computer science

Sonder Design

Sonder Design is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Sonder Design rather than just read about it. In short: Sonder Design is an Australian design studio with its headquarters in Sydney at the Australian Technology Park. They designed the Sonder keyboard, a dynamic E Ink keyboard.

Key takeaways

Sonder Design belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Sonder Design to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Sonder Design from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Sonder Design is an Australian design studio with its headquarters in Sydney at the Australian Technology Park. They designed the Sonder keyboard, a dynamic E Ink keyboard. The company has offices in Sydney, Shenzhen and Taipei. Sonder uses a transparent patented mechanism above a display which can dynamically change to adapt to the keyboard layout in use or to show the function of the key.

Overview The production model uses a single E ink display from E Ink Holdings. The design featured on the design studio's website received attention on the web when it was featured on Wired in July 2015, as well as other technology websites. The Sonder keyboard allows for greater user interaction, by dynamically displaying the current function of the keys. For example, when the user presses the Shift key, the pictures would change to upper-case versions. It would also make switching between different keyboard layouts (such as English and Cyrillic) rapid, and could make the switch to alternative layouts such as Dvorak easier for people who only have a QWERTY keyboard with no possibility of rearranging the keys.

Apple acquisition rumors According to a report by The Guardian and The Wall Street Journal, Apple had approached the startup for acquisition with the assistance of Foxconn. Sonder issued a press release stating that co-founder Francisco Serra-Martins did not meet with Apple CEO Tim Cook in Shenzhen, China on October 26, 2016, as reported. Members of Sonder's sales and MacBook architecture team are Apple alumni.

Production schedule Initial reports indicated that the keyboards will start shipping during 2017. The keyboard is being manufactured by Foxconn.

Acquisition by Foxconn Reports indicate that Sonder was acquired by strategic partner Foxconn International Holdings in late 2019.

Similar keyboards The patent for this "Display Keyboard" (U.S. Patent 5,818,361)[12] has expired. However, the first programmable LCD keyboard [13] was developed in the mid-1980s in Germany. This keyboard, sold under the LCBoard name in the U.S. until 1999, contained many of the features of the Optimus keyboard including monochrome graphic icons on each keyboard key, macro programming, context-sensitive and application-dependent switching between functions. S. Bigbie et al. published related ideas in an IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin (Vol. 21 No. 2 July 1978), as did Alan Bagley of Hewlett-Packard in (U.S. Patent 4,078,257). A concept design using E Ink technology was created by Maxim Mezentsev and Aleksander Suhih in 2013. A patent application filed on 13 March 2007 suggests that Apple Inc. may be working on a similar dynamically changeable organic light-emitting diode (OLED) keyboard.

References

External links Sonder Design - website of the company

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Sonder Design

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Sonder Design claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Sonder Design before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Sonder Design ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Sonder Design

In research: Sonder Design appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Sonder Design in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Sonder Design is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Computer companies of Australia, Computer hardware companies, Computer keyboard companies, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Sonder Design outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Sonder Design in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Sonder Design means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Sonder Design out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sonder Design in simple terms?

Sonder Design is an Australian design studio with its headquarters in Sydney at the Australian Technology Park. They designed the Sonder keyboard, a dynamic E Ink keyboard.

Why does Sonder Design matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Sonder Design?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Sonder Design.