If you’re looking for a cool new peripheral to breathe life back onto the surface of your desktop space, take a look at what Das Keyboard has in the works over on Kickstarter. It’s a mechanical keyboard called the 5Q, and while there are a multitude of such solutions to scoop up or at least covet, you likely won’t find one quite as unique as the 5Q thanks to its connection to the cloud.
Yes, this keyboard is connected directly to the Internet. More importantly, each key is individually lit by an RGB LED that can be color-controlled remotely. Why? So that they can glow a specific color based on the information you want provided. That way, users can instantly see what browser tab is hogging the CPU and quickly close it without a second thought. Das Keyboards thinks users can use lit keys as visual notifications.
The new mechanical keyboard includes Gamma Zulu RGB switches manufactured by Omron, which have a total travel distance of 3.5mm, and a lifetime of 100 million actuations. They’re comparable to Cherry MX brown switches, providing a soft tactile feel. There’s also a special rotary-style “Q button” mounted on the top-right corner that activates the Das Keyboard Q software. This is where users set up the notifications, which in turn are stored on cloud servers.
“The Das Keyboard 5Q detects a keypress in 0.4 milliseconds and reports it to the computer in 1 millisecond,” the company says on its Kickstarter page. “99-percent of mechanical keyboards use an outdated polling system that takes between 20 to 45 milliseconds to report a key to the computer. So, the Das Keyboard 5Q is up to 45 times faster than the keyboard you are using today. We named this technology Real-Time One — or, RTO in short. At its heart, it is an analog technology.”
In an example provided by Das Keyboard, the user can set up the keypad to show the progress of a project, such as “New product launch.” Over the course of six months, the keypad’s lighting will change from orange to green. When the Q button is pressed, it will send a 5-volt discharge to the keyboard’s on-board CPU, which in turn will instruct the desktop to display specific information. In this case, the desktop notifies the user that the green keys mean the project is finally complete.
Other examples of the keyboard’s visual output include setting up colored notifications for a real-time stock ticker, showing the status of software development, displaying the current CPU load, managing urgent email, keeping an eye on a project, and more. The keyboard will be open for all developers to create widgets that can be shared with owners on a community-driven website. That, in turn, is enabled through the company’s Rest API open-source software.
The Das Keyboard is making its official debut at CES next month after a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign that managed to raise over $580,000 from nearly 3,500 backers. And if you really want to ensure you get one as soon as they become officially available, you can pre-order a keyboard now for $229.
Article originally published in June 2016. Updated on 12-28-2016 by Lulu Chang: Added news of pre-order availability.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.