The Tippy Type makes typing with long nails less tedious

https://www.theverge.com/24209704/tippy-type-review-keyboard-accessory

by surprisetalk • 2 years ago

58 59 2 years ago

tocs3• 2 years ago

I have watched a couple people type with long nails and been somewhat amazed at their proficiency. This looks like a good idea. Has any one out there tried one?

jjeaff• 2 years ago

I assume that they were angling their fingers in a way to still press with the pads of their fingers? At first I imagined using the tips of their nails, but it seems like it would be difficult to learn using the tips since the length and angle of the nails would frequently change.

nuancebydefault2• 2 years ago

Typing with long nails is like walking whilst wearing pumps. Practice makes perfect.

pbhjpbhj2• 2 years ago

What do you mean by "pumps". Where I'm from in the UK it means very basic trainers (USA: sneakers), like plimsolls. Something like a Converse Allstar, say.

I've got to assume from the context you mean 'high-heeled shoes'?

giraffe_lady• 2 years ago

Must be a regional or class dialect thing? You've never heard the Amy Winehouse song? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVaqQe3V498

nuancebydefault2• 2 years ago

Where I live indeed naaldhakken are called pumps as well. I hence, maybe uncorrectly, assumed it is an English word... Flemish/Dutch is so full of English words.

We use words like sneakers, shorts, wonderbra, jeans, hoodie,... often there is no Dutch alternative even.

_nalply• 2 years ago

This gave me an idea: what about changing keyboard layouts? Have a silicon cover for the Swiss-German keyboard layout. Of course the form of the keys needs to be different because I don't have long nails. And I am not sure about the tactile feel.

pimlottc3• 2 years ago

Would just going back to a standard mechanical keyboard get you most of the same benefits?

nerdponx• 2 years ago

Probably, especially with the taller spherical-dished SA keycaps.

minkles• 2 years ago

I just angrily chew my nails off and get back to what I was doing.

amelius• 2 years ago

Maybe use snap-on/snap-off nails instead? (I checked, they exist).

smegsicle• 2 years ago

"please remove weave to use faceid"

dotancohen5• 2 years ago

Snap-on sells a good hammer, but I've never seen their nails.

Physkal2• 2 years ago

deleted

dylan6043• 2 years ago

Careful, that's awfully close to a misogynistic stereotype. You wouldn't happen to be wearing a red hat would you?

Physkal2• 2 years ago

Could you explain please. I'm really trying to be better.

Stratoscope• 2 years ago

Careful with your stereotypes.

I'm not wearing a Red Hat, but I am running one.

Which reminds me of a prank I pulled a few years ago. I was working at a startup that had been acquired by a BigCo. (Alas, I joined after the acquisition.)

One of the founders decided to put his newfound wealth to a good purpose: fighting white supremacy. This was during the pandemic, so we had a going-away party on Zoom and shared little video tributes to him.

When it was my turn, I told him, "I want you to know exactly how I feel about your new project. I didn't have time to order an embroidered hat, so I mocked it up with my printer and an old baseball cap. It's a MAKA hat."

I deliberately slurred the pronunciation so it almost sounded like that other acronym.

I held up the hat with my finger covering the spot where "Great" would be, and put it on my head. And then I moved my hand away for the reveal.

The word was "Kind": Make America Kind Again.

Everyone loved it!

user3939382• 2 years ago

I used to teach typing to young latinas from the Bronx. I would have bought 20 of these.

dotancohen5• 2 years ago

Were the young latinas from the Bronx typing on MacBooks? ))

m463• 2 years ago

I can't help but think edward scissor switch keyboard hands.

pimlottc3• 2 years ago

Low-profile keyboards are pretty ubiquitous on all laptops these days, and even many desktop keyboards as well.

wkat42422• 2 years ago

Do women actually like long nails? I already cut mine when they're even less than a millimetre :) it annoys me so much. And I often cut my own skin by mistake when they're too long.

If I were a girl I wouldn't wear them I'm sure.

phendrenad2• 2 years ago

This is my new favorite quintessential HN comment.

phyzome• 2 years ago

The article covers this.

smeej• 2 years ago

I'm female and do the same thing you do.

I'm sure this product works just as well for anyone who does like having long nails, whatever their reasons and regardless of sex, but it sounds like you and I simply aren't the target customer.

wkat42422• 2 years ago

True it isn't necessarily about gender (of course not every woman wears them) though I haven't seen anyone who identifies as male wear them (though I suspect it might happen in the Gothic community). Hence the way I stated the question. Sorry I didn't mean to offend.

I asked my female identifying friends and most of them said that they don't like to wear them but they think they look good so they do it anyway :) And one said she loves them because she can sharpen them so she can scratch people (she's a dominatrix :). So yeah, reasons can vary.

cafard• 2 years ago

I guess that you could ask a woman, maybe one with long nails.

strken• 2 years ago

This has nothing to do with fashion or 2cm long nails, but I'm a man and I sometimes like having my thumbnail around 2mm. It's like having a butter knife on the end of your thumb. You can strip wire, break through thinner plastic packaging, remove splinters without tweezers, and more.

dotancohen5• 2 years ago

In the 80s one long nail was a sign of someone who often would need a small spoon at hand.

jurassicfoxy• 2 years ago

My girlfriend has long, vampy, very pointy, totally annoying nails by her own admission, and loves them.

rafram• 2 years ago

People have different priorities. From the article:

If it’s so inconvenient, why not just have short nails? Well, I’m not out here wearing long nails for fun. Being a reviewer often means acting as a part-time hand model for whatever gadget I’m testing. The Internet Nail Police has repeatedly shown up in my comments over the years if my polish is chipped or, god forbid, there’s a smudge of dirt under my natural nail.

dylan6043• 2 years ago

"For example, the arrow keys are small and awkward, and there’s no cover for the function keys aside from the Esc key."

Sounds like it was made for MBP with a second gen Touch Bar after they brought back the Esc key

drewcoo• 2 years ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shridhar_Chillal

Long nails have more serious problems.

bjourne• 2 years ago

Back when I played classical guitar this product would have been a life saver. You must not type fast with long nails or they will break. Then you can't play well until they grow back (may take a week or more). Even if they don't break you'll probably ruin their curvature. The correct way to type is to hit the keys at an almost 90 degree angle and that is very, very bad for long nails. Fake nails are sturdier, but I play better with natural nails.

Animats• 2 years ago

The Verge: "We and our 847 partners store and access personal data..."

Is that a new record? Anyone know a site that's in 4 digits yet?

dotancohen5• 2 years ago

It's one partner for every 1/10 mm of nail.

thaumasiotes4• 2 years ago

It sounds familiar; I'm guessing there's a standard set of 847 partners.

If you look into the cookie settings, they claim that 517 partners need access to the "strictly necessary cookies". I suspect that their idea of "strictly necessary cookies" might not actually hold up in court.

ordu3• 2 years ago

It is always fascinates me how far people could go in a pursuit of their definition of a beauty. I'm not surprised at all when someone builds a keyboard from scratch because they do not like the arrangement of the keys: whether they are right or wrong, they see the problem and they try out a solution to it. But when people just create problems for themselves out of a thin air and insist on keeping these problems as pets, I just cannot fathom what goes in their heads.

People are wonderful beings with an infinite individual variety, one cannot claim to truly understand it.

andrewflnr2• 2 years ago

I just cannot fathom what goes in their heads.

Broadly, yes. But in this case, she explained the decision tree pretty clearly.

bruce511• 2 years ago

Look as a guy, who could care less about societal standards of beauty (mine or anyone elses) I feel under qualified to comment on the beauty choices of others.

But I can say I felt the decision tree explanation in the article was unconvincing. Reviewers need long nails because photos? Because to some demographic long nails "look better". (Personally I think long nails look bad, but that's maybe just me.)

I felt like the author like long nails. They're clearly invested in long nails. That should be enough to like or dislike the product. They should have to justify their desire for long nails. (Justifing it suggests they know it has disadvantages.)

I concur that conforming to beauty standards in a world that both presents them as standards, then designs away from those standards consumes more energy than I have to expend.

jabagawee2• 2 years ago

I'm not sure what you mean by people creating problems for themselves out of a thin air. The article explains the constraints (speed, accuracy, comfort, avoiding online criticism, attractiveness, etc) that the author lives with. Did you intend to point at a more general situation that you've encountered?

I too cannot fathom what goes on in many people's heads and do not claim to truly understand them, but so far it's not been because they've created problems for themselves out of thin air and insisted on keeping these problems as pets.

ordu3• 2 years ago

The article explains the constraints (speed, accuracy, comfort, avoiding online criticism, attractiveness, etc) that the author lives with. Did you intend to point at a more general situation that you've encountered?

Yes, I refer to a more general situation. It seems to me, that the author of the article explains her choice as a way to try products and to write reviews that would be useful for people with long manicured nails. I can accept this explanation and to understand that. But it means that there are other people who choose long nails for other reasons, aren't they?

gklitz• 2 years ago

But when people just create problems for themselves out of a thin air and insist on keeping these problems as pets

People aren’t creating these problems for themselves, society is. Think of it this way, you might have decided that you want to focus your carriers on Rust, but your workplace has put you on a task that requires C++, and you can whine and complain all you want, but that’s the requirement. Then you dig in, get the job done post a smart solution you made to make work on HN, and the first post is a Rust programmer calling you out for choosing C++ and making life difficult for yourself.

And sure, you could just quit your job, but that’s a high consequence move. So to act like you chose this all on your own in a vacuum is just insulting.

ggm• 2 years ago

The original asr33 was somewhat like this. I think the key profiles of an IBM selectric or the equivalent Olivetti would have been tolerably forgiving of frenched nails.

(I break mine off short but I've destroyed the keycaps of the home keys and space bar on every keyboard i own. Rowing is better in short nails you need to be hands together enough in the return to catch you cut your hand on a long thumbnail)

thaumasiotes4• 2 years ago

Typing is one of the most annoying things about having long nails.

I frequently have long nails because I don't like clipping them. I once had a girl complain to me that she couldn't get her nails to grow as long, if she tried, as I grew mine through neglect.

Typing barely registers. The only difference is that you get more clicking sounds than otherwise. The most annoying thing, by far, is that you need to approach a phone touchscreen with the side of your finger instead of the tip. The second most annoying thing is that sometimes something goes wrong and a part of the environment will encounter and tear or break your nail.

Log_out_• 2 years ago

But the whole idea of long nails is to make you visibly unable to do manual labour .same as stilettos or long hair beeing a handicap in battle. why work around a signal that you will refuse work ?

For those caught in between :

https://www.tiktok.com/@glamnetic/video/6946266618020318469?...

The Tippy Type makes typing with long nails less tedious

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