Infinium Phantom Lapboard Coming to PC?

JamesO writes to tell us that Infinium Labs has announced the release of their "Phantom Lapboard" for later this year. From the article: "Infinium Labs' Phantom game service is still to launch, despite claims years ago that it would appear at Christmas 2004, but this hasn't stopped the company from continuing with the system's development. One of the most talked about aspects of the system is its wireless keyboard and mouse combo called the Lapboard. Infinium Labs has decided that the Lapboard is so good that it will be released as a peripheral for PC users in quarter-two 2006. What makes the Lapboard unique is that the keyboard can be angled upwards to create a surface for the mouse to operate on underneath. The device is also wireless and can operate at a distance of up to 30 feet."

Comments

MouseBoard?

[biocute]

You mean like the MouseBoard?

What's the point

[vectorian798]

If I am sitting away from my computer I can't see my interface as well and that matters a lot in most games.

So fucking what?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a fucking keyboard and mouse with integrated mouse tray.

It isn't exactly a next generation console is it?

I mean, that'd be like the Sony PS3 being a budget DVD player. Or something.

Re:So fucking what?

[Overloadplanetunreal]

I tried out the "phantom" at E3, and while I couldn't help but notice I was simply playing UT2004 on a big TV, the lapboard was REALLY nice. I walked away hoping they would just release the lapboard for PC someday because sitting on a comfy living room chair with that in your lap just feels right.

I like to hook up my computer to my 52" HDTV, and the biggest problem I have right now with doing that is that I have to hunch forward to get to my keyboard and mouse that I put on my coffee table. I've tried to put the keyboard/mouse on a surface on my legs, but nothing has worked as well as the lapboard did.

So as you might imagine, I'm looking forward to this a great deal

The jokes write themselves

[Rude Turnip]

"What makes the Lapboard unique is that the keyboard can be angled upwards to create a surface for the mouse to operate on underneath."

So let me get this straight...this keyboard will cover my lap and my right hand will be moving around on a surface underneath the keyboard? I can already imagine mothers everywhere fainting when they accidentally walk in on their kids playing games. "Honestly, mom, I was just playing with my mouse!" "Oh my God!, is that what you're calling it these days?!?!"

Re:The jokes write themselves

[flynt]

One hand on the mouse, one hand on the snake.

Re:The jokes write themselves

[lolocaust]

what would be worse is mom marching right in thinking i'm just mousing.

Re:The jokes write themselves

[Anonymous Coward]

Two things: 1. That was modded informative? INFORMATIVE? Insightful... I might be able to see, but INFORMATIVE???? What are the mods smoking? 2. IE is for pussies, use telnet and get the raw uncut web.

Re:The jokes write themselves

[SatanicPuppy]

I think by "Informative" they meant "Too much information"

Can't wait ...

[dc29A]

2006 is the year!

Can't wait to play Duke Nukem Forever on my Phantom Game Console!

Great...

[WTBF]

Now I will have something to play Duke Nukem on.

Hmm

[thesnarky1]

I don't know about you, but I don't like hitting my hand every time I bring it up to type. My roommate has a desk with the mouse lower like this and boy does it suck. If anyone here has ever played a game where you have to switch between the mouse and the keyboard (say for chatting between you and teammates) this not only kills the time it takes to get up to the keyboard, but you DO hit your hand a lot.

Not to mention the fact that you arms are going to cross in this case with the mouse directly below the keyboard.

If this is any indication of their console, they shoulda just launched years ago with two paper-cups and some string... their launch title? Telephone. Multiplayer, you just have to pass the controller between each pair of players. But look, no limit on amount of players!

So...

[faloi]

Instead of a console that doesn't technically exist, they're shipping a keyboard that has no possible value whatsoever. I know that their VC's must be chomping at the bit to get something out of 'em, but c'mon.

How did this land on /.?

[mmell]

Are these guys paying for advertising? This isn't some new technology, nor even an emerging piece of standard hardware. This is just a wireless keyboard/mouse combo with what (to my eye) looks to be a cheap plastic lapboard.

I'd be more inclined to pick up a cheaper wireless keyboard/mouse set and grab one of those ancient Sun mousepads (remember Sun's optical mouse, the one which required a metal mousepad with a grid painted on?).

Don't have an antique Sun mouse pad? I suspect any old clipboard or other flat surface will do nicely.

Re:How did this land on /.?

[Roblimo]

It's sort of an in-joke. Look at the 2004 article on ITMJ ScuttleMonkey's post links to, which was my final debunking of the whole Phantom/Infinium business, written immediately after a banquet Infinium held for "investors and friends" at Michael's On East, an upscale restaurant in Sarasota, Florida.

During the banquet, which Infinium founder Tim Roberts *insisted* I had to come to (possibly because I'm the only tech journalist in or near Sarasota), he and former Microsoftie Kevin Bachus, who was Infinium President at the time, kept asking me what I thought of their latest business and marketing plan, as in, "Would it succeed?" (Also, Tim kept asking, "How's the food?" which was decent but not great.) And did my much younger friend, Matt Moen, who came with me, think he'd be interested in the Phantom, being he was the "target" age for their marketing program?

As it says in the article, the only interesting or potentially marketable product Matt and I saw from Infinium at that point was their keyboard/mouse thing, which looked like it would be kind of cool for couch computing. Kevin told us they weren't interested in the lapdesk as a product, that they were concentrating on the console and game service, which would debut shortly. Remember: this was in *2004*, and they'd already been saying "Next month, really, we promise, we'll have a product to show you" for nearly two years before that.

Now the lapdesk seems to be the only product the company is actually able to bring to market. So Matt and I get to have a big laugh (which you are free to share), and say, "We told you so!" :)

- Robin

Few Ideas

[everphilski]

Uh, big screen TV or projector. Had a LCD projector back in college, I had a computer wired to it and friends would bring over consoles all the time for gaming sessions. You could easily sit 15-20 feet away and still have a good view...

-everphilski-

Re:Few Ideas

[drasfr]

Yup.

I have a projector at home. I use it for both HDTV and have a computer connected to it. 120" diagonal. Believe me, you have no problem seeing it from 20' away!

I have both an xbox, ps2 and computer connected to it. Wow. it rocks! HD gaming rocks. I have a bluetooth wireless keyboard and mouse as my computer is well, probably about 20 feet away from the area I usually sit. I had to go bluetooth because other wireless technologies for keyboard/mouse just didn't do it.

On the side. I wish there were more choices in bluetooth keyboard/mouse/equipment for computer. It is truly amazing. I also wish that you could pair up a bluetooth keyboard/mouse to different computers at the same time and just switch from a computer to another by a switch on the keyboard (my dream!!!) any manufacturer listening?????

Re:Few Ideas

[Kadin2048]

You can't do this with a bluetooth keyboard and mouse, but you can get a conventional (dongle) wireless keyboard and mouse, plug them into a USB KVM switch with hotkey support, and control two computers from across the room. To switch between systems you press the hotkey combination: on mine it's a double-tap of the [Scroll Lock] key. I use this setup in my home to control a Linux and Power Mac box. The KVM is some $30 job from NewEgg; email me if you want the brand.

Actual dual-pairability of BT devices would be sweet, however I'm not sure if you're going to want to hold your breath on that. In the meantime, if you want to control two computers with one keyboard and mouse you have the ability right now.

tut tut tut...

[DarthVain]

Fool me once shame on you
Fool me twice shame on me
Fool me thrice erm well I forget this thing, but you get the idea...

Angled Keyboard?

[XMilkProject]

So I looked at the picture and the first thing I think to myself is "How the f*ck am I supposed to type efficiently with my keyboard at a huge angle"

So I sat for a moment, puzzled as to how they thought this thing would be useful...

Then I decided to try it myself, So i've propped my keyboard up at a comparable angle, and I'm typing on it right now... I've got to admit it hasn't slowed my typing down at all, or decreased my accuracy (Although it does obviously take longer to make the keyboard->mouse->keyboard transition with the right hand)

While I'm still able to type quite well, I can't help but get the feeling that this could be a near-instant cuase of a significant repetitive stress injury, with all the odd angles and such.

Also, if the keyboard is in your lap, how do you get to your ........

Not a wireless mouse

[Qubit]

If you look at the picture in the article, it sure looks like there's a wire coming out of the mouse.

For a product from Infinium Labs, I'd expect both the keyboard and the mouse to be wireless. Hell, I'd expect the dang thing to READ your friggin' MIND and move itself around FOR you.

Besides, I heard that their CEO strangles puppies to get off.
I mean, that's just something I heard somewhere.

Okay...

[Irvu]

I'll Beleieve it when I see it on the shelves.

As a side note, and this is nothing personal about Infinium but why is it that pre-produce launches have become so necessary. I mean I know that announcing new airplanes in advance of ground tests and so on is necessary to drum up funding, or just spit in the eyes of those who said you would never "make it" but why is it that every company has to tell the world about its products before they exist just to keep shareholders happy. First the shareholders demanded regular updates and yearly profits. Now they expect quarterly profit gains. Before you had to have a new product on the market each year. Now it seems you have to have a new pre-product announcement each quarter (just look at Apple).

I can't help but think that the focus on short-term gains and announcements bodes ill in the long run for any company.

It should be noted

[Anonymous Coward]

That Infinium Labs is looking for ANOTHER $2,000,000 in funding in order to manufacture these. This isn't so much a press release as it is a plea to investors to give them more money. You will never see these in stores, at least not from IL.

You just can't make this stuff up!

[binaryDigit]

The Phantom game service is still very much something Infinium Labs wants to pursue in the future and Infinium Labs CEO Greg Koler believes the release of the Lapboard is "the perfect stepping stone and bridges the subsequent launch of the full service further down the line."

Perfect stepping stone! Subsequent launch, further down the line. Man, this guy just cracks me up. Did he actually make this quote with a straight face? Because I couldn't stop myself from laughing just reading it.

Oh, and anyone else amused by the fact that they have apparently been working on this keyboard for over three years now, but yet it's STILL going to take them another 6 months to get it into peoples hands! If they were that far behind with the keyboard, just imagine where they are with the rest of the system :)

These guys are still in business?

[Maul]

I'm amazed to see that these guys are still in business after years of vaporware.

they are trying to pump the stock

[Anonymous Coward]

because they need all the help they can get

After what they did to HardOCP, I don't think so.

[sc0ttyb]

I'm not giving those bastards a dime of my money. That whole lawsuit thing showed what kind of tools those people really are.

What happened to WhereIsPhantom.com?

[Greyfire]

After seeing this bit of news I went to read WhereIsPhantom.com, only it's not there anymore. Instead there was an error message and a few links to PHP stuff. It's been awhile since I've read the news there but I didn't think it'd go away yet. I searched on HardOCP and was only able to find out that the site had been taken down and there was no news on the reason why.

So does anyone know what happened to the site?

-=- Greyfire

It's a really nice design

[FromWithin]

I saw this nearly two years ago at E3. It's really good. The keyboard flips up and rotates putting your hands in a perfect and compact position for first-person gaming. Depending on the price, it's certainly something that I'd be very interested in buying. You shouldn't be so cynical until you've been able to try it out.

Re:It's a really nice design

[falcon5768]

I think its more people are more cynical because this is coming from a company who for years has promised us vapor.

When do they get charged with fraud?

[msobkow]

It may be a good insider joke, but I'm sure people who've actually sunk money into this "company" are far from amused. (No, I don't play stocks.)

I'd seriously like to know how many years of nonsense marketing, nonexistent products, and continued market blather are required before an investor group or the government finally says "Enough!" and shuts them down or jails those responsible.

Re:When do they get charged with fraud?

[Roblimo]

I don't have an answer to this question. It might be tomorrow, it might be next year, and it might be never.

I am neither an investor nor a prosecutor.

My only contact with Infinium has been to interview several of its CEOs, corporate officers, and board members, read all available information about the company (including SEC filings and its own promotional material), and analyze the company's prospects the same way any competent reporter or analyst would, using provable information instead of rumors, gossip, and hearsay.

If Infinium, its founders, or its major shareholders are ever sued or indicted, I'll probably be subpoenaed as a witness. If that happens I'll let you know.

One word of advice: if you ever think about investing in a tech company (or any other kind of company), check not only the company's obvious financial track record but how well it keeps commitments, including but not limited to releasing products and paying suppliers on time. Information about a company's bill-paying history can be obtained -- for a fee -- through Dun & Bradstreet and other corporate credit reporting agencies. In the Internet age, information about how well a company keeps its product release promises can be obtained free through Google and other search engines.

- Robin