Many kinds of products are spawned from the inspiration that Space Invaders brings but this specific product is more special than the rest. Yes, even that quilt doesn’t impress as much.  Maybe I’m merely being biased because I just spilled beer all over my keyboard and I’m desperately looking for a replacement.

Yeah, that’s it. That’s the one! The keyboard I’ve been looking for. It’s dust-proof, spill-proof and to top it all off, it’s themed after one of the greatest arcade games ever. The $40 dollar price tag is cheaper than many keyboards we’ve written about, most of which are over a hundred and don’t have the retro 8-bit invaders on it we know and love. I think I’m sold.

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Can’t afford an Optimus Maximus? Don’t feel bad, I can’t either. And anyone who can afford it didn’t get rich buying $1600 keyboards. Art Lebedev has announced a numpad-like keypad called the Optimus Pultius.

The keyboard comes packed with 15 OLED keys, an SD card slot and a USB hub. It’ll look great alongside the Maximus you don’t own or with any other keyboard. Come to think of it, if you try putting this keyboard next to any keyboard that isn’t a top dollar Maximus, it’ll just make that keyboard look even shittier. No price announcements as of yet, but look for it at the end of 2008 or early 2009.

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Check out this keyboard. No physical keys required, here folks. It’s got a customizable face, the entire keyboard becomes a touchscreen, as if it had sex with an iPhone.  The idea is to utilize the keyboard as a screen, providing a limitless amount of personalization to its look and layout.

It’s a concept called the Optimus Tactus keyboard from the Russian design company Art. Lebedev. It allows any part of the keyboard surface programmed to perform any function or to display any image. Think of it this way: if God came down from the heavens and became a keyboard incarnate, this would be that keyboard.

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Remember the Phantom gaming system? The one which promised you’d be able to play games streamed over the Internet through a broadband connection for a monthly fee? Me neither. Yet after six long years of nobody giving a fuck, they’ve finally decided to release the keyboard designed for the system.

The Phantom Lapboard is nothing special. It sits on your lap and you’re able to incline the top part of the keyboard to reveal a space underneath for mousing.  At $129, we’re just astonished to see that it even has a price tag and saw the light of day, regardless of its overpricing. We’re still not going to buy it. Are you?
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This glass surface with the form of keys etched in it is the latest project from designer Kong Fanwen. Using a motion capture camera mounted at the top, it tracks your finger motion and translates it to the computer as if you were typing on any normal keyboard. The “No-key Keyboard” is the sleekest looking keyboard we’ve seen in awhile and is reminiscent of many other touch-sensitive glass gadgets we’ve seen.

No word on any retail information, but I’m sure that this’ll be a hit with all your co-workers at the office. I can’t wait to see the matching mouse.
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With a design reminiscent of the Nintendo Power Pad, this DIY fabric keyboard seems to keep the basic idea down pat. Off come your shoes and in Tom Hanks fashion, you walk over to the letter you want to type and give it a tap.

It uses the popular Arduino processor to control the letters, which are made out of conductive fabric and perforated foam. The keyboard was found on Flickr user Maurin’s page and he certainly seems to be the crafty builder.

If only Fred Astaire could give this a try.

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When your sitting situation calls for you to adjust your body in an awkward position, typing on a laptop becomes next to impossible to do with any sort of practicality. “So what, Andrew? Couldn’t I just move?” But why move when we live in a time where moving isn’t needed! The Keyboard Pants are a testament to the inherent laziness of the geek in us all.

Using Bluetooth technology, the pants provide a keyboard right on your crotch region, giving you an excuse to “adjust” yourself whenever you feel the need. The pants even include speakers on the knees. Oh, what was I doing just then? Well, ahem, I was just rearranging my keyboard. (more…)

If your one of those guys who call themselves “protective”, but who really just feel the need to be all creepy and know every single aspect of their girl’s life, this handy Keystroke Recorder might be right up your alley. We’ve seen other contraptions which you can add to your keyboard cable to log the output, but this recorder looks much more inconspicuous, appearing like a standard keyboard port extension.

Fine, fine, so there are other reasons you might want to use such a gadget then just spying on your girlfriend. Maybe you have kids in the house, and you want to monitor their chatting and internet activity. Come on, we all know there are other ways to go about that. Just get it over with and accuse her of cheating already so you can go abuse someone else. (more…)

The product description claims that this device packs in a full PC into a “normal sized keyboard”. You can tell by looking at this monster that it’s definitely not “normal sized”. Maybe if keyboards have morbidly obese uncle’s? Then possibly the claim could stand some sort of validity.

All nostril flaring aside, even if this keyboard isn’t exactly “normal sized”, the prospect of owning a PC inside of a keyboard sounds promising. Actually, I might have heard of something like that before. It was called a “laptop”. Again, I jest. Pick up your own All-In-One Keyboard PC for between $629 and $1099, depending on the extra crap you want to add-in. Or you can save yourself some trouble and get a MacBook Pro, or wait a few years for something like the Zen PC concept. (more…)

Some people have a hard time getting into one instrument. They set up training and practice schedules, only to be utterly bored within weeks, which leads people to create their own custom musical instruments. The Five Key Keyboard, or “Big Daddy”, is the creation of Michael Robson, described as a “circuit bent keyboard”.

There is no real explanation behind the workings of the 27″ x 52″ x 41″ device, but we envision some sort of pedal system, as well as modulation with the little knobbies on the side of the “Big Daddy”. Bonus points if you can create a piece of music using this machine and the hipDisk. — Andrew Dobrow

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