For the past year or so (maybe longer) I've been tossing around the idea of a keyboard with programmable LEDs on each key. I figured gamers would love to have a totally customizable keyboard, but that wasn't the real market. Serious cash would be made with international machines. (But gamers would still think it was cool and have an awesome freeware program to modify the keyboard for any game any way.)
A big problem with making an interface with numbers or letters on it is that most languages use different symbols that don't have an equivalent in other languages (example: ñ ). So, how do you use a machine built for another language? Sure, the software can show any language on the screen, but you need to be able to input the language first. I've seen a friend use a Sharpie to write Korean characters on her laptop keys to remember what was what when she was writing home. Horribly inefficient and ugly to boot.
The answer was to have an input device that adapted to the user. Of course, you could just use a touchscreen, but those don't give you any tactile response (that feeling of pressing in a key so you know you hit it). Most people don't like using a touchscreen for very long. The better way was to integrate a high-res LED into each key of a keyboard with a standardized layout that would accommodate any language.
Imagine: you walk up to an internet terminal in downtown Tokyo and hit the US flag on the keyboard;instantly the keyboard displays the same standard layout you see at home. A Russian walks up next to you and hits his flag; and he gets his standard layout as well! Given the choice between this and either (a) touchscreen keyboard, (b) some wierd mixed-language keyboard where I have to hunt-and-peck or (c) this elegant LED keyboard... well, I'd choose "c" even if it cost more!Well, just because I didn't get around to making it doesn't mean it's not a GREAT idea! And there's still money to be made marketing it and putting it out in the hands of the consumer.
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