name is "gravicèmbalo con piano e forte" meaning "harpsichord with soft and loud" but can be shortened to "piano-forte", which means "soft-loud" in Italian.
Keyboard instruments were further developed in the 20th century. Early electromechanical instruments, such as the Ondes Martenot, appeared early in the century.
Much effort has gone into finding an instrument which sounds like the piano but lacks its size and weight. The electric piano and electronic piano were early efforts that, while being useful instruments in their own right, were not successful in convincingly reproducing the timbre of the piano. Electric and electronic organs were developed during the same period.
Significant development of the synthesizer occurred in the 1960s and has continued ever since. The most notable early synthesizer is the Moog synthesizer, which used analog circuitry. In time, digital synthesis, using actual piano samples, has become common.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA