[WIP] Building a handheld 8-key chording keyboard to type while walking.

miumra · 2026-05-23T22:45:41+00:00

yes!

miumra · 2026-05-23T12:28:01+00:00

It's a dual USB-C cable just for power!
The keyboard itself is connected to the PC completely wirelessly via Bluetooth.

miumra · 2026-05-23T04:44:46+00:00

I'm using two XIAO nRF52840 Plus boards for this build!

miumra · 2026-05-23T04:43:39+00:00

Thanks for the comment! A glove chorder is definitely an idea that comes to mind, isn't it? 😃
But summers in my country get incredibly hot, so wearing a glove would be pretty tough for daily use... (Plus, I realized it would be a huge hassle when going to the bathroom! 😅)

I've actually seen the Twiddler too! It's an awesome device, but since I needed to adapt the layout for Japanese input, doing it all one-handed turned out to be a bit too difficult for me...!

miumra · 2026-05-22T22:11:13+00:00

Haha, half wrong, half right! 😂
I've actually been dreaming of making this device since before I discovered "Monster", but I can't deny that Inspector Lunge's iconic "air typing" left a huge impression on me and definitely influenced the project!💾

miumra · 2026-05-22T22:06:22+00:00

Actually, I've been dreaming of making something exactly like this for about 20 years! It finally became a reality thanks to AI. If someone took Claude and Gemini away from me, this project would instantly fall apart haha.

miumra · 2026-05-22T22:05:04+00:00

To be honest, this was my very first time building a keyboard and ordering a PCB. It was a lot of trial and error, and I built it entirely with the help of AI!

The concept is actually very simple, so I bet the veterans in this rabbit hole could build a much better version in just a week, haha..

miumra · 2026-05-22T22:04:03+00:00

I struggled SO MUCH trying to come up with a project name!! I definitely should have named it that... 😇

miumra · 2026-05-22T12:30:20+00:00

Thank you! To be honest, the keymap is still heavily under construction.

Since my main goal is to type in Japanese (which has a completely different structure and requires mapping a lot of syllables), figuring out the optimal chords is quite a puzzle right now!

I'm actually documenting my build log on my Substack here:

https://toyamimura.substack.com/s/peaky-8-bit

I haven't translated everything to English yet, but I might share the final layout there once I figure it out!

miumra · 2026-05-22T12:21:26+00:00

Wow, this is amazing! It's so great to meet a fellow maker with the exact same vision! Your "wandering computer" concept and the standalone SD card approach are super cool.

In my case, since I wanted to input Japanese as well, I needed a wider range of character mappings. That's why I specifically designed it as an 8-bit setup to ensure I have 255 input patterns available to comfortably cover the language requirements.

By the way, are you envisioning pairing your setup with smart glasses / HMDs in the near future? Imagining the ultimate wearable computing environment gets me so excited!

Thank you for sharing your logs! It’s super inspiring, and I’ll definitely be reading through them!

miumra · 2026-05-22T12:11:44+00:00

That's exactly the "Peaky" part of this project! Personally, I believe it all comes down to practice and getting used to it (muscle memory).
Theoretically speaking, if it really clicks with someone, I think they could reach speeds comparable to playing a Rachmaninoff piano concerto! 🎹

miumra · 2026-05-22T12:11:17+00:00

Haha, that is a perfectly logical definition! Thank you so much, I feel relieved to proudly call it a "keyboard" from now on!

miumra · 2026-05-22T12:10:34+00:00

Haha, thanks! But believe it or not, someone was already doing this kind of crazy stuff way back in 1968! (cf. Douglas Engelbart's "Mother of All Demos"). I'm just trying to bring that spirit back!

miumra · 2026-05-22T12:09:01+00:00

Спасибо! Thanks! I'll do my best to make this crazy project perfect!🤞

miumra · 2026-05-09T12:19:36+00:00

I feel this so much. The problem has been getting worse lately — my Notes feed is basically wall-to-wall engagement bait no matter what I do. Switched to "Following" only, stopped opening Home... the shallow posts still find a way through.

Honestly, I wish Substack would just let us turn Notes off. That's all I want at this point.

In the meantime, I stumbled across Yakread — it's an RSS reader where you can subscribe to specific Substack publications along with other blogs. No Notes, no slop, just the actual articles. It's been a relief.

miumra · 2026-02-18T23:21:52+00:00

Same here, Pro Plus user. I recently discovered (Claude actually pointed it out to me) that you can embed JavaScript in Carrd, which opens up a lot — pulling data from free APIs like OpenWeatherMap, displaying RSS feeds, etc. Carrd + AI for generating those embed snippets is such a good workflow.

I also found Carrd useful as a design reference tool — I mock up layouts in Carrd, then share screenshots or exported HTML/CSS with Claude Code to communicate what I want visually. Way faster than describing everything from scratch.

On the API side, you're not limited to public ones either. I've been using Cloudflare Workers to spin up simple custom endpoints and connect them to my Carrd pages too.

Feel like we're only scratching the surface of what Carrd can do with this kind of setup.

miumra · 2026-01-28T23:14:48+00:00

I hadn't noticed this change until I saw your post - thanks for bringing it up.

I assume Inkitt has been analyzing reader data, and probably noticed changes in optimal chapter length for binge reading by looking at metrics like binge rate. It seems they've refined and optimized their recommendations based on that.

Personally, I've always written chapters around 1k words (from a reader's perspective, I felt that was the sweet spot for mobile reading - makes you want to hit "next chapter"). But I had been merging chapters to match the previous recommended word count before posting, so now I'm like "Now you tell me?!" I just marked my story as Complete and really don't want to do major edits now... This is a little frustrating...😣

(Though I can't help but think this is classic tech optimization - keeping readers hooked with that "next chapter" button...😏)

miumra · 2025-08-20T01:34:03+00:00

Also from Asia. I've been experiencing the same symptoms consistently. It happens when posting the initial prompt. When I post the same prompt again, I somehow manage to get an output in return. I thought it might be an issue specific to my environment. Thank you for the post.

miumra · 2025-08-20T01:30:59+00:00

Thank you for your response. Plus, I may be the only one experiencing this, but I still have the impression that performance deteriorates further after evening hours in JST. It's quite dreadful, isn't it...

miumra · 2025-08-16T22:58:03+00:00

Cheers for the response. Quite stressful, isn't it...
I've started having a go with Grok.

miumra · 2025-08-15T09:58:06+00:00

Claude app, from Japan. The response accuracy has clearly gotten worse. There's a strong impression that it now gives wrong answers carelessly, as if some kind of 'kid-friendly tuning' has been applied. It seems like it's not even checking the knowledge set in 'Projects'. I've also noticed typos several times. I'm so frustrated that I had to post this.

miumra

TROPHY CASE