Slashdot Mirror
Update on the Optimus Keyboard
paulius_g writes "It seems that Art Lebedev has reposnded to the Slashdotting that occured to their page about the ' Optimus Keyboard'. They have included a FAQ at the middle-right of the page stating some of the questions that Slashdotters were wondering. A few interestign ones were '
It will be real', 'We hope it will be released in 2006',
'It will cost less than a good mobile phone',
'It will be OS-independent',
and finally 'It will most likely use OLED technology (e-paper is sooo slow)'. They've also included some common answers abotu Russia and it seems that they are as well searching OEMs (From the FAQ:
OEM will be possible (why not?),
Contact us for hi-res images, or interview inquires). It will be very interesting to see how this technological marvel will be created. Sign me up! I'll be ordering one in 2006."
'It will cost less than a good mobile phone'
I have gotten a good one, and it was free. Then there are the phones that cost upwards of $250~$300
This keyboard will be great for mapping keys for games =)
"I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection." -- Sigmund Freud
Too bad it's not available in 'ergonomic' styles :\
I love my MS ergo keyboard.
The price is always right if someone else is paying.
Frequently Answered Answers about the Optimus keyboard
It's in initial stage of production
We hope it will be released in 2006
It will cost less than a good mobile phone
It will be real
It will be OS-independent (at least it can
work in some default state with any OS)
It will support any language or layout
Moscow is the capital of Russia
Each key could be programmed to produce any sequence
It will be an open-source keyboard, SDK will be available
Some day it will be split ('ergonomic')
It will most likely use OLED technology (e-paper is sooo slow)
Our studio is located two blocks from the Kremlin
It will feature a key-saver
Keys will use animation when needed
It has numeric keypad because we love it
There's no snow in Moscow during Summer
It will be available worldwide (why not?)
OEM will be possible (why not?)
Contact us for hi-res images, or interview inquires
We want to thank everyone for the support. Stay tuned for our next projects
Time is comparison of movement to other movement.
We have things like:
/.
Moscow is the capital of Russia
There's no snow in Moscow during Summer
I'm afraid to find the comments that spawned those replies. But it does sound like
Don't get me wrong, I like the looks of this keyboard as much as anyone else, but...
If there's one thing I hate worse than vaporware, it's hype. Show me, don't tell me.
One question they haven't answered ... Whats the point of a keyboard where every key is a screen ?
Are they trying to force touch typists to look at the keyboard like everyone else has to?
The idea that it costs as much as a good mobile phone is vague. Do they mean $300 models or $800 high tech top-of-the-line phones? A keyboard would have to be absolutely revolutionary, fantastic and wonderful for me to spend $300, let alone $800. Well, only time will tell.
Voice your opinion!
I think it would be incredibly badass if, when you press down on the shift key, the lowercase letters change to capital letters, and the numbers change to special characters, etc.
Also, when you hold control, the word 'copy' appears on the C-key, 'paste' on the V-key, etc.
That would rock.
Coral Cached copy from Primotechnology.com
"TK-421, why aren't you at your post?"
Let's open an "Ask Slashdot" topic named : best programmable keyboard. Any ideas (ergodex, POS keyboards, XKeys...) ?
This keyboard looks like a great way to easily explore the capabilities of powerful apps especially for beginner users. But the 10-key area on the left for application, while it looks pretty sharp, worries me.
Would this keyboard require you to switch modes manually? Power users might jump between apps a lot when putting together, say, a music video in Final Cut or a pamphlet in InDesign. Am I going to have to hit the appropriate key every time I switch apps? This could get drudgerous pretty quickly.
Then again, someone who has their workflow down likely doesn't need OLEDs to remind them of keyboard shortcuts, so my complaint might be mootwrong target market. It still seems that the board would be more of a "killer app" type of thing if it were context-sensitive and didn't require prompting from the user.
How much power would this thing draw (and can we even guess at that accurately)? Would it need to be plugged in to its own outlet, or would power over USB be enough?
They say: "Enter" key is big in size and nearly square in form.
I say: It had better be, since it is in a completely different zipcode from the home row keys. What's up with the extra 2 keys on the home row between JKL; and Enter? It's impossible to hit their Enter key without moving your right hand off the home row.
Industrial designers are like Architects: they design something idiotic, then let an Engineer figure out how to make it work in a useful way.
If all keys are visually remappable, then they really need fewer keys. I'm still disappointed at all the junk (arrow cluster, numeric pad) on the right side of the home row between me and my mouse.
If this came in a "Happy Hacker" footprint, then they may get my attention. Right now, it's too many colorful, expensive, redundant, unnecessary buttons.
What I've found pleasant in the meantime is a laptop-style keyboard with a marble-mouse beside it. From the mouse, I can reach the PgUp/PgDn keys on the small-footprint keyboard with my thumb, like getting two extra buttons for free.
Will they keyboard remain operational with the occasional spill? I can imgine these displays to be very sensitive to such a thing.
What about smoke, food, pubes, and other things that one might encounter in the average robust keyboard?
I think we can keep recursing like this until someone returns 1
Just how slow is it? It's not like you'd be running animations on the keyboard, although that would increase the coolness factor.
Most of the time, though, you would have a single update in seconds instead of several updates per second.
Of course it runs NetBSD. BTC: 1NT7QvbetmANwaMzhpVL6
Not only power concerns, but the first thing I thought when I saw those keys is, "That's not going to clean up very well." And we thought grimy keys were noticible now, just wait until you actually have to see the lettering on them to be sure you're pressing the right thing...
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
Look at the size of the escape key! Yeah, baby.
Accountability on the heads of the powerful.
Power in the hands of the accountable.
Now I'll be shouting at folk not to leave their greasy fingerprints on my keyboard too!
It's not quite advertising. It's showing new technology.
If OLED keyboards would be available everywhere, it wouldn't be on Slashdot.
The hip way to get your IP. No ads, ever.
I bet Apple will snap this up, at least as an option on some of their models. Hell, it already looks like Apple designed it, the style is the same.
Hopefully it will be wireless.
Personally, I'd want one of these just for the cool factor. And the opportunity to finally try Dvorak.
This space intentionally left blank.
Uh...not only is it non-QWERTY, it's layout independent.
I guess I don't understand your logic. The uses for this keyboard are practically endless. Think about the academic applications. For instance, my dad is currently working on his doctorate in Septuagint studies. He could click a button and instantly switch his keyboard over to Koine Greek and back to English instead of having to remember what English letters are mapped to which Greek letters.
Let's say you use Photoshop. You could eliminate all of the letter keys and map all your keys to Photoshop functions. It basically eliminates the need for "specialty" keyboards. Plus it has the "neato" factor with animated hotkeys.
Think outside the QWERTY.
http://www.bynarystudio.com
Curious to know what OLED technology is, i went over to Wikipedia and saw there where some disadvanteges with this technology:
Quoted from Wikipedia:
The biggest technical problem left to overcome now is lifetime. Red and green OLED elements already have life-times of well over 20,000 hours but blue OLED life-times lag significantly behind at 1,000 hours.
According to Kodak, which is developing small molecule OLED, lifetime problems are not so significant for that type of OLED, mainly as a result of doping the base material of the OLEDs, which, they claim, has led to much better device performance both electrically and optically. Universal Display for example have produced a blue OLED that has a lifetime of 10,000 hours.
There are still a number of problems to overcome though, and one of these is intrusion of water into displays which damages and destroys the organics, as well as outcoupling, which can result in the loss of much of the light in waveguided modes within the substrates.
In May 2005 Cambridge Display Technology announced a blue OLED with a lifetime of over 100,000 hours. Commercial development of the technology is also hampered by intellectual property issues since even the basics of OLED technology is heavily patented by Kodak and other firms, requiring outside research teams to acquire a license.
We'll have the ability to provide people with an "Any" key!
Then there are the phones that cost upwards of $250~$300
These are NOT what is considered a 'good mobile
phone' in Russia. Try from $500 and up. Way up.
3.243F6A8885A308D313
While I hope everything they speak of makes it in to this package (i mean, damn, it's a sweet idea!), things here should be taken with a grain of salt.
:)
Why? Because their team so far only consists of concept designers, and has no engineers. So, it's very likely that what they say, and what is actually feasable in the end may differ greatly.
Here's to hoping that my words are just paranoid ramblings
BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
If there's one thing I hate worse than vaporware, it's hype. Show me, don't tell me.
Quit your bitching. They didn't come to us, we linked to them, slashdotted their site, and posted tons of questions about them. They were cool enough to take the time to respond to them, and the answers were somewhat informative - in other words, not just marketing babble (not surprising, since they're inventors, not marketers).
I like to know what might be coming down the pipe, even if it never materializes. *Especially* if it never materializes, because then at least they contributed to the human idea pool, which might inspire others to build the same or related products.
Besides, its not like these guys don't have a track record of delivering.
Can anyone say whack-a-mole!?!
1, 2, 3, 4, 5... That's the combination on my luggage!
...only on slashdot...
-tom
Now that you mention Macs, I can imagine Apple pulling an OEM coup de gras with something like this. Their keyboard is very similar to this one, and to have pictures on the keys? Ownage.
All it needs is Bluetooth and Apple can once again reap the benefits of premium, sexy hardware.