Art Lebedev’s Optimus Keyboard, famous for having little OLED screens on each key and never actually, you know, being purchased by anyone, was the defining meme of the 2006-2007 blogging season. Everyone was all excited for the product and when it finally launched everyone was like “Huh” and kept tapping at their iPhones.
Now AL is talking about the Tactus, a full-screen keyboard without buttons. As BoingBoingG points out, the best part of this futureboard is the fact that you’ll be able to see the underage girls in t.A.T.u. kissing.
No pricing, but do you care?
Oddly enough, I do care. I’d never pay what they’re asking for the thing, but I like the direction it’s heading. One of the things I love about my iPhone is its ability to adapt to any control scheme based on what program is running.
I think in the future all keyboards will have this ability… a fully customizable control set for each program you own. This is definitely a milestone, if not a bit before its time.
While i agree that this is important in the macro sense, AL’s tease-tease-release product-tease cycle isn’t how breakthroughs get made. You’ll see a useful mass-market product from Logitech or Dell very similar to this before you ever see one of these models on your desk.
I like my old keyboard, because is simple