The true, multifunctional keyboard

Moving on from my earlier post about Editors Keys, fellow blogger gammagoblin reminded me of the Optimus keyboard from Art. Lebedev studios. I remember seeing this somewhere last year and many thought it was a hoax, but it looks like production will commence towards the end of this year.

Each key is, in actual fact, a mini LED display (called OLED's). That being the case, this means the keyboard can display any character on any key. This initially makes it perfect for sale in multinational markets, negating the need for separate keyboards for different languages. Just load up the appropriate character set and away you go :o)

Want to type in Russian ? Just load up the Russian language set and off you go-ski !! ;o)

Best of all is the ability to put shortcuts and icons on, in the same way Editors Keys work, but these are infinitely changeable and way cooler. This is a set for Adobe Photoshop.

And this is for Quake.



There is also a "Quick Switching" set of keys to the left of the keyboard for fast switching between different sets for different apps.

My only concern is the cost. They are producing a 3 button unit, called the Optimus Mini Three with three buttons, all about 3cm square.



This retails for €134.15/$159.96 so one can only speculate on the price of the full Optimus keyboard.

This is simply a brilliant convergence of art, design and practicality and no doubt will be worth every penny. Best start saving then !