Lee Bialecki’s Weblog

Those who have been with me from the beginning should remember my post on the Optimus Maximus keyboard, the keyboard to beat all keyboards which any rich geek would buy in a snap. What sets it apart from all other keyboards is the fact that each key is a OLED display showing its current function. That may sound silly but it gives extreme customisation, for example the keys could be lower case in regular typing, but become capitals when shift is held. As if that is not cool enough you can customise the keyboard to programmes having icons for hotkeys, making photo editing easier or making you the ultimate gamer. Not only can you change the icons and functions of keys, you can play videos on the keys, tell them to display your CPU usage and you can even play minesweeper.

So with all those tiny displays it obviously carries a heavy price tag ranging from 462.30$ to 1564.72$ depending on which keys you want to be screens. So yes, it is now available to buy from the company’s site at http://store.artlebedev.com/computer_add-ons/optimus/ . This keyboard has been added to my “if I win the lottery the first things I would buy are…” list along with a top spec Mac Pro and other horribly expensive products.

But that is not all that is new from Optimus; looking at their site I saw a new concept keyboard that goes a step beyond the Maximus (something I thought to be impossible) This would be the Optimus Tactus, a FULLY customisable touch screen keyboard. This could mean different sized keys, different amount of keys different layout of keys, playing videos, the list is endless. This would truly go beyond the Maximus in functionality, but those fond of tactile response may find it bad if they do not do anything to make the virtual keys clickyer. Also it could not be just any kind of touch screen display, it would have to be multi touch so it could understand the shift and letter keys being pressed simultaneously. One thing they could also do with the display is give it pressure sensitivity to make it into a form of graphics tablet. The possibilities would be truly endless if this was made, it would be a great day for high earning freaks around the world.

I have chatted on enough now, if Optimus products have interested you then have a look at http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus-tactus/ and look at their other stuff, they have a 3 keyed keyboard using the same technology as the Maximus and also a strange monitor/12 button keyboard thing, take a look around and you will be impressed.