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Now this keyboard should be sold with every PowerMac!

Josh said:
Although the light up keys would be sweet, I think they would just be standard letters unless the application was programmed to tell the OS to make the keyboard display tools or other keys. And what would make them want to do that, and how long would it take for developers to start doing it?

How else would it know when to show the letter Z, or the magnifying glass when you're in Photoshop?

The only other way is if it had it's own on-board chip pre-programmed for selected apps. And that would make an already expensive thing drastically more expensive.

I think it's the coolest idea, I just don't see practically how it would work.
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My guess is that you would use software to assign some extra keys to different application modes.."Photoshop mode", "Quake mode", etc. When you hit the Photoshop Mode button, the keyboard is in Photoshop Mode. Hit the Default Mode, and it switches back when you want to type something.
 
Jaffa Cake said:
Have you seen their mouse concept? Nice idea, but I can feel my carpal tunnels tensing up just thinking looking at it...
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Ugh, the keyboard is awesome, but the mouse makes no sense. Why would anyone want a cursor-shaped mouse???
 
Yeah this is great. It has so many possible applications. For one, imagine using it at airports. For those people not used to English keys, they can make a quick swap and then voila...ahem.

This could only be a very expensive option though. I think if Apple wanted to make a truly high end workstation package, include it with FCP or what not, and a 30" screen...dual processors and all....*drool*.

I think these guys are Mac users....check out the last picture's keyboard layout... ;)
 
MyLeftNut said:
I think these guys are Mac users....check out the last picture's keyboard layout... ;)
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Well, all of the pictures had the command and option key symbols, and Mac icons for apps on the side... But I think the dead giveaway was the keyboard itself. How could PC users design something so drop-dead sexy? ;)
 
Eccentricity is Beauty again.

This is the perfect keyboard to showcase the PowerMac G5!!

If a second party jumps onto this basic design principle, OLED mapped keys, instead of Apple, I'm all over it.

When I saw 1st saw this my jaw dropped. Just like when the 1st PowerMac G5 appeared! Jst as suddenly!

Second look I swear I got aroused; maybe its the the time of day 5:47AM and I didnt sleep at all this past night. ;) But seriously.

I'm going insane with making moving preparations and thinking I'll have to settle for an old G4 PowerMac. Now I see this ... I'll wait just a little longer for a <2 year PowerMac G5.
 
that is the freaking coolest keyboard ever. i have my credit card out and ready for when it goes on sale!!!
 
Cor, thats a beast. I would seriously consider getting one as soon as it comes out, it's sooooo nice.

*the posibilities...*

::20ROGERSC::
 
Even if it just had a "keyboard utilities" panel (hotkey driven, of course) to switch key set definitions between sets you define or download, it'd rock. For an example, I'm used to the key mappings I use in Logic, but this opens up possibilities way past what I'd actually bother to memorize (not to mention the sheer coolness of using it with Warcraft...)

I'd spend real money on it, no question.
 
Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. Computing would never be the same.

This would be worth $500, easily. And worth every penny.
 
I see what they're doing! They're making all of us drool on our existing keyboards to short them out and force us to buy theirs. :rolleyes:

Just the Quake 3 keyboard layout alone has my credit card out and ready... ;)

I sure hope this becomes a real product soon!
 
Oh, and it should come with every Mac but the eMac and mini. Why would you leave the iMac out of this goodness.
 
Does the cost really justify the benefits? I mean if you were cutting in FCP, either you'll be already proficient enough to learn the keystrokes to perform certain tasks, or you can buy a special keyboard or KB templates you place over your existing keyboard.

It might be great as a learner keyboard for educational purposes but beyond that, it's usefulness looks extremely limiting.
 
I had a very similar idea to this when the apple patent came out for the organic light emitting plastics thing, though using oled displays makes more sense as it's much more commercial product these days (plus we don't really know what kind of quality display the apple tech would get for dispalying letters and icons).

I think if apple bought this idea and took it on, they could improve it in a number of ways. First the keys look pretty awful. They look too square, flat and uncomfortable to type on. Secondly, using these (http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000410050327/) oled displays, they could use no power for displaying the images, until they have to change, which will improve battery life by a fair amount. Next, with their universal remote control patent, they'd have the base for being able to send the images to each key on the keyboard. Either that or have it so the OS automatically checks what shortcuts the system and current app have set and map them to they keyboard, and change them when modifiers are pressed. Finally that app launcher could become a touch sensitive strip, similar to the iPod's scroll wheel, but using oled. Then it could become a kind of hardware dock. It could mirror the dock or display and app you wish using preferences. This way you could set the icons to any size and have the dock hidden on the screen while still being able to see the app icons on your keyboard, including any status parts of the icons, such as unread mail etc.

I'm not sure how big a market there would be for this though. If it was realistically priced then creative professionals would probably buy it as an upgrade or replacement. heavy iLife users may buy it too, and people that just want to have a cool looking keyboard, as well as people that use multiple languages or layouts (it's annoying trying to find all the accented characters unless you know them off by heart). It could be another product they push out to windows users, just like how the iPod became available and the screens went DVI. Selling standard peripherals to both mac and pc users could be a new direction to make money, along with a multi button mouse. Generally apple couldn't really sell a keyboard to windows users cause of the different keys, but with this they could, and target it to people that buy a mac as a second computer, so they could use the keyboard for both (as well as duel boot mac/windows computers). Generally though I don't think it would be a big seller for windows, as a keyboard doesn't have a must have quality like the iPod does. People don't really replace their keyboards unless they are in niche markets like geeks, power users and gamers. It would be great for gamers, but I don't think Apple is the first company a gamer would look to when looking for hardware. It could become a nice little lust item for the cool kids though, especially if it docks with the iPod in some way, and is compatible with any future home media device (could be useful for things like web tv and managing your content)
 
Ohmygod, that is the coolest thing I've ever seen. They say it'll cost "less than a good mobile phone". In other words £200-£300 so about $350-$500 off the top of my head for you guys over the water.

If they had a wired version of this I'd buy it quicker than you could say 'my wireless keyboard was such a waste of money'.

I need a new keyboard anyway. Wireless is overated imo as you may have guessed. I mean how many times do you really move your keyboard around the room apart from the few occasions when its a novelty and you use it to play and pause videos from the couch.

One of these keyboards (wired) + lovely microsoft intellimouse (wired) + multi os bluetooth remote control = dream come true.
 
wow that is the coolest, sexiest and most usefull keyboard i have ever seen. i never thought i would talk like that about a keyboard.
 
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