Veronica Belmont: Hi, I am Veronica Belmont here at CES 2008 with Artemy Lebedev who has created the fantastic Opitmus Maximus Keyboard.
Artemy Lebedev: Hello. Thank you.
Veronica Belmont: So, tell me what about this keyboard and what makes it different and why everyone is so excited about it.
Artemy Lebedev: Well, thank you for telling me that everyone is excited about it.
Veronica Belmont: Yes.
Artemy Lebedev: This keyboard is different from anything else on the market it is because every key on this keyboard has a display inside.
Veronica Belmont: It is an OLED display?
Artemy Lebedev: Yes, an OLED technology here.
Veronica Belmont: What is the resolution of the display on the keys?
Artemy Lebedev: Each keys, 48 by 48 pixels and about 2 cm by 2 cm in size.
Veronica Belmont: So sensor screen you can obviously configure the keyboard however you want.
Artemy Lebedev: It is totally remappabble and totally reconfigurable and you can make any button. Not only a look the way you want but also do whatever you want so it can like, not only pringle letter ‘A’. It can also pringle your email signature or do whatever you want.
Veronica Belmont: Can you show me the configuration software?
Artemy Lebedev: Yes, it is here on the screen. You can see in right now the English, the standard qwerty layout and so you can take any letter. Choose any form for that. Choose any size for that. Choose any color if you wish or if you are tasteless enough you can choose any background color like this. No, no, not tasteless enough. Like this. Here we go, you can even choose some really bath form like this one and make it oversize. It will appear on the display and make it bold and italic.
Veronica Belmont: So you can see a preview of it on the configuration software before you actually put it on the keys.
Artemy Lebedev: Yes, actually you can select multiple keys here in categorator and like change all the font, change all the sizes, change all the colors and change all the background colors as well so to create the most tasteless configuration possible in seconds and upload it to the keyboard.
Veronica Belmont: You seem very excited about making it look as tasteless as possible.
Artemy Lebedev: Yes, that is something we have to worry about because when you want to give such as an easy tool to make this thin, people just immediately start to explore it and it is very hard for them to comeback. So we have to provide a lot of configurations that they cannot easily damage and easily destroy. Like this one is Photoshop configuration. Also every image is editable. You can use like default key or maybe some assigns on action just by tying it to the ‘X’. You can choose any file. I will find this file and unloaded it here and so on.
Veronica Belmont: So there is preset customization for each different program.
Artemy Lebedev: Exactly, with configure of it that comes with a lots of different layouts already predefined, pre-designed and pre-drawn so people will be like a cloak on a space bar. It will be plug-in. People will not be able to write in a second on day on. But we have to provide it of course.
Veronica Belmont: This is something like gamers would probably enjoy as well PC gamers.
Artemy Lebedev: I hope so, yes. All kinds of weapons and scores on the keys and there are some things people never thought it could be possible like blinking the whole keyboard with a red like saying something, like the high alert state.
Veronica Belmont: If you can catch some agro when you are playing it will tell you?
Artemy Lebedev: Yes, okay. You can even play mine sweeper on the keyboard actually.
Veronica Belmont: Nice, and what are these keys over here on the left/
Artemy Lebedev: These keys are for whatever you need because when we designed the keyboard we admitted that we realized that people will be the standard keys will not be enough for regular use because people will want some additional keys to do, some others will functions. So we put these 10 extra keys here. Making it, the escape here is a bit hard full some people to find because the others will press it. But they can reconfigure that if they can have escape on the other key they wish.
Veronica Belmont: Now this is obviously a higher end keyboard and it is a little in the price range, how much is it going for?
Artemy Lebedev: It is starting at $4,660 and going up to $15,000.
Veronica Belmont: I heard that you can actually purchase keys as you go.
Artemy Lebedev: Yes, you made those all. You made by the lowest end configuration with only one display and the rest will be just a place at keys.
Veronica Belmont: Sounds kind of like a payment plan.
Artemy Lebedev: Yes, and then it was like you wash dishes at McDonalds and like your hundred bucks and you go in buy 10 keys and just installed them. I can show you how to that.
Veronica Belmont: Sure.
Artemy Lebedev: First of all you have to unplug the power because that is the first thing you have to do while working with any electrical appliance. Then you use this special high end tool, it called key remover. You put your finger through it. You stock it in the keyboard and remove the key.
Veronica Belmont: I have done that before but with a car keys I actually pop them out that way.
Artemy Lebedev: But those keys did not have any displays inside it.
Veronica Belmont: That is true.
Artemy Lebedev: Now here all these green inside when you see all the contacts here and you can see the inner workings. Inside we have 20 pins as well as cherry switch which is mechanical it is not membrane. Not silicon type of keyboard so it is pretty like you physically feel the reaction and then like for example this was a place to keys that we just put away we spend our $10.00 and both to the key whether display. So we can install it here. It is done like this and press it firmly and put power back on. So it works, now we have works a lot of vicious so we have the full keyboard configuration here and we can use it for typing or for whatever.
Veronica Belmont: When this is going to be available in the US?
Artemy Lebedev: It is already available for those who paid in May and some other months after May. People have to weight a little bit until we finish the software because right now the problem here is that we do not have the form bearer that up user upgradeable. So within couple of weeks will be sending keyboards with the form bearer that allows upgrading. For those who have limited functionality keyboard but they will be able to download form bearer and upgrade themselves. You can do just one click.
Veronica Belmont: Alright, excellent. Thank you so much.
Artemy Lebedev: You are welcome.
Veronica Belmont: At CES 2008 I am Veronica Belmont.
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