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Newly designed keyboard geared toward men
U-Wire ^ | 10-23-2001 | Will Hall

Posted on 10/24/2001 7:07:47 AM PDT by Cagey

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Daryl Fazekas is a man on a mission.

He's spent six months working on an invention to help men improve their typing skills.

Fazekas was fed up with the "Qwerty," or the standard keyboard, when he started his journey in April. He had never been able to type well on it and heard several rumors that it was intended to slow typists down. It was then that he realized his gender might be why he couldn't type.

"Ninety-eight percent of women can type, and 80 percent of men can't," said Fazekas.

Although Fazekas admits those numbers are "strictly anecdotal," he has not let that stop him from taking on the challenge of inventing a more male-friendly keyboard. The result is what he calls the "Guy's Keyboard," a rearranged keyboard that supposedly helps men learn to type faster and is "ideal for the hunt-and-pecker."

"It's always puzzled me that nobody had tried this before," Fazekas said.

If someone pitches an idea for a new type of keyboard, most corporations would reject it, Fazekas said.

Fazekas spent the next few months toiling over his creation until he had what he believes is "a logically arranged keyboard."

One of the first changes he made was moving all vowels into the center of the keyboard. He then spread the remaining letters out left and right according to frequency. He also placed common letter pairs next to each other, and "to make it more fun," inserted mini-words such as "sing," "the" and "your."

Fazekas said this design is great for the "hunt and pecker" because it decreases the total distance the fingers must travel by as much as 54 percent.

Fazekas explained why he believes women are better typists than men.

"I think their brains are wired differently," he said.

Women's brains are wired differently from men's in a way that could improve their word-processing skills, said MU professor of psychology David Geary.

However, he is skeptical whether or not the arrangement of keys is what makes the difference.

"Rearranging the keys probably wouldn't make any difference," he said. "I would have to see some actual scientific evidence before I would believe that."

MU sophomore Matthew Becker, a pre-journalism and computer science major, said he does not see the problem with regular keyboards.

"I've been using a standard keyboard for about six years, and I can type 75 words per minute," he said.

Becker also said he warns potential buyers of this product to consider the source of the information you are given.

"If all of this were coming from a scientist, then that would be one thing," he said. "But I don't think this guy knows what he is talking about."

More information about the keyboard can be found at guyskeyboard.com


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
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I will say his ad is catchy.
1 posted on 10/24/2001 7:07:47 AM PDT by Cagey
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To: Cagey
hridc ndorok!
2 posted on 10/24/2001 7:12:10 AM PDT by Cagey
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To: Cagey
This guy should call TI and ask them about the reception they received on a similar move when TI introduced the 99/4 home computer with a 'smart keyboard.' It was a disaster. TI quickly changed.
3 posted on 10/24/2001 7:12:15 AM PDT by blam
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To: Cagey
One could use a Dvorak keyboard. I studied this problem a few years ago, but shied away from switching to Dvorak from QWERTY because I didn't want to carry my keyboard around with me all of the time.
4 posted on 10/24/2001 7:15:23 AM PDT by PMCarey
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Comment #5 Removed by Moderator

To: Cagey
Fazekas explained why he believes women are better typists than men. "I think their brains are wired differently," he said.

If he were married He would know their brains were wired different!

6 posted on 10/24/2001 7:17:22 AM PDT by rightwingextremist1776
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To: SiouxsieQ
I want keyboard that I can talk to.

And I don't want it to talk back.

7 posted on 10/24/2001 7:21:44 AM PDT by kahoutek
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To: SiouxsieQ
However, could it be that more women type than men because women were more likely to take typing courses than men were?

I think you do have the right explanation and I this keyboard won't catch on. This guy has a gimmick and he'll make a few $$$'s with it more as a gag than anything else.

Keyboards will probably go the way of the IBM Selectric once voice recoginition software gets all the bugs out. I'll miss the clatter of a keyboard.

8 posted on 10/24/2001 7:22:20 AM PDT by Cagey
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To: Cagey
Click here for a photo of the Gey keyboard.

Keyboard

9 posted on 10/24/2001 7:22:57 AM PDT by Lanman
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To: SiouxsieQ
I took typing and I am fast enough, but there is a physical reason women are better typists -- smaller hands, thinner fingers.
10 posted on 10/24/2001 7:23:03 AM PDT by AmishDude
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To: PMCarey
The Dvorak keyboard is almost a century old. The QWERTY keyboard was designed to be inefficient because the early typewriters would jam if the typist went too fast. It was estimated that the Dvorak keyboard (once learned) would improve typing speed by over 40%. Trouble is, those who knew the QWERTY keyboard didn't want to change, so here we are stuck with it three generations later. Sort of like moving the out-of-work prohibition agents into stamping out marijuana.
11 posted on 10/24/2001 7:23:36 AM PDT by Vigilanteman
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To: Cagey
Nice ad :-)

However, he should have done some more research. This type of thing has been available for quite sometime.

The physical location and the key mapping on keybards are both configurable.

If you can't type, my suggestion would be to learn the Dvoark layout. There are lots of places on the net which reference it.

Do a scan on http://www.google.com

12 posted on 10/24/2001 7:24:21 AM PDT by dfrussell
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To: Lanman

Gey??? Hahahaha. Looks like this keyboard is for you.

13 posted on 10/24/2001 7:25:12 AM PDT by Cagey
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To: Cagey
"ideal for the hunt-and-pecker."

Hell, if that's what he's doing, no wonder he can't type.

14 posted on 10/24/2001 7:26:22 AM PDT by jammer
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To: kahoutek
I think some men would like wives like that.
15 posted on 10/24/2001 7:27:52 AM PDT by GraniteStateConservative
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To: Cagey
I heard most gays are "hunt and peckers".
16 posted on 10/24/2001 7:28:01 AM PDT by Fresh Wind
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To: Vigilanteman; Cagey
And the Dvorak keyboard has scientific evidence to back it up.
17 posted on 10/24/2001 7:28:22 AM PDT by jae471
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To: Lanman
There's a keyboard in that picture?
18 posted on 10/24/2001 7:28:33 AM PDT by GraniteStateConservative
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To: Cagey
I think that you are right. Maybe I was distracted by the "design". LOL
19 posted on 10/24/2001 7:29:10 AM PDT by Lanman
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Comment #20 Removed by Moderator


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