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99 Comments
- tsunamisteve, on 10/12/2007, -3/+130I'll believe it when I see it.
- FunkyWitDaSysTm, on 10/12/2007, -2/+68preorders on dec 12, 2006 for delivery in dec 2012
- rhizome, on 10/12/2007, -1/+43Is this keyboard compatible with the Infinium Phantom game console?
- hexalite, on 10/12/2007, -9/+51super old and overused FTW!
- ZebraGang13, on 10/12/2007, -3/+39whats the damage? $$$
- CovardeAnonimo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+36more than i can afford. which a pitty, because i really want that thing...
- sinner0423, on 10/12/2007, -1/+29Few thoughts :
It's so pretty, I wouldn't want to touch it with my dirty fingers. My keyboard goes through abuse like a red headed stepchild. It isn't to say i'm some dirty unkempt *****, however, over a while, keyboards tend to get a bit of grime on them.
How do you clean it?
What if one of the keys break?
Can you disassemble it easily?
Will it cost $400?
What kind of wear should I expect over time? Letters fade away on my keyboard, will the keys grow dim or just burn out after awhile?
What if I spill something on it?
Am I wearing pants?
Burning questions, zero answers. This might look pretty in certain situations, but for every day use, it's plain old boring plastic keyboards for the masses. I still want one, but I just can't see how it can put up with my typing. - thcobbs, on 10/12/2007, -1/+24@tsunamisteve
Precisely...
Hell, the mini version of this keyboard( with just the 3 keys ) was $100 each.
It's a damn cool idea. I'm sure it'd be sweet to have, but at those prices.... I'll keep my own old ass, IBM 101 click key keyboard.
Not only do they sound like you're a badass while typing... they don't leave me fatigued at the end of the day from mashing the damn membrane keyboards they have now. - dgritsko, on 10/12/2007, -2/+25Yes... and it's also specifically optimized to play Duke Nukem Forever
- seventoes, on 10/12/2007, -2/+23@steelmaverick:
Yep. If you would have read anything, ever, about anything, you would know that. - ZeroNeo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+20Are the Optimus pre-orders going to be the ultimate geek christmas present?
- dvgrhl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+19I heard they are packaging the keyboard with a copy of Duke Nukem Forever when it ships.
- archgrove, on 10/12/2007, -0/+16Well, I hope they'll provide specification before asking people to preorder
- Dempf, on 10/12/2007, -4/+18Actual source:
http://community.livejournal.com/optimus_project/10262.html - ZeroNeo, on 10/12/2007, -6/+20And what makes you think we want to hear your pointless comment?
- cisox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14A lot of people seem to think that you can just take the cost of the three button keyboard, and use that to calculate the price of the 103 keyboard. If you read their blog from the site at http://community.livejournal.com/optimus_project/, they mention how this is the incorrect way to calculate the cost of the new keyboard. FTA:
I know that many people are trying to guess or calculate the price for the upcoming Optimus-113 ('big') keyboard.
Some went as far as dividing the 160 US$ price tag for the mini three by three and multiplying it by at least 100 to get the fugure. Well, they're wrong. Mini keyboard actually uses very large keys about the area of four keys of a standard keyboard. Optimus-113 will use smaller screens with a resolution of a standard icon on a desktop - 32x32 pixels.
The price for the shipping unit remains withing range of a good mobile phone (but not $20,000 or $5,000 as some people may think after shopping for another Vertu).
And we had to make one very important decision during the engineering: we will not use OLED screens for the Optimus-113.
Another important thing: all keys will be replaceable. - InvertedDonkey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14FINALLY! This think was announced sooooooo long ago. I'm glad to see they are actually making progress with it. I think I heard it was delayed due to obtaining patent stuff.
- Solol, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15First keyboard ever to cost more than 500$ and come with a separate power supply. Yay.
- anotherjeff, on 10/12/2007, -5/+18i hope its mac compatible
- thcobbs, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14Because you don't have enough friends in line to boost your story to front page ASAP?
Sorry, but it had to be said ;-) - elliotm01, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12With a keyboard this geeky I'm sure EVERYONE will work very hard to make it compatible with everything!
I want to make all my keys flat out green and light up as you touch them! - FunkyWitDaSysTm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11it's supposed to be compatible with everything since it can simply load in a different keyboard configuration when it's switched between mac and pc (such as when you flip back & forth with parallels between os x and windows).
- drgruney, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10@augmentation
Why is the frame rate an issue for anyone? Do you really need animated keys? Most people never look at their keyboard to begin with. What makes this cool is that the keys change dynamically... like if you hit shift or ctrl in Photoshop the keys will change.
What is it you're looking for? Porn on your keyboard? - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Come on, I can't really believe someone so particular about their criticism can't imagine the possibilities of this keyboard. There are two reasons why this concept (maybe not this particular model at this time, 1st gen and all) does make sense.
1) Style and Aesthetics: OLED (when perfected) will be gorgeous! Dark darks and bright colors. You can have each key display any bitmap image you desire, for an individual image or a part of a collage. Why display something functional at all? Why not display a movie, or a screensaver, or {shudder} advertising! Arrrgh! Have you seen current in-dash audio head units? They have more graphical capabilities than most handhelds! The best are OLED.
2) Utility: Gamers can now have pictures of their games on their keyboard, show a picture of a grenade, or a radio mast, or an airplane. How about your character pictured on 9 keys, you press the key that represents his arm to change weapons, or his head to cast spells...Each application can have it's own set of images. Get an incoming email? Have a key start flashing "email". When you read it, it goes back to whatever it was before.
3) The Unknown: It's only after things like this get created that people think of the craziest uses for them, the very best creations will get uploaded and shared for all users. Wonderful.
I have seen OLED displays, color and colorless, they are astounding. Silver OLEDs in the flagship S-class Benz dashboard for instrumentation is truly revolutionary in its vividness and subtlety. However, they are colorless for a reason, the compounds in the display cells that make colors (blue most notably) degrade too quickly for long term use.
I am excited about the possibilities of this new technology! - Anoobis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8well the optimus has 125 keys not 103. could the 103 be an adaptation of the 3 keyboard?
/edit or you could listen to him ^^ - brstilson, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Hell called, it wants its ice back
- FunkyWitDaSysTm, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8funny you should mention that. a friend of mine, seeing that most of the coverage for this KB was coming from engadget, that it was a fake product used to draw traffic to their site.
prolly not true, but if it is, it's worked for years now! - ho0ber, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I agree - I was really excited about the prospect of OLED. It would look about 1000 times better in the dark (no back-lit 'black' pixels - only light where you want it) - and great in the light too.
- Becky, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6AFAIK the keyboard will use LCD rather than OLED to keep costs down, so this keyboard is actually likely to see the light of day and keep to it's projected cost.
- mastercheif, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I think ill put this pre-order receipt right next to my Duke Nukem Forever receipt.
- stuartjmoore, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6the 103 is missing ten or so keys, it's a smaller version of the Optimus, they just want to get it out the door.
- trylleklovn, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Speak for your self! I sure as hell would want one!
- thcobbs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Yeah, that'd be nice...
But then they'd have to deliver on THAT instead of what ever they can actually push out the door. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I like this very much... but do YOU want to be someone to slap down the money to beta-test this thing?
- dinkumator, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4from reading further it looks like it will be firmware based mapping... it'll be set up as a usb mass storage and you copy over your key mapping and animations... which hopefully means it'll work on any system without drivers needed at all...
http://community.livejournal.com/optimus_project/ - DrGamez, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Apparently you don't read comments at all.
- MasterDirk, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5That they are taking pre-orders doesn't necessarily mean that they are making progress with the actual product. It implies it, without actually promising it, which is just what marketers love. It a fascinating concept for a product (although more than a tad unnecessary), but I haven't seen anything that'd convince me to put money into it yet.
I'll keep my money, and perhaps buy one when it actually is available. That way I lose nothing, risk nothing and get all. Lemmings. - evolseven, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3i dont know.. I have an oled display on my phone.. and honestly it hurts my eyes.. maybe it is just this particular display.. but it refreshes really slow so If i move the phone I can see a flicker from the screen..
I dont know if OLED is quite ready for this yet.. - dinkumator, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@rrainist ... i'll play devils advocate...
you may be an expert at photoshop, but I'm willing to bet you dont know what EVERY key on your keyboard does in PS... and last i checked, looking down is a lot faster than scanning through the menus or tools to find that one obscure tool you need once in a blue moon...
and I dont know about anyone else, but when I first start learning something new, I may have to look around for a while to find it, but once I know where it is, I go back to the same place. i dont think "its next to the burn tool" - i think "its at position xy"
and it pwns your plain keyboard
@MrESaulved unless i'm thinking something else, they dropped the OLED and its just normal LCDS... - firsttube, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Longhorn is never going to come out.... Sheesh!
oops, wrong vaporware thread - fyngyrz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2No use?
I switch between English, Korean and Chinese keymappings. English and Korean (hangul) are relatively easy to keep track of, Korean (hanja) and Chinese most definitely are NOT. That's one really practical use.
As far as photoshop's "pen" command, as you said, you KNOW this. A new user doesn't. They can look down, see it, eventually learn it, then they'll be like you, they'll know. That's an educational / training use, and it is also perfectly valid. Same goes for anything you don't use too often; having the shortcuts ON the keys would be awesome for occasional use of anything.
This KB will easily be worth $300 / $400 to me if it is reliable and not killer to use. - rrainist, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5Is it just me, or am I not getting the idea at all?
I mean: Who is looking at their keyboard? Isn't the idea precisely that you do not have to look at your keyboard? That you learn the positions of the keys and therefore do not look at them.
And when I am for instance using Photoshop, I know that P is pen tool, and I can press it without having to visually scan for it? Who is this keyboard for exactly? Not experts, because looking at the keyboard is just dumb and slow. The very idea is not to have to take your eyes away from the screen.
For novices? A 1000 dollar keyboard? Which makes learning slower? Keyboard shortcuts work precisely because the user associates a shortcut with a fixed key position. Pen shortcut is the character P, which is on a fixed position on the keyboard. Suppose the keyboard is showing not the letters, but only shortcut icons, then it's not the P position any more but "on the right side, next to the the burn tool icon".
I'm sorry, but this product really makes no sense whatsoever. - sexyjill, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@thcobbs
I love my IBM Model M keyboard too! - WalkerBurgin, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4What I really want to see is the optimus concept built into an apple notebook...
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@miles it means for the win
and yes it is getting old and over used lol - brstilson, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Why don't we just remove all the letters from keyboards and just have blank keys, then people will REALLY learn how to use them!
- LatvianHedgehog, on 10/12/2007, -5/+73-key version costs 150$, calculate for yourself
- anarchy99, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"i hope its mac compatible"
the 1st screenshots proved its mac compatible - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2that would rock actually lol :D
- DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1While I dream of having such a keyboard, think about it:
103 keys means 103 little screens with 1024 pixels on each one of them, what are the chances of at least one key malfunctioning in the first month of use? Especially since you'll be hitting these screens all the time while typing? -
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