Meet
Apple Macintosh Creator Jef Raskin at Macworld Expo in San Francisco
January
4, 2001
TORONTO,
Jan. 4 /PRNewswire/ — This year, attendees of Macworld Expo/San
Francisco will have a rare opportunity to meet the man who started
it all. Jef Raskin will be at Macworld for the debut of Matias
Corporation's Half Keyboard™ for Macintosh in Booth #1748.
Jef
Raskin started the Macintosh project at Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL)
in 1979 and ran it until 1982, when current Apple CEO Steve Jobs took
over hardware and software development.
"There
is real value in being able to type with one hand, especially with
this product because it does not require massive retraining as do
other one-handed keyboards. For any graphics-intensive project, such
as CAD, image manipulation, animation, spreadsheet building, drawing,
and music entry (to name a few) the enhancement to productivity and
ease of use by being able to keep one hand on the mouse, trackball,
or tablet pen and the other on the keyboard is remarkable. Makers
of such products would be wise to offer the Half Keyboard as
an accessory," said Raskin.
"It
was a real honour and privilege working with Jef on this product,
expecially considering the circumstances under which we met. Jef had
thought of the Half Keyboard idea himself a few years ago and
mentioned it to his friend Bill Buxton. Coincidentally, Bill was my
professor at the University of Toronto, and we had just finished a
big research project evaluating the Half Keyboard design. Bill introduced
us and suggested we work together," said Edgar Matias, inventor of
the Half Keyboard.
The
Half Keyboard's patented skill transfer design allows users to touch
type with one hand, using their existing skills, at speeds almost
as fast as with both hands (up to 88% of normal typing rates).
Typing
with one hand leaves the other hand free for a pen or mouse, allowing
the user to easily enter both text and graphics. A regular two-handed
keyboard limits users to text only.
As its
name suggests, the product is half of a standard keyboard, which remaps
into the other half when the spacebar is pressed. Since the remapping
preserves relative key positions, it uses the same finger movements
as standard touch-typing. As a result, little or no retraining is
required for touch typists to use the keyboard. Their existing skills
simply transfer.
The
company is also holding a press conference on Thursday, January 11,
from 3:00pm to 3:45pm, in Room 122 of the Moscone Convention Center,
where Macworld Expo is being held.
The
Half Keyboard retails for US$99. A free software demo is available
from the company's website:
http://halfkeyboard.com/product
For
more information about Jef Raskin and his long list of accomplishments,
please visit:
http://library.stanford.edu/mac/earlymac.html
http://jefraskin.com
Matias'
Half Keyboard technology allows fast one-handed text entry, using
peoples' existing touch typing skills. It is enabling technology for
handheld word processing, wearable computing, and cellphone e-mail.
Financing was supplied by Transpacific Resources Inc. (CDNX: YTQ).
Press
Contact:
Edgar Matias
Matias Corporation
+1-905-265-8844
pr@halfkeyboard.com
NOTE
TO EDITORS: For electronic artwork, please visit: http://halfkeyboard.com/pr
Matias,
the Matias logo, and Half Keyboard are trademarks of Matias Corporation.
Other names may be trademarks and their owners are respectfully acknowledged.
SOURCE:
Matias Corporation
