If you have been wanting a zero-force keyboard with support for mousing and even gestures built into your Powerbook G4 (15″) then it’s coming next month: the Fingerworks TouchStream MacNTouch is available for pre-order. (Read more)
I have been evaluating alternative input devices recently since what was a slightly annoying strain in my wrists has become a more regular occurance. Constantly reaching for the mouse has me also taxing my shoulder over the course of an average work-day with both my Powerbook and a Sun workstation.
The TouchStream keyboards seem to be really quite special – the gesture features are the most interesting I suppose. The only problem I have heard of with all the reviews I could find online was that touch-typing is slow and full of errors. It seems quite dandy for the “stare at the keyboard” variety of typists, which I’m really not and don’t want to be.
The benefits of not reaching for a mouse would be less on a laptop since the touchpad is so close anyway, but the addition of gestures and typing on a zero-force input device may be helpful. Some awfully hard choices are coming up for me in the next few weeks!
TouchStream LP keyboard for desktop use, and the iGesture gesture/pointer pad. (I’m really tempted to just get the iGesture, but then I’m still reaching for that pad when I want to use a pointing device!