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keyboard

A keyboard skin for Photoshoppers

There's this guy in the office, Vincent, who has a really fancy, colorful keyboard. It's because he does video editing and stuff. The keyboard has all the Final Cut Pro shortcuts labeled on it and a fancy jog wheel and knobs and buttons and more knobs and I think it also purifies water.

Vincent just sits there smirking at his desk, basking in the glow of his majestic keyboard. I call him Johnny Fancykeys, but that's just to cover up my intense jealousy.

I don't use Photoshop much, and I don't own an MacBook or … Read more

Keys you can actually see

OK, before you start laughing, consider how your parents might use a computer as they get older--and even yourself, for that matter. The "Vision Board II" is a keyboard that would make life substantially easier for a person whose eyesight isn't what it used to be, similar in concept to phones with large numbers.

Not only are they more legible, but Uber-Review says the 1-inch-square keys also reduce the chances of mistyping because they're nearly twice the size of normal ones. The "F" keys are designed in a distinctive oval shape to make it … Read more

Battle of the super-keyboards

We've seen a lot of tech companies try to cram everything under the sun into a single device, but we didn't think anyone would envision the humble keyboard as an uber-gadget. Yet a manufacturer called Solid Year (who could resist such a name?) seems to be headed in that direction.

Its multimedia keyboard, according to Uber-Review, sports "a VGA hide-away Webcam, speaker phone, microphone and 10 one-touch hot keys for Skype." But for all its hard work, Solid Year may have left out one killer function that rival super-keyboard "KB Dock" features most prominently: … Read more

Turn your keyboard into a disco

Now this is what we call a multi-colored keyboard. Other manufacturers have attempted to bring color to our fingertips, but the "Luxeed" from South Korea's Luxiium Lighting and Technology takes the concept to an entirely new level.

The ever-vigilant Chip Chick reports that each key can be personalized with one of 512 colors, "be it a single hue, a spectrum rainbow or your very own creation" downloaded from the company's Web site. The colors can even be programmed to change with the beat of your music, turning your desktop into a mini-disco. Brilliant!

We … Read more

Reclusa gamers' keyboard breaks out of shell

Microsoft has a new gamers' peripheral on the way, and it's not for the Xbox 360. The company has once again partnered with game-controller maker Razer, this time to produce the Reclusa, a new gamers' keyboard directed squarely at discerning fragaholics. This isn't the first Microsoft-Razer collaboration; last year, the two produced the Microsoft Habu gaming mouse.

The Microsoft-licensed Reclusa seems a bit like Razer's excellent Tarantula keyboard. Both are striking black keyboards with blue backlighting and extra, customizable keys. The Reclusa also has a few handy features that the Tarantula lacks: it doubles as a two-port … Read more

'Snow Drive' released; skiers sneer

There's something of a generation gap at Crave, but we try not to get into that whole skiers-vs.-snowboarders thing. Even those of us who have never set boot in a board can appreciate the concept behind the "Snow Drive" USB storage keys. Pclaunches says ACP-EP Memory designed the drives in conjunction with top snowboard makers, as well as endorsements from such athletes as X-Games star Eddie Wall, who has lent his name to a special signature series. But if you're not into winter sports, you can wait till summer to break out a "Surf Drive&… Read more

Keyboard as studio apartment

If you live in real-estate hell--as in New York or San Francisco--then every square inch of living space can be the difference between solvency and homelessness. That's just one practical reason for the "KB-Dock" keyboard, which Chip Chick says "tries to pack in everything but the kitchen sink."

In addition to its most obvious feature, a detachable iPod dock, the keyboard includes 14 media hotkeys and a 10-in-1 memory card reader. If it just included a Murphy bed, it could qualify as a Manhattan studio.

A keyboard to fend off the rugrats

The timing for this is perfect, as parents all over the world face the prospect of sticky-fingered kids running amok on sugar highs from an oversupply of holiday treats.

The mere thought of grubby little mitts everywhere is enough incentive for some of us to leave Christmas dinner early just so we can order one of Unotron's wired or unwired washable keyboards, which SCI FI Tech says "can be sprayed over and over with disinfectants, submersed in cleaning fluid, rinsed under a faucet and then blow-dried." It's an ideal alternative for kids playing on the computer … Read more