Twiddle Saves Key Strokes
The Age
Thursday March 4, 1993
THE PHRASE ``input device" sounds intimidating to the uninitiated but one does not have to be very initiated at all to realise that it is just a fancy generic term covering things like keyboards, mice and modems when they are sending information, styluses on pen-based computers and a variety of devices for getting information into a computer. Here is another, a rather odd and interesting one, the Twiddler.
The name Twiddler does not sound serious but the Handykey Corporation of Mount Sinai, New York (800) 638-2352, is deadly earnest about it.
The Twiddler, which doubles as both keyboard and mouse, is about the size and shape of an electric razor. It is strapped to the hand and is attached to the computer with two cables, one to the keyboard port, the other to a serial port. A ``Y" adapter for the first port allows both keyboard and Twiddler to be used.
As a mouse, the Twiddler is somewhat eerie. You can be sitting at the computer, or standing away from it, or lying down for that matter, and the on-screen cursor follows the motion of your hand. There are no moving parts; a sensor in the device responds to the amount of tilt.
It takes a bit of practice.
As a keyboard, the Twiddler is more of a challenge, or at least it was for me. Twelve keys resting under the first three fingers of your right or left hand and six buttons under the thumb can, when pressed singly or in combination, emulate the 101 keys of the standard PC keyboard.
There are a few combinations built in for common English words like ``the" and ``and", and endings like ``ion" and ``ing," and you can add your own.
It must be emphasised that the device will not be mastered on a lazy _ or even energetic _ afternoon. Set aside 10 days, or even two weeks; this is a whole new way to enter data.
Suggested uses include presentations and training courses, where the presenter would rather not sit at the computer, and any other situation where you would want to avoid being chained to the keyboard for hours at a time, as many of us are.
Although the Twiddler is not being marketed as a device for those who suffer from or are at risk of repetitive strain injuries, it seems to this non-medical layman to be worth considering for that purpose.
The Twiddler, unlike touch-screen or pen-based computing devices, works with existing equipment and software: a machine running DOS 3.1 or higher and Windows 3.0 or higher.
HONEYWELL has attempted to build a better mouse. Called, naturally, the Honeywell Mouse, this neat little device lacks the underside ball that you roll across a surface _ preferably a special pad _ to move the cursor. Instead, the Honeywell Mouse has what the company calls ``an axially inclined transducer assembly", which turns out to mean two nylon lozenges, to translate mouse movement for the internal tracking mechanism.
This means that the mouse is nimble on any surface and cannot get contaminated by the dust, dirt, crumbs or hair that the conventional ball inevitably carries into the mechanism. In addition, the speed of the mouse can be adjusted for various tasks.
There are three kinds of mouse: a two-button or three-button serial mouse with a nine-pin connector, or an IBM PS/2-compatible mouse. The necessary software, which is Microsoft-compatible, is included on 3.5- inch or 5.25-inch disks.
The Honeywell Mouse, which is widely available, has a suggested retail price of $US79. _ New York Times
© 1993 The Age
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