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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

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