This advice falls under the general pattern of addressing a relatable problem and offering a solution that validates the reader's intuition without explaining how to make the behavior habitual. Stating what I want to achieve (waking up before my alarm) doesn't help me achieve it.
The author claims to have 'given a lot of thought' to other products. What products? Is pure reason the right approach for deriving solutions to behavioral problems?
"Stating what I want to achieve (waking up before my alarm) doesn't help me achieve it."
Actually it may work exactly this way. There are many different psychological techniques that amount to doing just that. One of them is to make your wish the last thought before you go asleep. It doesn't work just the next day but it does work if you apply it repeatedly. Just be careful about what you wish, as it will come true and you have to be prepared.
In a nutshell, if you put a negative temperature object A in contact with any object B with a positive temperature, energy will flow from A -> B, regardless of how high B's temperature is. This is the opposite of everyday positive temperatures, where energy will flow from the high-temperature object to the low-temperature one. So in a sense you could say that the temperature of A is "above infinity".
Motion sensors with true accuracy are probably still a few years away before they are more than just gimmicks in games, but it would be interesting if you could "interact" with the game with your hands, too, while seeing the virtual weapon that you have through Oculus, in your hands, and using it would be so accurate that it wouldn't feel disconnected from that "real" virtual reality you're in through Oculus. You'd actually feel as if you're fighting with a sword and killing that monster in front of you with it, even though you wouldn't have anything in your hand in the real world.
The results seem consistent with previous data. There are many recent layouts (e.g. Colemak[1]) which attempt further optimization, but simulations show little actual difference in strain (~5%) between those. They are all better than qwerty in this regard, but optimizing any any more is a clear case of diminishing returns.
It is actually much more difficult to model finger strain that the english language (in terms of n-grams). Subjective assessments vary a lot, and the quest for the optimal layout is bathed in controversy. Beyond switching away from qwerty, the most significant gains will be made by hardware solutions, like using an ergonomic keyboard (such as the very promising ErgoDox [2]). Other optimizations may come in the form of chorded keyers and better predictive technology. In this last case, the Google data may prove useful.
@gokfar: Seems like you have some background in keyboard layout optimization. Are you currently working on anything related now? I am and would great to chat with you about it if you're in the MV area.
