My largest pet peeve with assembly apps is that every one has a unique shortcut for muting your mic or turning off your webcam. It’s laborious to recollect which keys do what if you’re mid-meeting and attempting to make a degree or ask a query. I all the time wished a bodily, common button for mute and digicam management — one thing I may hit with out considering. Project Mirage’s Dune, a tiny, three-key aluminum keypad — in regards to the measurement of a stick of gum — that plugs into your MacBook’s USB-C port, does simply that.
The $119 gadget has three buttons, and it modifications context based mostly on what app you’re looking at. For example, in assembly apps and websites, it may very well be toggle mic, toggle video, and produce window to the entrance. For Excel or Sheets, it may very well be copy, paste, and undo. For Chrome, it may very well be refresh, soar to URL bar, and paste. You get the gist. Builders may use it with apps like VS Code or GitHub to merge, approve, or shut a pull request.
The startup builds every unit to match your particular Mac mannequin, so it sits flush in opposition to the laptop computer with no hole beneath. In case your ports are already in use, you’ll be able to join it by a dongle as an alternative. Dune has no battery and wishes no separate charger — it attracts energy straight from the MacBook.
Presently, the startup helps M2 Air or later and M1 Professional or later fashions of MacBook working macOS 15 Sequoia or a later model.
The gadget appears and feels good, however I felt the keys had extra resistance. Proper now, it’s simple to push a key by mistake. A couple of instances, I mistakenly unmuted myself or killed my digicam as a result of my hand brushed the gadget whereas reaching for a water bottle or espresso mug. It shouldn’t be this simple to press a key.
Dune ships with a companion app for configuring shortcuts, both per-app or system-wide. Inside a given app, you’ll be able to assign a Dune key to a keyboard shortcut, a command, or a hyperlink that opens an app or URL.
Via the app, Dune additionally syncs along with your calendar and surfaces your subsequent assembly a couple of minutes earlier than it begins, so you’ll be able to be a part of, dismiss, or ship an “I’m working late” message with one faucet.
In order for you deeper customization, you’ll be able to write and run your personal Python script. In case you don’t code, Dune has a simple integration with Claude Desktop: you describe the shortcut you need in plain language, and Claude writes it and assigns it to a key for that app — no handbook setup required.
I constructed a shortcut that, each time I’m on a startup’s web site, pulls up a fast transient on the corporate: its rivals, buyers, and questions I’d ask if I booked a gathering with them. For anybody whose job entails sizing up firms shortly — buyers, founders, operators — it’s a job tailored for Dune. I additionally constructed one which converts photographs to JPG so I can add them shortly to WordPress or social platforms. Each have been simple to construct and wanted no handbook configuration, although getting a shortcut absolutely working nonetheless takes some back-and-forth with Claude, together with debugging when you really run it.
The app additionally has a market, from the place you’ll be able to discover abilities made by different Dune homeowners. If {the marketplace} takes off, it may turn out to be core to Dune’s development and retention technique — {hardware} as a skinny front-end for a Claude-powered abilities ecosystem, the place every new ability provides homeowners another reason to stay round.
Nevertheless, in the intervening time, there are solely restricted abilities. Plus, there is no such thing as a approach to take a look at out a ability with out assigning it to the {hardware} button — ideally, the app would allow you to preview a ability earlier than committing it to {hardware}. The startup additionally must proactively add extra of its personal instructed abilities for various apps to its customers.
Mission Mirage’s gadget retails for $149 after its introductory value expires, and it’s a stable decide for anybody productivity-minded. MuteMe covers simply mute/unmute, and Stream Deck gives business-focused macros, however Dune is less complicated to customise on each {hardware} and software program.
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