I kid, of course. But the Optimus Maximus buzz has been percolating for
at least two years now, with bits and teases regularly leaked from the
Russian Art. Lebedev design studio. The OM (I refuse to type the full
name again) is a computer keyboard with customizable graphical displays
on every key. The idea being that the keyboard would allow for greater
user interaction by dynamically displaying the the current function of
every key. So, for instance, when you hit SHIFT, upper-case letters
would be displayed. Or CTRL, or ALT, or ALT-CTRL, or whatever. What's more, the keyboard could change from the standard QWERTY layout to alternative like the Dvorak layout. And lest we be too Roman/Latin-centric, let us note that the keyboard can also switch to other alphabets -- Cyrillic, say, or Georgian or Arabic. Optimus supports all languages supported by the operating system.
The potential applications are endless. Graphics professionals and gamers are typically cited as two of the main target markets. Something like PhotoShop, for instance, has approximately 1 billion functions mapped to various keys and key-combos. And gamers, of course, find their own arcane uses for otherwise innocent keys. Depending on the context, that humble little "w" key can be used to trigger an avalanche of HTML coding, invert a photograph, or frag an entire platoon of space marines.
Still, we must wait. The Lebedev folks are accepting pre-orders now, and word is they're still trying to line up a manufacturing deal that makes sense. Meanwhile, they're promising limited pre-order deliveries around the end of the year. The OM will support Windows and Mac initially; Linux later, maybe. Check this chatty little FAQ for more details.
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