macnn/electronista
05/30/2008, 5:00pm, EDT
Friday, May 30thOptimus Popularis gets first prototype view
Art Lebedev Studio's founder on Friday revealed an early 3D prototype of his Optimus Popularis keyboard that sheds new light on the device. Despite saying that the keyboard won't use the OLED displays of the Maximus, Lebedev's rendering confirms that the keyboard will still have at least some keys whose symbols will change based on the relevant app. The design is already known to be smaller than the Maximus and support both Mac OS X and Windows systems.
Launch information is still distant for the Popularis outside of its intended sub-$1,000 price tag, though the apparently more limited feature set could push the keyboard below the $462 price of the Russian company's current keyboard.
Filed under: gadgets
Other story tags: Art Lebedev, Optimus
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$462 is misleading
That is the minimal Optimus Maximus keyboard configuration with only a few keys with OLED displays and the rest are "normal". It is well over $1000 (around $1500 last I looked) for the full all keys light up version.
If this is a "real" keyboard in the photo I'd say that all the keys on it are display based. Or at least the alpha numeric ones. They look like the Optimus Maximus keys ...
Look at the top row
On the top row you can see a symbol changing colour from red to blue from key to key. Do you know what is it? This is the superposition of three Russian letters that are used to spell the most known obscene word in the language, which usually references a penis. I'm not making it up, the three letters composing that symbol on the keyboard are not commonly used and their combination brings to mind just one word. It's like spelling "f*ck" for English audience.
Lebedev Studio is known for its jokes that sometimes are too deep into rudeness. Making a joke like this only a Russian speaker can understand and "appreciate" does suit their style. It's not the first time Lebedev trying to make make an obscenity into something he thinks is funny.
So what?
@VicktorCode,Yes, you're right about that symbol. It's not the first time Art.Lebedev makes use of that combination of letters – the studio also sells t-shirts with that symbol on it.But how does that change anything about the keyboard? I think you're overreacting... If Lebedev wants to have some fun, why not?If anything, the sanitary political correctness of the modern tech/online/web 2.0 world is a little nauseating, and I find this type of stuff refreshing. If you can't handle a little swearing, don't buy the keyboard.