The not so humble keyboard

Wednesday, August 6th, 2008

If I asked you to name the most mundane part of your PC, chances are the humble keyboard would be high on the list. For most it’s just there: it has the requisite keys, all in their usual place and they make things happen on your screen.

Some use several fingers simultaneously to work it, many others prod with fat single digits. The vast majority come bundled with PCs, and few people would ever consider spending more than pocket money on a new one. Few, but not zero.

We’ve seen Art Lebedev’s Optimus Maximus keyboard. It “justified” its extravagant price tag by placing a small OLED display behind each of the 113 keys. Specially programmed software is then able to change the picture on each of the 48 x 48 pixel displays. See it in action here. Perhaps you could change each key to a vomit pattern to disguise your reaction on seeing the $1,500 price tag.

This was then complemented by Art Lebedev’s 15-key Pultius number-pad. Just in case you felt you weren’t getting enough value from your investment. (more…)