The future of keyboards!

[Dexter]

Holy holy..

http://artlebedev.com/portfolio/optimus/

Keys can display characters and pictures! I'm thinking this could be a dream come true for emulation freaks like myself. Imagine being able to reconfigure the keyboard to display the same layouts as old home computers?

Dexter

[tommy]

Yeah they are really cool but there was a thread in EE about it.

[paigeoliver]

Thats the kind of keyboard that could make me want to use a desktop again!!

[DYNAGOD]

yea, great... but can i spill my drink on it 

[Taborious]

I'm assuming is a dev model and you can't get one yet... Didn't see projected pricing either...

[Lilwolf]

I'm guessing it will be expensive. 

And I'm not completely impressed until they can change the size of the keys.  Come on, its not like everyone wants such a large space bar... 

[hanelyp]

yea, great... but can i spill my drink on it 

Consumer priced sealed keyboards... could be a major market there. (starts engineering design)

[jer2665]

It

[SpamMe]

*waits for OLED horizontal pushbuttons*

[toolaa]

Imagine an OLED laminate surface which could take the place of the screen, and bezel area.

[jarrett]

I've seen the Optimus keyboard show up on a lot of tech blogs in the last few weeks.

I feel the need to brag to someone that I designed the purple fountain pen icon they're using on one of the keys.

It's fun seeing my work show up in unexpected places. 

[Shieldwolf]

how bout this


http://www.ergodex.com/mainpage.htm

[toolaa]

That keyboard looks cool too.  Maybe someone can make an arcade button sized key. 

there should be a thread just for brainstorming outside of the box cabinet and game ideas.

how about  -  BYOAC 2010

It doesn't hurt to dream...

[Lilwolf]

Yeah... combine both of them... and add a round convex button!

So you can pull out your buttons, then with controls.dat it would write the name of the button or maybe just an image on each button.  Then you place it wherever you want.

Now that would be cool

[Lilwolf]

btw, those moveable keys are pretty !@#!@# sweet!   And not so expensive (150 bucks for 25 keys!)

I wonder how strong they are?  And if they come in a round version!

I would DEFINATELY be interested in building a custom control panel that the keys moved around!  That would be freak'n sweet!

[toolaa]

I am wondering what technology they use to identify the individual keys.  I think for mame I would want the base to be standard Control Panel sized, but it would also need to have two holes cut into it for the sticks.  Again, pie in the sky but who knows.