Oh! Gizmo

By Chris Scott Barr

Backlit keyboards have become rather popular over the years, especially with gamers. Why? Because we tend to sit in the dark and game until the sun comes up. Sure, we know how to type without looking at our keyboards, but sometimes after grabbing a drink, we need to be able to quickly see where a specific key is without first finding home row. Oh, and it just looks awesome. Well fancy keyboards such as these can be rather expensive, so someone crafted a way to make the keys glow on any old keyboard.

Glow in Dark Keyboard Stickers are the perfect solution. Of course by “perfect solution” I mean “worst idea ever.” Take a look at your current keyboard, with careful detail to your home row keys. If you’ve had it for a while, you’ll probably notice that either the letters have started to wear off a bit, or there is at least some visible signs that your fingers spend a good bit of time resting there. Now imagine if you put stickers on those keys. How long do you think they’d last? Oh, and don’t forget the tedious task of putting them all on straight. Even at $9, I’d rather have a plain boring keyboard than one with glow-in-the-dark stickers.

[ BaronBob ] VIA [ FoolishGadgets ]

By Chris Scott Barr

I spend a lot of time typing, so having a keyboard that’s comfortable is really important. When I’m on the road, I don’t generally mind typing on my MacBook, but only for short periods. If I’m going to be writing anything of great length, I’m going to prefer a desktop keyboard every time. It’s for that reason that I’m surprised to find that Lenovo makes an external keyboard that’s modeled after their notebook keyboards.

The new ThinkPad USB Keyboard is actually not the first of its kind. Rather, Lenovo has been working with customers via surveys to create a better keyboard. The result was a keyabord that matches that of the T400-series laptop as close as humanly possible. Thanks to user input, they have removed the trackpad, numberpad and reduced the price to $59. I suppose if you’re really in love with your ThinkPad keyboard, then you might enjoy this. I’ll just stick with my regular desktop keyboard.

[ Lenovo ] VIA [ EverythingUSB ]

By Chris Scott Barr

Typing is a skill that’s almost a requirement to get by in everyday life these days. Yet I am amazed at the number of people I know that use the old “hunt and peck” method. You’d think that after working with a computer for so long, one would eventually give in and learn to do it properly. Well now there is a keyboard made especially for these stubborn people, the aptly-named Hunt and Peck Keyboard.

At first this keyboard seems like any other, until you realize that the keys are in alphabetical order. This is to make it easier for those that never bothered to learn the QWERTY layout. You can press a button and it switches to the standard layout, so that any normal person can actually type with any real speed. To add further insult, you can use the F-keys for quick abreviations like LOL, IMO and ASAP. If you’re thinking about buying this for someone, take that $30 and go find a copy of Mario Teaches Typing or something. It did wonders for me back in the 6th grade.

[ firstSTREET ] VIA [ UberReview ]

By Chris Scott Barr

How many times have you been in a war zone and needed to quickly and quietly get a message to someone? Sure, I’m guessing that a lot of you haven’t been in that situation, but I’m sure that it can be rather a difficult task. Well this new AK-39 keyboard was designed to help overcome that obstacle.

Besides the obvious ability to be strapped to an arm, the keyboard can withstand harsh electromagnetic interference and has LED backlighting so it can be used with night vision goggles. Now I just wonder how long it’ll be before someone makes a cheap knockoff for cell phones. There’s no word on pricing, but iKey is happy to send you a quote if you’re really interested.

[ iKey ] VIA [ Dvice ]

By Evan Ackerman

The only thing I don’t like about steampunk is that it tends to promise more than it delivers, like these ray guns, which don’t actually vaporize people. This steampunk laptop, on the other hand, works as advertised. It’s not powered by steam or anything, but it’s working laptop, and it looks badass, which (I think) is most of the point of steampunkizing something.

The keyboards are custom made out of vintage parts, and cost between $1200 and $1500 (or more) depending on what you want it to look like.

One more slightly NSFW object, after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »