Optimus Maximus - A Keyboard on Steroids

Sometime back, I mentioned how using the keyboard (as opposed to the mouse) dramatically increases the speed of interaction with a computer. Well, the biggest drawback to using the keybaord is the lack of visual cues. A computer screen gives visual cues to what clicking an icon or button does (for example, clicking on the desktop icon in the Quick Launch toolbar will show the desktop, and clicking on the B button in the Word toolbar will bold selected text). That the same actions can be done easily and much faster with the keyboard (Win-key + D and Ctrl-B, respectively), are less known facts.

Well times are a-changing, and so are keybaords. The Art. Lebedev Studio in Russia obviously identified this shortcoming and came up with a (very effective) solution shown below. The Optimus Maximus has LCD screens under each key. The key displays change with keypresses and software events. You press Ctrl on the keypad, and the key displays change to show the options available to you.

One place I immediately see the advantage - games. I could never remember what all the buttons in a game such as Quake III, Half-Life, CounterStrike and the FIFA football series stand for. The keyboard can be configured according to any game and the displays change to help you change weapons, view your surroundings, move slowly and crouch.

Another area is graphic design and CAD, although I have yet to come across a graphic designer worth anything who does not know his/her keyboard shortcuts like the back of his hand.

Of course, the yet-to-be-released keyboard comes at a good price. It is currently slated for release in March 2008 at a price of more than USD 1500 - Ouch! Till the prices come down, I'm better off with a printout of this.

See a demo here. Read more here.