You must’ve heard that Apple is holding their Apple Media Event tomorrow on Oct. 27th in Cupertino and the spotlight is on their new Mac products this time. Besides the new look and improved operating system that will be equipped with it, rumor has been spreading that the new E-INK KEYBOARD is going to be an eye-catch.
You might be wondering what is new with this E-Ink technology? According to Sonder Design, the partner of Apple on E-Ink keyboards, the keys can automatically adjust to show emojis, international characters, special command functions, as well as the standard QWERTY layout. The Wall Street Journal says that the new keyboards would make the bottom half of the Mac laptops as dynamic as the screens (IMAGINE THAT!) rather than printed labels, each key would display an E-Ink surface that can update to make the keycap labels dynamic, rather than static.
Now think about the benefits this type of keyboard will bring to make our lives easier. “The keys would be able to switch between different language alphabets and show emojis or dynamic shortcuts for the current task the user is performing.” Said by Benjamin Mayo. As a multi-lingual user, I believe it is a game-changer.
Here I have a mockup picture of what it may look like, imagine that applying dynamism to every single key on the keyboard, not just the top bar showing status items like battery usage and volume control. I don’t know about you, but I feel EXCITED!
Let’s put on our thinking cap and think more about what we could do with keyboards, maybe a combination of laser projection virtual keyboard and E-ink that can easily be stored in our back pocket?
Well, I guess I am a futurist, but what’s wrong with that?