Apparently my morning espresso immediately contained one thing psychedelic, as a result of I look like hallucinating a Mobius strip keyboard created by Google Japan, and that may’t be proper. What can I say, it has been a tense week. Regular service might be resumed shortly.
Oh wait, this factor really appears to exist—though I would not count on it ever to hit the cabinets. This mind-bending keeb consists of 26 modules with eight key switches every, making for a grand whole of 208 keys (through Hackaday). Why, you ask? Properly, half of the keyboard is QWERTY, with the opposite half being in Japanese, making it maybe the primary really bilingual keyboard.
Not solely bilingual, however a number of consumer pleasant it appears, because the accompanying video has loads of pictures of a number of arms caressing this keyboard like a pleasant labrador at a home get together.
Google Japan has type for this type of factor, having beforehand proven off a teacup keeb, a “bodily handwriting” keyboard, and an digital spoon that selects letters primarily based on the angle at which it is flexed. Google Japan’s tongue is firmly in its cheek with all of those options, after all, nevertheless it does seem to have constructed a minimum of a working prototype right here—together with a extremely amusing video exhibiting it off in quite a lot of eventualities.
My favorite is somebody utilizing it in “house”, or on the very least, being dangled by wires in entrance of a inexperienced display. Or the inexplicable look of a canine in the suitable of the body whereas somebody in a hood seems to make the Mobius keeb levitate. Actually, there are too many to select from, so I will allow you to watch it for your self.
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I notably like the concept of “a keyboard with a twist”, each figuratively and actually. Plus it is even acquired RGB lighting, and the snap-on modular design is genuinely intelligent. This looks like the brainchild of a bunch of engineering interns allowed to go wild with their design software program, and I am all for it.
However what about gaming? We’re advised that it is good for coding (insert LA Noire “doubt” meme right here), however I might like to pay money for one simply to see what kind of havoc I might trigger for myself in one thing like DCS World, the place key bind selections are every little thing—though I do not suppose it might be making any of our greatest gaming keyboards quake of their respective boots.
After all, portability is a serious profit, as whereas it is a notably cumbersome beast you possibly can merely hold it off your wrist and go for a stroll, as demonstrated above. Useful!
OK, okay, so it is greater than slightly harking back to not-very-funny April Fools Day tech jokes, however all credit score to Google Japan for really making me giggle on a Friday morning. As for the “dimensional portal characteristic” on the crew’s roadmap? I await it with bated breath.