Your next laptop might have a touch-sensitive spacebar

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The spacebar might be the most used button on your keyboard, but that doesn't mean that it can't do even more. At least, that's what Synaptics thinks. The company — best known for its laptop trackpads — wants to make your spacebar touch sensitive.

That means that you may soon have two different ways to click on your spacebar. You'll still have that satisfying, traditional physical click for typing, but if your laptop or desktop keyboard has the "SmartBar," you can set custom actions for when you merely tap on the spacebar. In fact, Synaptics says you can set five different actions for when you tap on the SmartBar, presumably depending on where you tap the bar.
Click to expand...


Read more: Your next laptop might have a touch-sensitive spacebar | The Verge
 

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Way to go Synaptics! :thumbsup:
 

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Every keyboard I've ever used had a touch-sensitive spacebar. (The other 100-odd keys were touch-sensitive, too.)
 

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margrave said:
Every keyboard I've ever used had a touch-sensitive spacebar. (The other 100-odd keys were touch-sensitive, too.)
Click to expand...
:roflmao:

The quality of most keyboards would need to be improved significantly for this to be reliable.
 

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margrave said:
Every keyboard I've ever used had a touch-sensitive spacebar. (The other 100-odd keys were touch-sensitive, too.)
Click to expand...

Same here.
I have to touch all of the keys to make them do something. Some keyboard are more sensitive than others.

I use a Das 4 Pro which is very sensitive but I still have to touch them. If I could just get them to work with my thoughts. Well maybe not. I might get in trouble.
 

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Depending on your typing style this could be more trouble than it's worth... me for one just lightly "touch" the space bar with either of my thumbs whilst typing and looking at the wear on it seems to be mainly along 3/4rs of it's length from the right... I can imagine it would be difficult to get into the routine of touching it harder.

Maybe if they included the option to reverse the sensitivity would be better, so to do the 5 new fancy things requires a harder touch rather than the softer one...
 

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How about an "any" key
Doesn't need to be touch sensitive either, but would help some people, if it was there. :)
 

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