Slashdot Mirror
Optimus Keyboard With OLED Display Keys
Koskun writes "What appears to be a Russian design company has on their website a keyboard in which the keys are using OLED to display what function the keys represent. The product is Art. Lebedev Studio's Optimus Keyboard. The uses of this could be amazing. They have pictures of layouts for Photoshop and Quake, as well as a QWERTY and Russian. Here's hoping that this will make it to a production model and not just a design model."
Coral Cache Link
It's not even a "design model". It's a "rendered model". Sweet concept. You'd spend a bloody fortune on 116 individual color OLED displays - in several sizes - and all the circuitry, interfacing, and drivers to run them. I see that they are Macintosh fans, though.
A prime idea, that.
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
Well, it is definitely an impressive keyboard. I'm sure there are UI designers looking at this thing and having seizures as we speak. I know if it had some durability, spill resistance, and was =$250 I'd pick one up for my next machine.
In any case, the keys don't look like they are OLED. They look just like regular backlit LCD (maybe LED backlit). Any OLED experts want to chime in on this?
Karma: SELECT `karma` FROM `users` WHERE `userid`=138474;
I'd be very curious of what one of these would cost though. any ideas?
Creationists are a lot like zombies. Slow, but powerful and numerous. And they all want to eat our brains.
Wow! Looked at the pictures, very attractive!
So, eye-candy aside:
Since all of our jobs are being outsourced to other countries, this keyboard will be perfect for public schools where they will need to teach children to function in the wonderful world of order-taking at fast food restaurants on those nifty little picture-only cash-registers..
Even with mass market production, this sucker would have to be expensive, dontcha think?
I'll take my $15 USB keyboard thank you - although I'm starting to wish I had a better ergonomic alternative!
Who needs labels? Are you looking at the keyboard or the screen when you're gaming?
It will be handier and handier to have virtual keyboards, and in fact, they obviously already exist.
;)
However, soon enough, as with other inventions, it just may be that we get a glass panel in front of us, and the display/input conforms to the user and his/her function, instead of the other way around.
libertarianswag.com
But seriously this technology could have huge implications for the future of peripheral manufacturing (on the high-end at least) purely because you can have it as QWERTY, AZERTY, DVORAK or any other english, arabic, cyrillic, sanscrit, klingon or other layout!
For the cheapskates there's always Das Keyboard!
Damn, now i have saliva all over my plain, ordinary keyboard.
i bet it needs an external power supply..
Is is - I have one. Cost me $45 and some imagination.
I didn't see any layouts for quick prOn navigation and the i'm at work auto-escape minimize key.
Seriously, this would be great for music sequencer applications like Cubase SX and Nuendo.
Can't wait to watch my favorit divx on the Windoze key !
In order to form an immaculate member of a flock of sheep one must, above all, be a sheep.
Cool, not only could viruses switch what appears on your screen when you type you could also wake up and find a huge picture of goatse on your keyboard.
I think this is a step in the right direction but what I would really like to see it a programable pad that could change interfaces when I change apps as oppsed to using the same key layout. I have something similar to this using my wacom but its not quite there yet.
Bad Panda! No Bamboo for you! In matters of importance ACs will not be responded to. Want to say something critical,OK
I'll bet you the latest spyware would get the ability to run banner ads through the keyboard. "Hit the monkey now!"
i would have something clever to say about that, but i don't 'cause my pussy hurts.
How can a Brit purchase one of these keyboards? Considering the recent trend of credit card data being "misplaced" or outright stolen, I will not purchase items online from foreign sellers. But you cannot find these speciality keyboards in most large retail stores like Maxwell Technology or Circuits Domain. So while I would like to purchase them, I fear I cannot.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
It looks like something newbies would hold up to their computer screen and try to point to stuff, only to wonder why said mouse doesn't work that way.
-Rob
Biblical fiscal responsibility
There was a company a few years back that had something similar, only their keyboard used CRT technology. Apparently, people weren't ready to purchase the over-sized heavy-duty desks their keyboard demanded and several users ended up in the hospital after attempting to rest these keyboards on their lap.
It looks like most of their portfolio makes it into production, but I can't
help but wonder just how much a keyboard like this would cost?
Also, OLED's have a short life. 1-2 years.
Mirror here
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
As soon as the HHK is equipped it's mine.
This is VAPORWARE, folks.
It doesn't even exist. The keys are merely modeled.
Um... Is this a real prototype designed for commercial production (or to attract manufacturing interest), or is it simply an industrial design student's "cool keyboard idea?"
The keyboard pictures look TOO clean -- like a photo-real CG rendering -- and it makes me wonder if this is simply a design exercise. Cool concept, though -- I'd buy a keyboard like that.
How this thing won't have a manufacturing cost around $3-4 a key...
That said... If they build these and they have good action, I'll drop $500 on one.
This is an amazing idea for international users at public terminals. Just sit down and select your character set and you're off and running with a keyboard taylored to your needs. I forsee this being in airports and trainstations; even somewhat computer illiterate people could use it to be able to seemlessly type in there language.
Although the price might render this idea problematic...
Damn, I hope this do not turn out be another geek teaser. Love the idea. I look foward to seeing this for real. On the other hand there is that cold pail of water labeled vaporware just waiting to fall on my head.
No, I don't have anything planned for you, I promise...
But the one that intrigues me the most is the fact that I share a keyboard between a Mac and a PC using Synergy, and the keys aren't mapped identically between both machines. This would be very handy to have my keyboard visually show me what's what, dependant upon which computer has the keyboards focus at that time.
Not to mention that I'm a shortcut junkie, and a visual kinda guy... This has "productivity increase" written all over it!
But the bad news is that the keyboard appears to be just a prototype at this point. Hopefully demand will quickly bring it to market soon! (preferably at less than $200 - It looks kinda expensive). There's a rather good thread on it over at digg, from earlier today.
...could drive the OLEDs. So if I switched from Firefox to OpenOffice the keys would automatically adjust themselves. This way we could leave to the application developers to interface their apps to something in the OS. This would be the future version of creating icons for your application or an extension of it.
Q: I am short, useless and provide no value. What am I? A: a sig
...for a keyboard with some sort of dynamically-assigned logo on the keys. Not anything fancy, a 5*7 monochrome LCD logo per key would be great, I don't need the fancy colors and shortcuts.
My need is to be able to see the keys when I type with a foreign keytable. My keyboard is US qwerty, but whenever I type in French or German, since I learned to write these languages using native keytables, I have to switch to azerty or qwertz, which is mostly fine with the US keyboard since I don't look at the keys, but can be a problem for odd characters like @ or ~ that I just never remember on non-US layouts.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
They're renderings. I don't think they've decided on the exact technology yet for displaying the images in the keys. Funny how someone's art project (although really cool) gets presented on /. like it's a product.
Why bother.
I didnt see anything about purchase information.
FINALLY. An idea that makes sense. I would love to get my hands on that keyboard. switching between dvorak and QWERTY would be a breeze. plus games would be easier to play. and yes. that IS an OLED display on each key. which means each key can change design. So no, your not locked into any key icons (such as the internet explorer one) Each key can change, dynamically. since it is it's own little display. This keyboard would be great. for a lot of stuff. like teaching people how to type. or creating custom keyboards without much fuss. or security, even.
http://www.6765656b.com it's the ~ for us geek's.
As cool as this is (and as much as I want one so badly), the same effect has been achieved already with the Ideazon Zboard. You can basically take keyplates off and put other ones on there, and they have plates for all sorts of applications and games.
If you ask me, I prefer the good old fashion keyboards with no special buttons, lights, whistles or what-not. Those keyboards seem like they would be fun until the lights stop working.
Voice your opinion!
I dont know much about the method of display, but it seems obvious that it is configorable. My question is what would be the refresh rate on the buttons, would it be possible to have animated keys, just think how anoying that could be!
I can finally get past the second step - I'll have an ANY KEY!
This would have to be ungodly expensive for a keyboard. OLED's are definately the way to go, though, because LCD's (especialy in color) are way to bulky and expensive (each key would need a light source, lcd, and a driver chip). With an OLED, if I am not mistaken, you can have the whole display and drivers on one piece. No glass panels, no backlight.
Still, until OLEDs are in mass (*MASS*) production, I dont see producing a keyboard like this for a reasonable price for some time yet.
For all the people thinking "OH NO! this would be way to confusing! Bad, bad idea for UI design..".. what's the problem? We have windows full of icons now. What's the difference in putting some icons onto a keyboard? With something like photoshop I could see this being a real time saver. And I bet you will start to use and remember keyboard shortcuts much more often with this, since you only need to look, where now you have to hunt around and find out what the shortcut is..
-- Senior Software Engineer, Attorney appearance services, locallawyerapp.com.
This maybe a rendering or whatever the fsck it is but they should patent this, if not i'm calling Steve Jobs this afternoon. That thing is SLICK!!
I hate keyboards with the ginormous enter key! If they can do it with a normal small sized one I'd be more interested. Then again, maybe it's more customizable and I might actually like it. Having a small shift key on the right side probably wouldn't bother me either as I never really use that anyway.
The best thing about this would be if I could progmatically control all the displays of the keyboards. Then when I get a new IM, I could display the messages on the keyboard, and or flash other cool messages for when I get email or scripts/jobs finish!! (I already do this with keyboard led's in the plugin I made for Trillian.) This has definite potential to be very useful. Hopefully it wouldn't cost too much! I'd probably pay up to 250 dollars for a keyboard like that if I could control the display of the keys via an API.
hmmm, russian keyboards...them damn crafty russians. I'm not going to fall for their trickery.
There are 10 kinds of people in the world - those who understand binary and those who don't
Anyone who's ever played WOW, GuildWars, or any other MMORPG that has you assign abilities to function keys would love this.
Not having to have those little icons on the bottom of the screen - because they'd be on your keyboard - would be fantastic
For that matter, I hope the PS3 designers are looking at this. A console whose controller lights up with appropriate button labels would be fantastic!
There really could be an 'Any' key.
To-do List: Receive telemarketing call during a tornado warning. Check.
My pants just got sticky.
PocketGamer.org - For the gamer on the go!
...what Emacs would look like on this!
I don't want to dis the (obviously) pretty good designers of Art. Lebedev Studio, but do we have a proof that this is even a prototype? For all I see it may just as well be a great idea with a good design, created in Maya (or whatever). Prety picture != real (or even conceivable) product.
Keyboard design needed something like this for a long time now, but will it ever become a real market product?
I sure hope the patent applies only to high-resolution or color displays inside the keyboard, as many Slashdot users have "published" (in patent jargon) a description of a reconfigurable keyboard with a small (e.g. 8x8 pixel) monochrome LCD under each key.
I would now like to take credit, on behalf of my open source breatheren, as the first "side" to have thought of the concept of the Keyboardsaver. KEuphoria on the keyboard would kick ass!
Anyway. I've always thought of a musical MIDI keyboard with glowing keys.
:)
Why? You give it the music, and it can teach you to play a specific piece of music. Just put your hands on the glowing keys, and ta-da!
I thought I took typing class in high school so I wouldn't have to look at the keyboard... this would be tempting to reverse this. Now just integrate the entire computer screen into the keyboard... or maybe I should just get a 17" touchscreen and lay it flat on my desk and use a on-screen keyboard... minus the tactile response of course.
According to the web page itself, "Patents Pending."
Get a second low-limit credit card. The bank will be happy to let you have it.
Then when you want to make an Internet purchase, just use the second card. If its stolen, no big deal, just cancel it. Your primary is still good.
And for big purchases, just transfer a big amount to it (so you have a surplus on it), then do the purchase. Since you don't cross the limit, you're ok.
- - - - - - - - - - -
I am a programmer. I am paid to produce syntax not grammar. Deal with it.
I would think that the new e-paper technologies would be better suited as they maintain the image with the power off. This would enable the keyboard to only use power while the keys are changed (or if they are animated), and of course the wireless portion would use power.
If they get these out on the market (using e-paper tech) for under $300 CAN I would buy one asap.
An optimist believes we live in the best world possible; a pessimist fears this is true.
Here's one: Oscillating 1337 keymap
This looks like a very, very cool idea. However, I have a major concern that would need to be satisfied before I would buy one: Drivers.
I'm a dedicated Linux user and I think that the complexity of the drivers required for a keyboard like this might mean that a Linux driver doesn't appear right away (I mean, what are the chances of them releasing one, and we all know how long it takes for community-started open-source drivers to become stable, although they're quicker now than ever). Also, that driver had better not put any load on my CPU or memory. I have better things to do with those.
That said, when an open-source driver for it does emerge, you know it'll do all sorts of cool stuff. For those of us who don't need to look at the keys anyway, it could be programmed to show movies while I'm typing instead.
Some one putting thier noodle to good use.
Ill buy one when its available.
Id be willing to pay $200 US for this peripheral.
Lets hope they get it going and have some competition, cause id rather pay $90 US.
WoW would be great with this! Chuckled a bit when I saw the "Quake" idea, first thing I thought of was binding the keys to macros on World of Warcraft, this would just be so much better than an action bar and/or remembering what you mapped all your keys to.
I'd definitely pay for this keyboard, even if it were $200+
That's got to be the widest 'standard' keyboard I've ever seen in my life! Where will our obsession with function keys end? First the PC/XT layout put them on the left-hand side, then the AT layout put them along the top.
This keyboard combines the two, so now we've got function keys across the top and (different ones) down the left, plus a numeric keypad that is completely redundant with other number and arrow keys.
Where will it end? Will we someday be pair programming with both programmers working the keyboard and telling each other which keys to hit? Will fights break out over who gets to press 'Y' and 'B'?
I'm sure there are children whose arms won't reach both ends of this thing! Won't someone please think of the children?
Hrm... how cool would it be to have peoples' keyboards unexpectedly start spelling "All your bases are..." throughout the company...
Any generalization is a stupid one.
The Transformers series offshoot, Beast Wars, so polluted the net that for the longest time I couldn't find a trace of one of the most innovative homebrew robot projects ever published. Subsumption architecture is the way to go.
"I'm not impatient. I just hate waiting." - My Dad
Another one of my great ideas I never got around to doing... [I also dreamt up maglev trains when I was 8 years old--unfortunately that one had already been invented]
I used to be an old APL programmer and thought LED keycaps would be an excellent idea to see the APL characters...
I can't wait until somebody comes out with a slot machine game for these. There's no better way to sit in your office playing games all day AND sound productive! Although Nethack does a fairly decent job of that.
Somewhere a Z-Board is jumping from a bridge...
wonder what the 'feel' is like? that matters.
have to admit, the displays are pretty cool looking, but I'd sure hate to think what happens to it when you spill your coffee into it... ;-)
Imagine the possibilites for emacs / vi or any other highly customizable interface if when teh more of prefix is activated the keys change to display the funtion they will perform. No more acrane keyboard combinations, just an infinitely large set of (dynalic) custom buttons.
Which demo group will be the first to write the first keyboard-based demo?
Will we need keyboard screen savers, too?
So many questions...
It doesn't take much to see that this is a concept only.
+ Spiderfood
Where will it end? Will we someday be pair programming with both programmers working the keyboard and telling each other which keys to hit? Will fights break out over who gets to press 'Y' and 'B'?
I predict that they will breed programmers with six or more fingers on each hand, and only they will be able to properly use future keyboards.
~Philly
You could install a keyboard game like Whack-a-mole, and the user unwittingly types in code to destroy their own system.
I don't practice what I preach because I'm not the kind of person that I'm preaching to.
it cool but will cost a fortune and it would be a lot cheaper just geting a bunch of blank keyboards and some stickers
I'm in hertfordshire and have never heard of either of the "big retailers" you quote..
Neither has Google. Is this some sort of sophisticated troll?
I have been a user for about 10 years. This ends Feb 2014. The site's been ruined. I'm off. Dice, FU
...when they come up with a keyboard for the
"Keyboard not found - press F1 to continue"
error in Windows.
I reserve my ultimate judgement until I see how it feels to use, how durable it is, and how much it'll set me back. But that thing is sexy. I'd like the look of that with conventional keys.
Heroscape, it's like legos combined with anachronistic wargames.
Car, or keyboard... car, or keyboard...
;P
Current OLED technology is short-lived (red and green are on par with traditional LEDs but blue wears out really fast, 1000 hours) though recent lab advancements have eliminated that concern. Now if only Kodak would loosen their patents' stranglehold on OLEDs and stop demanding license fees from third-party researchers
http://www.artlebedev.fr/
Check out their French site for the same pretty pictures since their English site has been Slashdotted.
EvilCON - Made Famous by
Das Keyboard + Tippex + 30 minutes = Optimus Keyboard
Just scrape off as you change apps...
That would be really funny if the prompt read, "Press any key" and every key on the keyboard changed to read "Any". :)
Some time in the very late 1980's the hungarian VT "Videoton" company made a normal 101-key PC/AT keyboard, where each indvidual key had had a small LCD embedded at the top. The keys showed what you chose with a selector, as the character sets were stored in EEPROM. I heard there was a later version, which you could control on the fly via RS-232 tether and use arbitrary charsets.
Of course those keyboards were not very attractive, because traditional passive black-on-grey LCDs don't have too much contrast and are purely reflective, so the keys were a bit hard to read.
It was outrageously expensive as well, because of the need to make 101 little keys with an LCD in each one, using lots of manual labor. I think most of these keyboards were used by the soviet bloc militaries (WARPAC) where the need for rapid use of cyrillic and latin alphabet plus code signs at the same time overrode any cost issue.
So we have some prior art.
keyboard, game station, universal remote control, alternate languages, music?, education, larger letters my grandma (who can't type and doesn't see really well), etc.
Do they have an ergonomic model?
With bendable touchscreen you could make vdu and keyboard in one.
optimus prime (Ohio National Guard 5694TH Tactical Crash Rescue Unit)
(old news, but still fun for those who haven't seen)
Coolest. Keyboard. EVAR! Perfect for all those IM ninnies out there... now instead of typing three keys: omg, lol, wtf, mom, etc., will all fit nicely into one.
How completely useless for us touch typists.
Also, if you need to look down to see what key does what in an FPS game (Quake (III?) is depicted) you're already dead.
Question everything
This got me thinking, would a Nintendo DS-style laptop work well? Top screen would be normal, bottom could be a touch screen. You could make literally any keyboard layout (not just QWERTY or DVORAK, but different placements, like those split keyboards, if that's your thing.) The user could also have a touchpad as large/small as they wanted, with as many mouse buttons, scrolls, volume virtual-dials, etc. The only drawback that I can think of is the lack of tactile response, but I think this would be outweighed by the other potential benefits.
That is all.
How fast is the key display refresh rate? You could get some cool games on this thing in which the control AND the display is all on the keyboard.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Let's think about this technology application in the context of convergence. Let's give it a smaller form factor and a few additional controls, and a device like this could be used to control everything in your house - TV, DVD player, computer, game console, stereo, maybe even a cordless phone function. Make it wireless with receivers hooked into all of your home electronics. Now we just need to get the size down and make the layout more elegant.
I think e-ink would be a cheaper, less power-hungry option for the keys. Also, making the keys contoured would be a good idea.
---If you can't trust a nerd, who can you trust?
all i have to say is:
Optimus Keyboard, MAXIMIZE!
*insert retro transformation sound from our oh so joyous youth*
Or, visit a page with a banner, and watch the whole "click the monkey" or "Shoot the duck" bannergame display in your function key row, begging you to hit the right key to win that iPod.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
The megatron keyboard would of course feature a "SPAM them MOTHAS" key, and a "Sasser this"
ohh, and it would have a keystroke logger by default. A keyboard it NOT evil enough until it can turn on it's own master by recording his/her keystrokes and sending them off to the Ukrainian mafia.
Also, it has a blue IE (e) key, so it's tailored for Windows, yet there is NO BSOD key and NO "anykey". Windows home users will not be amused.
As an aside: Should an anonymous user have to wait 44+ minutes to post. Come on crapDOT I used to respect you before you were taken over by Chinese government officials..
Actually I never had this problem in Europe. Maybe the internet should be regulated by an international bosy!
Why couldn't you go with one big LCD touchscreen that you could configure any way you wanted, even as a second monitor. It would come with a program that allowed you to designate key size, function, and image. The pause/break key on this keyboard, what is the point? I could change it to my pr0n button and make it the size of the enter key. I know nothing of the tech related to this but I imagine there is some reason this can't be done or the price is to high but I think it would be pretty nice.
Not terribly practical, though, even if they put it into production.
How many times did you look at your keyboard while you typed your post, really? In the middle of an intense FPS shootout, do you really need to know which key you configured to switch from the rocket launcher to grenades? Do you really have to check the keyboard shortcut for "Copy" in your text editor of choice?
No, me neither.
This is a fun idea, sure, and might have some genuine use in a few niches, but I doubt it's going anywhere as a mainstream idea.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
I don't see this thing being very cheap with that many OLED displays. I think they'd do better to us one of the monochrome/b&w eInk solutions that only require power to change the display and not to drive them.
I also have questions about how it handles being plugged into any random machine. Does it have a default layout or a memory of each layout?
We just use tiny little slide projectors behind each key. When you hear this sound: "Bink!", go to the next key image.
It costs a fortune changing all those light bulbs though, but it keeps your fingers warm.
I expect once the new keyboard smell is gone users of this keyboard will come to realize a major problem... keeping it clean. No matter how fastidious one is the keyboard will get dirty with the normal detritus of human use. I fear it won't be easy, possible?, to clean. Then the luster will be gone for sure.
Good design encompasses all facets of use. Including the more pedestrian issues. All that glitters is not gold.
You don't base your decision to buy a keyboard like this in any way/shape/or form on price... Between the top-end cool-factor, the fact that finally us hunt and peck typists can see what we're hitting, and the reprogrammability WITH ICONS for shorcut keying, there is no question I'd pay upto a $200US (or even $200CAN - heh) for it. Tho, the idea of pop-up ads and yet another layer of pop-up blocking running on my machine is a little annoying.
The term "Dinbot" was trademarked by Hasbro as far back as, I believe, 1986.
It was the homebrew robot that polluted the net and diluted the term, not the Transformers fans.
Rush that baby into production now.
God: When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.
Homer: OMIGOD!!!! Tomompoline!!! I WANT ONE!!!
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
And doubleclick.net's slogan as they sell this service to advertisers: "We put your product right at your customer's fingertips."
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
So we should all have blank keyboards then? I would guess that there's more people that don't touch type than those who do. Also, the usefulness isn't in after you get used to the key layout, but when you initially try new software that uses specific mapped keys.
Furthermore, this just goes to illustrate the uselessness of this concept. There should be no time that someone needs to look down at the keys, or else they aren't being productive with the keyboard. If you need to know the shortcuts assigned to keys, put them on the screen, where the shortcut can be spelled out insted of being just some cryptic icon, and where it wouldn't encourage someone to look at the keys. I would actually think that this keyboard would make regular typists type slower because of the fact that the LED keys would encourage they eyes to stare at the keys again, just to break the good habit that these typists developed in looking away from the keys in the first place.
I remember someone selling a keyboard with no key marks on it a couple years back and thinking at first that it was some geek tech pr0n. After mulling it over however, I realized that this is exactly in the right direction, because it encourages the typist to look at the screen instead of looking at the keyboard. To enhance the concept, it would be good if each of the keys were designed to feel slightly different (like the bumps on the f and j keys) so you had an intuitive and tactile sense of what keys you were pressing. That way you could have the best of both worlds.
The key caps were clear and you could put any image that you could imagine and the electronics could be set up to send any (and any sequence of) ASCII character(s).
Sorry but I don't think its patentable. That's' not to say some body might make some dough at it if they can get the keycaps OLED prices down low enough. And that's not to say they won't try (and with our Patent Office, when did prior art count for anything?)
Its just a freaking keyboard. (and then there's the key press 'fee; and feedback mechanism to consider. (I still miss my old Selectric keyboard for its solidity and the great 'clunk' sound.)
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Other than not getting the nice feeling of depressing each button, a big touch screen would probabaly be cheaper.
:
It could be even more modular too. Want a left handed keyboard? No problem! Smaller backspace key? Sure thing! How about a big red 'panic' or 'launch' button off the the side?
Shoot. I might start making it myself. Any takers?
--
Check out the Uncyclopedia.org
The only wiki source for politically incorrect non-information about things like Kitten Huffing and Pong! the Movie !
Please allow me to hate the creator of the 120-character limit: *HATES*. Thank you.
I don't normally succumb to gadget envy. I passed on the Palm, the iPaq, the iPod, and the PSP. But I want one of those keyboards.
With this one you can imagine every layout you ever gonna need. http://www.daskeyboard.com/
-- ApYx --
BTW the economics are impossible-- each key would cost around $20. Plus you'd need at least two gold-plated contacts per key to supply power and data. A more practical approach would be to project a scanning laser image up through translucent or fiber-optic'ed keytops.
Color E-Paper has been done my friend (including pictures). I would post this as a story at /., but it's a couple days old and already been on The Register.
'He was a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher... or, as his wife would have it, an idiot.' - Douglas Adams
I wouldn't be too concerned about costs in the long run for a few reasons. First, OLED costs will inevitably fall as it is such a new technology.
Second, the first generation of these keyboards could have just 10 or 12 OLED keys. Replacing traditional F1-F12 function keys with custom ones would essentially allow a toolbar or two to move from the screen to your keyboard.
If these semi-configurable models got popular, that would naturally create demand for fully OLED keyboards, while at the same time allowing for manufacturers to iron out bugs in efficiently working with OLED technology.
This message would have no text in the body if it were possible.
What good are flat keyboard, they trash my wrists. I can feel the burn within 5 minutes typing on one.. and I can, and do, type all day on a natural keyboard and NEVER get any wrist/carpal tunnel pains...
Flat keyboards are depricated.
My Linux Command of the Day site : LCOD
Who wants a keyboard that you need to look at to see what key to press?
I'd rather keep my eyes on the screen where they belong and click options from changeable icons there.
Cringely made the point once that if you pretend the existing technology is the new technology you can gain insight into its advantages.
For example, new keyboard with fixed key functionality! Control your computer without ever taking your eyes off the screen! Priced at a fraction of current keyboards that required a OLED display on each key!
Did the image change when you (for example) pressed the shift key? Could you display animations on the keyboard when the terminal was locked? Randomize the key layout for typing in passowrds without somebody in the distance figuring out what you typed?
I'm sorry, but there's a lot patentable here.... As long as they've actually managed to build one.
i got this same idea loong back. , as i wanted to use a keyboard with multiple languages and key lay outs.. but i could not pursue it further as i was short of cash ; may be i should just have written a proposal and asked for funding ..
~ram
That enter key would drive me buggy, as it seems to be one key too far to the right - other than that, though, I'd definitely want one of these if it worked reliably. I'd be interested to know if I could type comfortably on more flat-topped keys, though, too. Anyhow, I switch back and forth between Mac and Windows for lots of different uses all the time (Quark AND Adobe CS apps, not to mention editors and such for web development), and I'd love to have a visual of my keyboard shortcuts. Imagine a keyboard where the labels would dynamically change for quasimodes and so forth. That's darn cool if it can work.
...
And it might be a good way to learn Dvorak without having to commit to a dual-labeled keyboard.
And as for the pricing questions people are posting, I gotta figure if people are buying $400 digitizer tablets, there's a market for a more expensive but much more flexible keyboard.
Now if they can build it with that IBM buckling spring click-touch feel
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
..they can build one that works as well as it looks.
..its affordable.
..the software to program the keys runs on Linux.
..it is well built and will not die when cat hair gets in it.
..the user gets to pick the images on the keys.
..once programed the kb stores its config and doesn't need any drivers loaded to work.
.. they have an ergonomic design as well as standard.
If all (OK, most) of these conditions are met I'll definity buy a few when they become available. With the Gamming, programming and A/V editing that I do a keyboard like this would be great.
Jeez, it's not like this is a new idea. If they patent this, good for them, but I don't see a reason for it to be patented in the first place - this idea has been in the air or in some form of implementation for a long time now, just watch Minority Report.
I am sure that the patent is not too hard to get, all they have to do is say: but we have a seperate display on every button! Not like that has never been done before, right?
You can't handle the truth.
At first I thought it was a normal keyboard, but then I noticed that each of the keys could transform...
Lasers Controlled Games!
Dinobots have been part of Transformers since the mid-80's, I had them as a kid. Perhaps your innovative robot designer should have come up with a more innovative name.
A friend of mine e-mailed me this link early this morning and I thought it was a damn cool idea (and I think that's all it is at this point).
As a software developer, I can see a lot of ways this could be integrated into every day software. For example, hit the Alt key and suddenly the shortcut keys all have little labels saying what they do. Or for languages that use key combinations to do special characters, hitting the first key in the combination would then show you what keys are available for the second key.
I could definitely find uses for it in my code if it ever became widespread. Alas, I doubt it will anytime soon.
It's gigantic and moved WAY off to the right.
I hate when keyboard designers monkey with the goddamn key layouts. When you move keys under one hand relative to the other keys under the same hand you cause typos.
I don't know what the hell those two extra keys are between the apostrophe and the enter key are doing there.
I hate that layout. IMHO that section of the keyboard should be like this*:And don't fucking muck with it!
Their design looks like this*:wtf is wrong with them?
*Stupid
Question everything
Ask and ye shall receive: Blank keyboard available from ThinkGeek! (pity it's not Bluetooth-enabled)
Can we get a "-1 Wrong" moderation option?
You're obviously attacking a straw man, but since you mentioned it: I imagine it would make no difference to the majority of keyboard users in the world if the keyboard was blank. More to the point, I doubt that many of the remainder would actually use the sort of customisation or specialist apps where this kind of thing might be useful, giving them little or no benefit over a standard set of fixed key markings.
As I acknowledged in my original post, I'm sure there are niche markets where this doesn't apply, but I expect that's what they are: niches.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
This keyboard is just a design and an idea, it doesn't describe technology used at all. This is the smartest idea i ever seen for a keyboard ever, very very useful for one like me who needs both italian and romanian layouts, and would love to see Photoshop keys as well.
The only other exciting piece of keyboard technology I've seen recently was from the now-defunct Fingerworks. They produced a line of ergonomic keyboards that were, in essence, a large touchpad. I understand that there was a fairly steep learning curve, though. A combination of their tech (supposedly purchased by a large, unnamed company) and some OLEDs would be amazing. It'll never happen, of course, but cool anyway.
I propose an idea for a new design of keyboard, which detects (by any feasible physical measure) which of the user's fingers are currently hovering over which key, and even the hovering height of each finger, and even how hard a finger touches/presses a key. Such feedback information can allow the computer to display the user's typing situation visually on the screen, without requiring the user to look onto the real keyboard. The on-screen typing situation map (which is a picture of a virtual keyboard plus the finger-hovering information reported from the keyboard) can tell the user if he is hovering over the right key with the right finger, and if he is trying to hit the desired key. Yao Ziyuan
I believe this idea first occurred to me 15 years ago, when it seemed like every IBM PS/2 in the lab had someone's WordPerfect 5.x cardboard function key reference "template" left on the keyboard. (I never used WordPerfect 5.x for DOS, as I found it atrocious and there were many superior shareware alternatives.)
This leads me to realize that we don't need most of the keys to be visually configurable. I mean, okay, as many others have pointed out, the ability to switch languages or switch layouts could be useful, but that doesn't happen very often. The need for such flexibility would be limited to kiosks and the like.
Where we frequently need configurable descriptions is the function keys. They're the only keys on the keyboard whose functionality is not apparent. Everything else is either alphanumeric, punctuation, or an easy guess.
Come to think of it, can you say what will happen if you were to press any particular function key right now? (Most windowed browsers should use F1 as help and F10 as menu focus, but I've even seen those standards forsaken.)
Regardless, there can't possibly be room for a useful description of the function keys on the keyboard itself. And ergonomically, if the user has to keep looking down at his keyboard, it's going to really screw up his productivity, as he'll keep losing his place on the screen.
This makes me believe that desktops should provide a general API for function key descriptions, displayed in a designated area. For instance:
void setFunctionKeyDescription(int number, String description);
void setFunctionKeyDescriptionsShown(boolean show);
(I would not want apps to have control over the location of it; that's for the user and only the user to decide. And users should have a "never show it udner any circumstances" preference available as well.)
On-screen function key descriptions aren't really an innovation, of course. It was common for text-mode apps to use the bottom one or two rows of the screen for this very purpose, back in the 80s. But now 1600x1200 screens are fairly common, and a function key description area isn't going to eat into our screen real estate nearly as much as it would have 20 years ago.
The Internet is full. Go away.
For the cheapskates there's always Das Keyboard!!
Well, it isn't exactly cheap, but it is actually really nice. My keyboard at work had one too many coffees spilled on it, so I asked for Das Keyboard for the replacement. I was anticipating a little adjustment period, but there really wasn't any. It takes zero extra effort to type -- my fingers apparently know where all the keys are -- and the weighting and feel of the keys is excellent. The only problem I have is when I'm working on something else and want to reach over to hit a control key combination or something -- then I have to think.
(PS: you can get it directly from its own web site: http://www.daskeyboard.com/ for four cents cheaper than Thinkgeek, and with free shipping to North America.)
Everyone thinks that this would be expensice. but does anyone out here actually know what OLED prices are for something like this?
If it's feasible to integrate the OLED and the display driver using all organic semiconductors, maybe this isn't as expensive an idea as people think. The first screens don't necessarily have to have super fast refresh rates.
After all, most of the tiny screens are identical, and my best guess is that OLED production costs go as the area of the screen, which isn't really that large in this case. If one manages to combine the push signal, display signal and the OLED power in two wires, the wiring wouldn't be much more complex than a standard keyboard.
This would be great for Reason, or Fruity Loops, or Hydrogen, or whatever music program you use. The keys could be colored like a piano keyboard. That would alleviate the need for a bulky MIDI keyboard.
I've had this idea before (key's w/ LCD screens) but I never thought it practical enough to work. Now that they've got a Patent pending, I'm kicking myself.
http://ablegray.com
Check out the Embroided Musical Ball built by MIT. Very much hands-on, and very cool :)
For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.
Finally, a keyboard that allows my uncle Jimmy to remain illiterate but still send email. Replacing those silly letters with images does actually sound like a neat idea though.
Imagine if there was a virus that completely remapped everyone's keyboards. Just randomized the hell out of them. Think of the chaos, helplessness and loss of productivity. The whole computer world would come to a standstill! Scary... Oh, nice keyboard ;)
Pain lasts, kid. Its how you know you're alive. Sometimes I think this growing up thing is just pain management-TheMaxx
But they won't look as good. If you want the keys to glow you would need some kind of backlight, which would use more power than OLED. The amount of power used by OLED is small enough that it's not a big deal. You can either use your 21" CRT for 5 minutes or power your OLED keyboard for 24 hours. The computer probably uses more power when turned off than would be used to light the keyboard.
do these designers have any background at all in ergonomics or computer peripherals? Sure, it's pretty, but my god, it makes my hands hurt just looking at it....
If I don't put anything here, will anyone recognize me anymore?
yes it's a nice idea, but so are hovercars, lightsabres and deathrays.
It's not an original idea and it's neither in production nor even a working prototype (i.e. couldn't even be bought however deep your pockets).
Since when did rendering your wet-dreams get you on slashdot?
Your idea sounds like this -- except for the help function.
HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets
you're kidding right?
Yes! I'll finally be able to quit vi without rebooting! When can i have it?
emule :)
Nice weather for penguins...
I know I'm not the only one that was drooling.
When it comes out, I'll be waiting for the first bit of spyware that alters all the key displays and makes them link to $pornsite :-)
What would be really cool would be a screensaver mode. Imagine your keyboard giving a trippy display or company logo while you're away?
The Transkeyboards...
More than meets the eye.
Qwertybots wage their battle to destroy the evil forces of...
The Dvorakons.
The Transkeyboards...
Keyboards in disguise.
The Transkeyboards...
More than meets the eye.
The Transkeyboards.
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
How soon will I need a PS/2 to USB converter?
No doubt that keyboard needs USB just to update the key displays in a reasonably short time.
Tag lost or not installed.
No big deal.
Why?
This is, of course, the only real next evolutionary step in keyboards. This is so obvious that it only was a matter of time until it went gold. I have an entire collection of PC input devices - from macro keyboards over special joysticks that cost an insane amount of money to the very first Wacom ArtPad, optical trackball and optical mouse. It has been clear to me for a very long time that this is what I'm waiting for. Glad it's there now.
In ten years all keyboards will be like this one. That's the simple truth.
If I had had the money, I would've come up with this piece of hardware myself. This one looks like a real good implementation of the concept. One that the concept deserves.
I hope for them they make a fortune.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
In Soviet Russia, input device is output device!
I am sporting wood about this. And as jaded as I am, that says something.
One CPU cycle wasted on digital restrictions management is ONE TOO MANY.
This is the future, I really mean it.
A reply to someones sig? Why is this modded 'Insightful' -- Shouldn't it be Off Topic or (given the nature of the post) Troll or Flamebait?
Required reading for internet skeptics
I can only imagine what a replacement OLED key would cost.
Also, what up with that eMule OLED key?
So, I guess you'd need a screensaver for your keyboard, too?
Genius. They've put a donkey on the Windows Key.
Hold on... there is already something like this... it is called a touch screen ! So go dual display, with an horizontal touch screen (your new keyboard, no keys, no noise, more fancy) and a vertical one (the one you already have !)
I totally want one of them!!!
(so long as I can use it on the PC's and Sun!
comment directly in my journal
Actually - have you seen the keyboards from good old unix workstation times? Or terminals? Namely Sun keyboards (a classic of their own)? It's just the same good old layot revived. And it's sure better than lately popular keyboards with all those media, mail and browser shortcuts around (the only useful feature? Calculator shortcut on microsoft internet keyboard. But even to use this you have to disable nearby sleep button first.)
m =5788185735&category=20328&rd=1 (couldn't find a better image on a short notice ;))
(p.s. And it's damn handy too once you get used to it.)
P.S. Image for all the youngsters: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ite
Think about integrating this helluva monster with software. Gnome. KDE. Applications. Terminal.
:)
There is no way Linux community could get something even barely working for this, if it would get released. Those guys are just too concentrated on copying worst features from two leading operating systems into one, big and featured, bloatware.
(but using such a beauty with a mac... mmmm.....)
Function Keys on the left - just like God intended!
Where do I buy one?
Ever played a game of quake (let's say) and suddenly slipped your finger and pressed this dreaded appear_as_went_away_to_toilet_and_loose_a_few_fram es_thank_you_microsoft key between your fire and strafe keys?
E-Ink may be the only way this concept could be realized at a generally marketable price point--but only when that tech has actually made it to market itself! If this product is actually brought to market within the next 12 months, it will most likely be constructed with a monochrome LCD for each key--not as sexy, but passive-matrix LCDs are almost cheap enough now for this to be feasible.
You don't have to remember the Northgate Omnikey, the design lives on, updated as the Avant Stellar, from CVT. They're awesome, especially if you're the kind of retro-dweeb who never got over the loss of the 84-key AT layout (yes I'm a dork, I'm typing on one right now and have one on my other PC plus a spare that I've never needed, and of course I still have my Omnikey 102). They're very pricey by usual PC standards but best I can tell, they last indefinitely (close to 5 years so far on this one). And they still let you put Ctrl where it belongs (but you don't have to, it comes with keycaps for both ways). No relation just happy customer and VT100 fan etc...
Why expensive, fragile, short life OLEDs? Why not something with regular LEDs. e.g. two designs on one surface, selectable by polarity switch (like those dual colour LEDs - two junctions in same package). Not nearly as pretty as the proposed optimus keyboard, but would be easier, cheaper, and last a heluvalot longer.
Obviously it's a sweet design. And given the right price, most everyone who spent more than 20 minutes at a computer would want them. I have heard that in the goal or benifit on the horizon is to be able to make OLED reel to reel (?) or something where you can sort of make it the way you make news print. I have read about the fact that they is the possibility to create clothes with OLED ala Back to the future 2 and all kinds of cool things. I think at about 150 bucks this thing becomes mass marketable.
You can get keys like this already
p ?set_albumName=album18&id=LC16RGB&op=modload&name= gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php
p ?set_albumName=album18&op=modload&name=gallery&fil e=index&include=view_album.php
Check this out.
http://www.rjselectronics.com/cms/html/modules.ph
http://www.rjselectronics.com/cms/html/modules.ph
Only price i found was US$66 per key for the 2 colour (RG) version
If you combine this with the Ergodex DX1 I think you'd have the perfect input system.
I think I know what my first keymapping would be!
Imagine (re)installing an OS with a blank keyboard...
In your face, Z-board!
Last Post!
It's funny you should mention that. I was looking for a replacement for my trusty but now rather battered keyboard just the other day, and figured I'd drop into PC World - not my normal shop of choice for computer things, but useful enough for cheap and cheerful.
Or so I thought. I could have cordless keyboards, Internet keyboards, media control keyboards, even a nice aluminium thing that would have matched my PC's case. The one thing I couldn't have was a simple, standard-issue 102- or 105-key keyboard with all the keys in the right place.
I left without buying anything, though my (computer-literate) girlfriend couldn't understand why I thought having the arrow key block too low or needing to hit F-lock to use the function keys would be annoying. I'm glad I'm not the only one.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
I'm imagining. And then I'm remembering that almost no class of users remembers more than a small handful of icons on a toolbar, even when they're displayed all the time a particular application is in use, so I figure the chances of that actually helping many people on the keyboard are pretty slim...
I don't know (and neither does anyone else) how much advantage this idea could really offer until the usability testing is done. However, you can probably guess ;-) that my initial reaction is that it would be a geek toy and/or a very useful niche product, rather than something likely to give good price/performance for everyday use unless the price differential becomes almost zero relative to an everyday keyboard.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
Actually, I'm not sure I'd actually be able to reach the ENTER key with my pinky without moving my hand. It looks like its not 1 key, or 2 keys, but three keys away! That would really be a stretch...
I would pay any amount of money for something like this.
i do 3D motion graphics and video work, a keyboard like this is something i have been dreamin about. the only problem is what do you do about the residue buildup that happens on all keyboards.
How di you do that?
It is pretty common in broadcast studios to have control panels with a little LCD on each button. The text on the displays changes to whatever menu or level you currently use. Pictures here: http://www.bfe-systemhaus.de/Be_Text_E/Be_Text_090 10100.html
very cool idea, but having little wires to power each key is hardly feasable, simply from a durability point of view.
But
Think it'd be possible to power this using the technology that powers RFID chips? have a transmitter located on the keyboard, little RFID-like chips to control each key...wonder if that'd be able to provide enough power....?
I can sympathize - I love my Northgate Omnikey keyboards. CTRL key where it should be. ALT where it should be. F-keys where they should be. Only problem is, they're not made any more. But these guys are building an acceptable, but very pricy, substitute. Uses same "clicky" Alps key switches. I'd sure like someone to buy one and tell me if it's worth it.....
The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
If a prototype e-paper watch and clock can be manufactured, then a paper keyboard shouldn't be that difficult.
If nothing else, it would be extremely useful to have a multi-language keyboard. Instead of manufacturing different sets of keyboard keys for each country, computer makers would only need to manufacture a single keyboard.
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
Yeah but still they can get the patent on it first then they can start thinking about production.
Why? What exactly have they contributed? Plenty of other people have thought of this, it just happens to be the case that display technology isn't up to it yet. When it will be, why should these people get a monopoly on it?
The frist thing I would do if I got ahold of one of these is write a Wack-A-Mole game for it!
-tom
This would be a nice way to make a keyboard. With a click of a mouse, you could set your keyboard up any way you want. Would be really nice for games. You could overlay your controls onto the keyboard. I'm sure this needs a TON of development though...
I haven't seen one really recently (but my Slashdot reading has dropped recently in favor of technocrat.net), but Slashdot used to have a horrible habit of putting up news that insinuated that [huge storage device] was immediately available, whereas the numbers provided (500 GB! 3TB!) were usually the most optimistic numbers available from some storage researchers extrapolating what might be available as a product in six years based on some new chemical procedure that might theoretically be used for high-density data storage that they just managed to get working once in their laboratory. I'd say that Slashdot's accuracy rate on latest-and-greatest storage news is hovering in the single digits.
Any program relying on (nontrivial) preemptive multithreading will be buggy.
This was already done way back in the early 80's, in the USA at least. The B1-B bomber used a keypad where each key was a small plasma display that could be reprogrammed for new menus. I believe the design and patent were done by GTE, but I'm not sure.
Who the hell commonly uses block visual?
So Tandy/Radio Shack is entering into the keyboard market it seems.
I thought they only made stereo equipment.
Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
Well, it wasn't 1977 but in 1982 or so (I'll have to dig out my notes) I 'designed' a keyboard where each key was a bitmapped display and yes the images changed dynamically to reflect the state of the caps, num-lock, or for that matter any key, messages could be scrolled on the space-bar, etc. This is not a new idea.
There's prior art going back to at least the early 1980s, where I read about a similar device in Byte Magazine.
Each keytop was a 5x7 LCD matrix.
There was a company actually making and selling the keyboards, but they were expensive and very fragile, and the company (or at least the product line) didn't last very long.
Stll, it was very high-tech for the time.
When I see the setup on the screen, my mouth started drooling. Finally, a keyboard that'll allow me to type in english, chinese, and have visual cue for my favorite games instead of going into the control setting to look up the control again. :-O,
In US, you can easily buy enough major firearms to wipe out your neighbourhood but a few little fireworks are banned.
there will be a Firefox Plug-In that replaces that "Big E" with Earth-hugging red fox soon.
Nah, you still gotta deal with random keyboard variations. I'm very specific to my model M, typing on keyboards in mexico feels highly odd because of the weird enter key and | key positions, among others. (Well, at the "internet access station" at the resort last year, anyway. Might've just been an unusual import dealiebob.)
Buddha says, "Shut your karma hole."
nice looking but not practical.
imagine your daily illustrator shortcuts, battlefield 2, strokes have become so closed to piano playing and a user doesn't need to think when he zooms in a PDF document. I don't even look at my keyboard most of the time.
though I must admit that this keyboard would make a nice winamp plugin, weeeeeeeee!!
Site says "Patents pending." - not sure whether that's a joke.... too bad though the whole idea is obvious, which patents shan't be. And I have seen on-screen keyboards before which changed similar to this, so that may even constitute prior art.
I would argue that the overlays shown in the Star Trek USS Enterprise Bridge Blueprints (a copy of which I purchased back in Sept '82) says, "Shows Every Button of Every Station and Their Functions: Complete Set of 10 Accurate 17" x 22" Blueprints of the Primary Bridge", (these drawings were drawn by Michael McMaster) could be considered precursors to this. The first set was drawn October 76. The STTNG console, as described by Michael Okuda and Wil Wheaton are a leap of generations past "Trek Classic."
We've already seen in the Trek Episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before" a console control station with keyboard and switches being inserted after Lee Kelso appropriated it from the Vega cracking station. Later, that console style was changed for subsequent episodes, and apparently those changes on-screen seem to import/imply multi-function/demand-assignment control buttons. They're not for typing or composing documents, but they serve the purpose of entering single or a string of command sequences.
Now, in terms of recent Trek incarnations, it is plain and obvious that even tho Trek is fiction, it should not take a giant leap to consider that today's thin film and LCD panels *could* make it feasible to lighten up, slim down, and de-wire these control consoles and make them portable. (Even the USN today and for several years has been using Palm Pilots for crew maintenance of shipboard equipment, and their PDAs could surely use the docking cradles/keyboards...)
Where I am going with this is that between Trek of the 60s and technology of today, and with Trek already having mentioned multifunction keyboard overlays in the 60's drawings and the STTNG blueprints reiterating such things, where the consoles bring up the functions appropriate to security clearance, work tasks, emergencies, etc., this keyboard is not SOOOO terribly unique that it would enjoy a monopoly patent. It would probably face competition just as the innumerable PDAs' makers are facing competition, as so many hammers, socks, hair combs, nit removers, and even computer keyboards and other input devices have met competition. In other words, it's not a terribly large leap or extension of logic to say that a large, heavy, box and Mil-Spec connector cabled keyboard could be reduced to a wireless, lit-key, portable (walk-about) entry station, sending and receiving information via laser, Bluetooth or IR or WI-Fi (whatever works for the compartment, based on the proximity of RFI, EMI, generators, transformers, and such, unless the freq is above or below and therefore unaffected) signals. If there is contention or threat of suits in the court, an "innovator" then could simply create sliding tracks so that all those surplus monochrome LCDs languishing at WeirdStuff Computers could be put to use and maybe reopen a LCD assembly line. LCDs would be able to send several lines
I really do think the keyboard concept they show deserves *some* protection, but not at the preclusion or exclusion of other makers. It's not novel *enough*. It's not *non-obvious* enough. But, I would say that any investors who like the technology should at least give first round of financing and marketing assistance to these guys -- if they are truly the first to put in this much real-world effort. But, once their boards hit the streets and engineering bugs crop up, competitors waiting in the background will quickly exploit that.
These guys had better be prepared to fix their own flaws before their competitors fix them for them and help themselves to their competition while they are at it...
Nice board. Really. I just hope they enlist the help of Open Source developers and embed a Linux-kernel driver or module facility so that the user can assign ANY function to ANY key based on a combination of command sequence and mouse click on a feature of an app interface. It is still too hard for some people to dump the console output or even make a console tell them the hex and human string AND the command with an example. Comparing the console output needs to seamlessly and INTUITIVELY match the KDE key settings.
If they bring this board down to $50, I'd buy one, hands down (pun IS intended...)...
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
they were LCD or vacuum fluorescent actually, but self labeling keys have been on high end lighting consoles for almost 10 years. The Vari-Lite Artisan had/has them. A sweet-ass piece of hardware I've been lucky enough to work on.
never drink kool-aid from a big vat
if that comes out under $150 i will buy it, that has to be one of the best ideas ever
http://www.npcgaming.com Dedicated Gaming Servers
Now, if he had keyboard like this, he would never need monitor again!
Digital is an exercise in precision, while analog was an exercise in controlled chaos.
[ digitalFAQ.com ]
I came up with the idea for this several years ago. I'd been thinking about patenting it, but I've never had the money to do so (another problem with the screwed up patent system). And for those who think I'm lying, I've told several other people, so I could have my story collaborated if need be. The biggest problem is the price, and until prices come down on the components it would be too expensive to really catch on.
The thing I'll really be pissed about is if these cheeseballs patent the thing. I wonder if I would have any recourse to deny them the patent?
-Jason Hurdlow
I would use it for Angband if i could. Almost every key is mapped and i can't remember them all.
:)
And then there is the showoff factor. Who cares that *you* don't look at the keyboard. Everyone else that will, will immediately go "ooooo! must...have...that...too..." And let's face it, isn't that we we have these eye catchers?
..emacs! Just think about the possibility of actually _knowing_ what you are doing instead of just mashing buttons until you get into shell mode to start vim..
My thoughts exactly. Wish I didn't burn my mod points elsewhere, I would mod you up.
WTF happened to Fingerworks?
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
I see what you mean - on my Dell keyboard, it's an [~ #] while those keyboards have the super-large Enter key.
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads