I like the changing display, I can see that being useful as a multimedia-editing tool. But I agree, hammering into a hard surface with your fingers all day would be a)annoying and b) probably painful after a while. I'm sure the nerve endings in your fingers wouldn't appreciate it too much.

Art, concentrate on getting the quality up and the price down of your current keyboard.

Focus, man. Focus.

I know this may not be for everyone, but in discussions about Optimus online I have seen many, many people propose Art make something like this new Tactus model.

Looks cool...I would get excited but i know I will never ever be able to afford one of these within the next 10 years.

So... 2012?

What if:

Shifting the tools from the main screen to a touch display like this would give you live previews of what you are doing on a video editor or say, photoshop.

But me thinks that as JKK mods have shown us, this would be irrelevant (say take your vanilla screen and pair it with a touchscreen).

In fact, i almost can see people making one of this even better.

Useless as an actual keyboard (touch-typing requires tactile feedback which doesn't exist with a touchscreen), but cool as some alternate sort of input device.

I forget what that feature is called in Vista (sideshow maybe?) but this could be a cool integration of that using an input device.
If this had multitouch and allowed for other forms of input other than just typing (stylus, touchpad, etc.) it would be a wicked cool product. But I am a bit hesitant about typing on a non-tactile full-sized keyboard.

@Jesus: Optimus Retardus?

Spina etiam grata est, ex qua spectatur rosa.

Indeed, 2012 at the earliest.

By which time, there'll be Macs with a similar feature, as well as dozens of knockoffs.

This has got to be the most dramatic novel of "The making of a simple, yet complex & expensive keyboard" ever!!!!!

I can't believe they are even trying anymore.

Typing on a touch surface is obviously not feasible. I used to own one of these bad boys, and while it seems cool as hell, it was awful to use. I tried my best to adjust, but you just can't touch-type without that tactile feedback.

Downgrade!

--FCOD

Well, it might be good for racing games where it could be displayed as either your dash board or your rear view mirror. Lets just hope that this kid doesn't get his hands on it. [www.youtube.com]

Oh please, when Apple comes out with their own touch keyboard Gizmodo will be saying how great it is.

why keyboards at all?? can't we move beyond this sort of interaction with computers?? there must be a better way no?.......

@hn333: No, if it's like this, we will be saying the Apple touch keyboard sucks. Now, if they release a REAL keyboard, with real keys, with a touch trackpad with display, that will be COMPLETELY different.

But like this, I don't care if it gets released by Apple or the Pope. It's useless as a keyboard, period.

Apple already came up with an adaptive touchscreen keyboard. It's called the iPhone. And it works really well in its context.

Apple may eventually come up with a tablet computer that will have an integrated touchscreen keyboard, when the time is right. Personally, I don't think it is at the moment.

But a touchscreen keyboard by itself? Nobody will buy this. Does this sound like a cool idea? Yes. Is it indeed a cool idea? No. To Lebedev's credit, he never pretended he was going after a market larger than a handful of people. This guy is having fun, not creating multimillion-dollar businesses. Good for him.

This doesn't look like too bad of an idea as a supplement to a normal keyboard, though if I recall, there are already multi-touch work surfaces on the market that can serve a similar function. (JazzMutant?)

However, this being a concept, the door for innovation is still wide open. Perhaps the screen itself could be a flexible membrane, and the keys could be a set of actuators beneath said membrane. Properly designed, I imagine the keys could provide as much tactical feedback as one of those old mechanical keyswitch keyboards while staying as quiet as a chiclet board.

I doubt the idea is new. Indeed, if I recall, Apple even filed a patent for a touchscreen that can form bumps on its surface. Practical? Maybe not, but I'm not going to underestimate a bunch of Russians that had the balls to make a keyboard with screens in every key.

"however, there are solid LCD tablet displays and Tablet PCs on the market already."
Uh yeah... and those aren't keyboards.

I'm not saying this thing is a good idea. It would be highly impractical as an everyday keyboard since there isn't any tactile feedback. But there has to be a market for this for people into audio and visual applications that don't require typing without looking at the keys.

Hey.. didn't I come up with this idea a few articles back?

What would be more interesting is if they actually released a product first before putting together concepts on future products.

This is completely useless as a keyboard. You really do need tactile feedback to type effectively. Your fingers would be all over the place and I doubt seriously that you could type very fast on that with any accuracy.

This is however a very good device to gather alternate input for specialized programs like video editing. Less clutter on the screen.

I can imagine video editing applications being greatly enhanced by this product.

@ed207: There are other touch surfaces formats that would be more useful than that.

In the future, an all-in-one computer or a monitor with a stand that would allow you to easily put your desktop space for full multi-touch interaction will probably be the key to go. Along with nano-material coating that would effectively make your screen absolutely scratch- and, most importantly, fingerprint/grease/stain-resistant. To me, that's the biggest drawback of touchsurfaces of any kind: that they look like shit after a few seconds of work. It seems stupid, but that's what would make them perfect, not any other thing.

Today, I can see a touch keyboard integrated in a touch-screen for occasional typing. But not for typing this comment, for example. Until we get to star trek-level voice recognition, the traditional keyboard is here to stay.

Art L. has been doing so poorly that he's resorting to using girl-on-girl kiss clips to promote his products?!?

In the dentist's office we need to disinfect surfaces after each patient leaves, so we prefer smooth surfaces. This looks like an excellent keyboard for quick disinfection.

It just remind me Startrek's console...

All the naysayers remind me of old dogs unable to perform new tricks. The same lame whining about the iPhone keyboard proved nonsense. I will beat any Blackberry or Treo owner in a type-off, with my iPhone!

If you old dogs would continue with your primitive button keyboards LMAO go ahead. Me and my house will be evolving to dynamic interfacing tools like this one. I can't wait! This keyboard could potentially kill the mouse also. If you can't see that you're to old & slow my friends!

Allow me a moment of respectful mockery..."Im old, I need to reload my rifle with powder between each shot, I need to crank the engine on my automobile, I need to speak to an operator to make a phonecall, I need to press a lever to flush a toilet, I need to feel buttons to know what Im typing, please help me Im old.

Ok, happy new year!

I can't wait for this!! Sweet!

They should just can the current model and focus on this. Because of the large single display, it may in fact be cheaper in the end, more so at least than the current lots of custom little screens.

I would beg, borrow and steal to purchase one of these, at any price point, if it was actually released as is and not bastardised.

I've been waiting a long time for something like this.

i think it's because creating one giant touch screen is much cheaper than creating many individuals keys but by doing this the whole point is lost, now you'd have to look down on the keyboard all the time whenever you try to type. In that case i might just buy a touch screen monitor and type on it instead.