Coolest. Keyboard. Ever!

[Alex]

Actually, OLED not LED, but that's not an important difference for most people.

Lebedev is an interesting industrial design firm, but until they actually announce a manufacturer for this keyboard I'm keeping it filed in the vaporware category, though I'm sure someone will produce somehting like this eventually (and there are already a few do-it-yourself solutions out there).

But I can't imagine that even if it were really cheap that I'd have much use for it. I touchtype very fast, I never look at my keyboard. Years ago when I had reason to type in Cyrillic I had a macro that reprogrammed the keys on my keyboard and then I touchtyped on that. Visual queues for what key I'm pressing serve no function.

You can already do all the reprogramming of keyboards this offers on standard keyboards, it is just the changeable pictures that's new. If you're a person who goes through and customizes all the icons on your desktop then I can see this being neat, but if you're like me and it doesn't matter what the icon is just so long as I instantly know where it is (the Windows recycle bin icon is visually distinctive but if someone moves it from the lower right corner of the desktop then I flail about like a two-year-old for a couple seconds until I find it again).

Ergonomically, this thing looks bad as well (though they promise that a later version will be ergonomic). As shown in the Photoshop drawings (and those are what you're looking at, not even a manufactured prototype) all the keys are flat-surfaced and the keyboard seems to be set at a fixed angle. Finally, if one of the cooler things about it is instant visual conversion to other languages, they need to add some extra keys in the main typing area since the most common alternative languages have more letters in their alphabet than standard English.

So I'm more in Steve's camp. It's technologically cool that it can be done (whether it can be done for less than $500 seems in doubt) but it doesn't seem useful except in very specialized circumstances.

[Ghoulish Delight]

I generally agree...unless you're a hardcore gamer.

This image says it all...


As games have gotten more complex, the need to memorize vast numbers of keyboard shortcuts has increased. Even games I play addictively, I tend to forget a shortcut on occasion, gets very annoying. This would surely help.

Of course, I don't game nearly enough to make it worh $200 (or $100, or $50...), but I could see where someone might want it.

[SzczerbiakManiac]

I never said it was the most useful keyboard ever or even that it was worth the high price tag. I just think it's damn cool.

[SzczerbiakManiac]

Just FYI, I am a hugh iconophile. I love collecting and customizing icons. All of my important folders have customized graphics. So the option to customize/change every single one of my keyboard keys gives me a big ol' geek woody!

That said, you are more than welcome to yawn at the Optimus Keyboard.

[innerSpaceman]

Oh, I can see it being useful for gamers. I am not one. Some people think I'm a tool for buying the computer I just bought because it's a gamers wet dream ... but I happen to believe it will prove very useful to me as well, being beyond the kind of computer you can buy off the shelf.

Optimus seems gamer-only. Less than optimus for me, that's all.

[Alex]

I am a gamer (to some degree) and I still don't see it being useful for me. I don't know, maybe I just have a good memory for these things but even in World of Warcraft where just about every key is bound to three or four different commands and I have dozens of macros, I still touchtype the game, never looking at my keyboard.

I've tried those custom game keyboards you can buy (for those who don't game, you can buy special keyboards that have been designed specifically for a particular game) and always end up back at the regular keyboard.

But conceptually it is very cool. Particularly if what it displays can be contextualized to what you see on the screen. If you can do that, then the keyboard becomes a power point of contact user-interface guidance in moving novice users through a series of tasks.

For example, in filling out a form, the first question might be for your name, so all the numbers and most punctuation keys go dark and disabled (reducing data entry errors). The next question is SSN and every key but the numbers goes dark. The next question asks if this is your first time filling out the form and only two buttons are active, one saying "Yes" and the other saying "No."

I can see this being a very useful solution and potentially much cheaper than the touch screens currently used in many similar situations.

[Moonliner]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

Oh, I can see it being useful for gamers. I am not one. Some people think I'm a tool for buying the computer I just bought because it's a gamers wet dream ... but I happen to believe it will prove very useful to me as well, being beyond the kind of computer you can buy off the shelf.

Optimus seems gamer-only. Less than optimus for me, that's all.

Alright you tease, enough already, spill it. Preferably with pictures.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Alex Stroup

But conceptually it is very cool. Particularly if what it displays can be contextualized to what you see on the screen.

Now there's a good thought. If each program could interface automatically with the keyboard, loading a profile at application install, there are some real possibilities. Install and launch a game, and voila you've got the shortcuts right there, the very first use. Even if you're good at retaining them in the long run, that would surely speed the learning curve. Or, launch any MS Office application, hit "ctrl", and icons for all the keyboard shortcuts appear. Again, the key to that being useful would be the ability for the application installer to create and activate the varying layouts automatically, rather than the user tediously having to hunt down icons and assign them manually for each application they want to use.

[Kevy Baby]

I think NA already has one and it is programed to randomly change key assignments while typing.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Here's a good concern...how easy is to to clean? Keyboards can get pretty damned grimey, and somehow I'm betting "pop the keys off, scrub them with a toothbrush" isn't going to cut if for this thing.