Chris Ridd  wrote:

> > I thought Input Managers were Officially Naughty in Apple's eyes?
> 
> Yes, they do elicit spankage from Cupertino.

A bit like when I wanted to get a stylus to use with the iTouch. The
soft keyboard is all very well, but totally hopeless for entering things
like Wifi passwords, where typing autocorrect doesn't work.- I tried and
failed with one for hours... so I decided to get a stylus. I asked at
the Applestore and a deep, deep frost descended. Absolutely not. Steve
didn't want styluses involved.

Bugger him. I got one by mail order, and it's worked perfectly for that
purpose. 
-- 
Peter

Peter Ceresole  wrote:

> Chris Ridd  wrote:
> 
> > > I thought Input Managers were Officially Naughty in Apple's eyes?
> > 
> > Yes, they do elicit spankage from Cupertino.
> 
> A bit like when I wanted to get a stylus to use with the iTouch. The
> soft keyboard is all very well, but totally hopeless for entering things
> like Wifi passwords, where typing autocorrect doesn't work.- I tried and
> failed with one for hours... so I decided to get a stylus. I asked at
> the Applestore and a deep, deep frost descended. Absolutely not. Steve
> didn't want styluses involved.
> 
> Bugger him. I got one by mail order, and it's worked perfectly for that
> purpose. 

I read something the other day about designing hardware and interfaces
for the, er, more mature amongst us. It pointed out that the moisture
levels in the skin decline with age, especially in winter, and those
touchscreens are therefore somewhat ageist in that respect...
-- 
TimH
pull tooth to reply by email

Sak Wathanasin  wrote:

> Can you not improvise with a toothpick?

No, the touch screen needs to feel the capacitance of the finger to
register a touch. Which is why the stylus has a soft tip of conducting
foam, and a metal shaft. A wooden object doesn't work. And my fingers
are too spatulate (or maybe just fat) to work even remotely accurately.
I know you can slide across the screen from below until the right letter
shows, but that's too slow and too approximate for real life. And in
entering passwords, it's totally hopeless.

Before I found the stylus, I improvised with a piece of the conducting
foam that's used, spatched onto the pins, to ship chips. And it kind of
worked, but it's not stiff enough to be pleasant to use, even when taped
to a metal shaft. 
-- 
Peter