About a year ago, we covered some concept products known as Cool Leaf, a keyboard with a mirrored surface. Generally, I don’t have much confidence in concept technology, but it is refreshing to see that Japanese company Minebea actually is going to sell the Cool Leaf keyboard.
The Mirrored keyboard is possible as the reflective surface is essentially one big capacitive touch panel. Though you may not hear any clickity-click of the keys, it has haptic feedback to give you a little vibration when you hit the keys.
One of the best parts is the easy clean option. All the user has to do is give it a good wipe, and it is clean. No more dust getting caught in between the keys anymore!
Now for the price. The Cool Leaf is about $318, and will be on sale in Japan for about $318. The Minebea Cool Leaf keyboard is only available in a Japanese variant and only works with a Windows computer, but it will be released with an English, German, French, and Italian layout later in the summer.
I am wondering if the Φ-Calculators and Φ-Remotes will be available soon. Those are calculators and TV remote controls that have that same mirrored surface. Perhaps this reflective look could be a new standard of accessories.
iOGear have just added a new mini wireless keyboard to their range the iOGear GKM571R. Its deigned for multimedia systems and home theatre systems.
Together with a full QWERTY keyboard the palm sized device also incorporates an optical Trackball and scroll wheel with a 1200 dpi sensor and connects to your system using 2.4GHz wireless technology via a USB receiver.
On its based the iOGear Wireless Keyboard has a no slip rubber coating to help you type and use the controller without slippage. Its also compatible with media center applications together with game consoles, including the PS3 and Xbox 360.
The keyboard is backlit with an LED and there is a dust cover to protect the keyboard when not in use. The iOGear GKM571R wireless keyboard will be available later this year for around $99.
Finally, someone is figuring out that if you want a PC in your home theater, you’ll be needing a decent, hardware keyboard. Here’s one of the best ideas yet, and it looks a whole lot like a Blackberry: It’s a wireless USB keyboard and touchpad that might be just what you need.
We like its backlit keyboard and radio-frequency (RF) operation, using the 2.4GHz band, so you don’t have to worry about pointing the device directly at the receiver. While this little handset looks kind of cheap, it’s more portable than a standard-sized keyboard, and its touchpad takes the place of a bulky mouse. If you look at the white one in the gallery below, it actually doesn’t look half bad.
This is a heck of a sight better than those horrendous on-screen keyboards that you navigate with a remote control. Think about it — how many button presses does it take to spell your name? About 50? It’s absurd. Drop $61 on this tiny keyboard, and solve that problem once and for all. Here’s a video of the device in action:
All the owners of Apple iPhone or iPod Touch player know exactly, that the set of even simple texts of on-screen keyboard of the device is connected with certain difficulties.
However, it is possible to turn your iPhone into a good competitor of EEE PC with a compact BTKeyMini wireless keyboard. With this device, the input and editing of the text will never cause you any difficulties.
The gadget has a special stand to set the player or phone, and thanks to its small size you can always carry it with you, as it occupies much less space than the smallest laptop.
Ordering this very useful device can be made on the manufacturer’s website and it costs about $ 90.
The latest novelty from LG – LG KP500, nicknamed as LG Cookie, immediately attracts by its incredibly modest cost – only 170 euros.
The design has common features with sensational LG Renoir. LG KP500 works on the latest version of “native” LG interface, which has become even more comfortable and functional. Control of the phone is optimized for the fingers, but the set includes stylus, and the phone supports handwriting recognition. In addition, it’s very easy to work on the touch QWERTY keyboard with the stylus.
The thickness of LG KP500 is only 11.9 mm; it is the thinnest phone with a stylus stored in the shell. LG Cookie has a 3-inch TFT touch screen display and a 3-megapixel camera with auto focus. Instead of 3G, it supports EDGE and operates in GSM.
Unfortunately, the video quality will be far from typical of an LG camera phone – KP500 can only record QVGA video at 12 frames per second.
It also plays DivX and XviD video, recognizing only MPEG4 at 24 frames per second and with maximum resolution of 240 x 400 pixels.
If you like classical music, and especially prefer stringed instruments, then Desktop Classic Violin Corded Novelty Telephone will not leave you indifferent for sure. The style of the telephone is one and one copied from the original instrument.
This device, used for wired communications, has a shape of a cello, and its compact size and comfortable plastic keyboard provide simplicity and convenience in operation.
Price of Desktop Classic Violin Corded Novelty Telephone music phone is only 20 dollars.
We have already written about the computer mouse pad, which enables you feel as a drummer without leaving your computer. But the beating on virtual drums is not as funny as on the real one. Instead of sticks you can beat on them with your fingers, already accustomed to not such a hard work with the keyboard.
Finger Drum set is a small synthesizer, reproducing the sounds of the drum when beating on them. For those who wish to share their creativity with colleagues there is a possibility to record and play tracks.
It works on three AAA batteries, but if you have a habit of tapping fingers constantly – it will be better to buy rechargeable versions.
You can buy this gadget for $29.98.
Despite the fact that Christmas is far away it is better to prepare for the holiday in advance.
If your work is connected with active typing of the text on the computer, a small herringbone USB Key-pressed X’mas Tree will look perfect on your desk at Christmas holidays. It is connected via USB, which has a remarkable property: the faster you work with a keyboard, the brighter will be the lights of this Christmas tree.
USB Key-pressed X’mas uses 25 LEDs, and the cost of this tree is only 19 dollars.
Keyboards Logitech are very widely spread. Nevertheless Logitech is not going to count the profits from sold devices. And in confirmation of this the company announced three new keyboards.
The first one will go on sale in October and will cost $80. This keyboard is “the best in the world”. Its thickness is 9.3 mm. However, it is equipped with adjustable backlight, soft hands and stand for a set of additional multimedia keys.
For owners of Logitech laptops there is also a surprise – a wireless keyboard, with a frequency of 2.4 GHz and with a stated time of battery life 3 years (!!!). It will go on sale in October, and its cost will be $100.
Earlier will be sold set Keyboard + Mouse Cordless Desktop S520 for $60. This kit also differs with battery life – 8 months for the mouse and 15 for the keyboard.
It is hard not to notice that over time, gadgets become smaller and are increasingly integrated. There are too many multi-functional devices that combine the advantages and functionality of several gadgets. The keyboard KeyScan KS810 is one of these devices.
It’s very easy to guess, that this gadget combines a keyboard and a scanner. This gadget should be connected to a PC via a standard USB port, but the scanner needs additional power, because its use is limited by spaces, where you can connect it to the mains.
I’d like to note technology used by the program NoTouch-AutoScan, which comes bundled with the keyboard. It brings the entire process of scanning to a single action: passing the scanned image into the scanner. The rest happens automatically. The scanner detects a submitted paper, scans and transmits the image to the PC where the program stores it in one of several formats.
Now let’s speak about formats. In the package there is the program IRIS OCR, which allows to recognize the text. So you get not only images but also editable text.
This miracle of technology is about $159.
