Remember the Optimus Maximus?



For those who don't know, the Optimus Maximus is Art Lebedev's design baby. It's a souped-up computer keyboard with invididual OLED screen pads in place of the traditional plastic keys. It's damn expensive too. Do you happen to have $1600 just waiting to be thrown at a shiny keyboard?



Art Lebedev has announced a cheaper alternative that's supposed to be under $1000. The Optimus Popularis will drop costs, by dropping the OLED screens. But c'mon, that's stupid. A keyboard without displays? That's like every other keyboard on the market. Damned if it's not much, much lower then $1000. The company claims that Optimus Popularis "will be based on a totally different principle." Whatever.



Given Art Lebedev's past history, I wouldn't expect a shipping unit for at least a few years.