Isn't the advantage of embedding it in the keyboard that it's ideally positioned just a short finger reach away from the default touch typing stance? Also embedding it in the keyboard means it doesn't require any extra desk space, so it's available in bed, on the couch, etc.

Sometimes you are close to the keyboard and sometimes you're walking around giving a presentation or other activities. There is space for both approaches.

i can see that, thanks for the idea

i would love to implement it like Apple did it but i am no electronics engineer to do such.

It would also be particularly good if it acted as a USB or Bluetooth HID keyboard and/or touchpad.

I have had that as a low-intensive side project for the last three years. It's amazing how responsive a virtual touchpad you can create using touch events + HTML 5 + websockets!

Since you didn't link it, I will.

https://github.com/moses-palmer/virtual-touchpad

Requires >= Python 3.5 though so I won't be trying it out just yet.

Oh, and welcome to Hacker News!

Thank you :-) I have been silently reading linked articles and comments here for a couple of years; apparently I needed a reason to push my own semi dormant project as well as an actual computer to finally register.

it does make sense, if you'd like your iOs device to behave as a (sort of) giant Touch Bar check Quadro out... (http://quadro.me)