Tools of the Trade: Keyboardio Reboots the Keyboard

June 18th, 2015

Do you type a lot? Probably – and on a flat, rectangular matrix of lifeless square buttons not positioned for human hands. If you’re at the keyboard all day, and/or you love typing, you might consider upgrading to what looks like the next level of keyboardism, developed by the startup Keyboardio with our friends at Highway1, PCH International’s hardware incubator.

For those using tools to express their insights – whether artists or programmers – form can equal function in importance. Intuitively useable and natural-feeling interfaces help expressions flow more freely. Attractively-designed, they may enhance the emotional relationship with one’s craft, even reducing frustration with the tool’s “psycho-prosthetic” (yeah I just made that word up) limitations. While old school methods of data entry may sometimes be best (check out our recent posts: The Lost Art of Index Cards and The Pen is Mightier than the Keyboard), everyone needs a better keyboard.

Keyboardio is a mom n’ pop tech design company based in San Francisco that has reinvented the standard keyboard, along with the help with our friends over at PCH International’s hardware incubator, Highway1. The founders, Jesse and Kayla, are from the software community and he is highly respected in open source circles. The Model1 , their second design,  is a 2-piece unit featuring a number of ergonomic and functional enhancements:

Heirloom-grade craftsmanship
From the hardwood and aluminum enclosure to the best mechanical keyswitches, we’ve built this keyboard to last a lifetime.

Designed for humans
The Model 01 lets you keep your hands and wrists in a more natural position so you can keep typing comfortably, longer.

Absolutely fully programmable
We let you create your own shortcuts and record macros and bind them to keys, helping you compute like a superhero.

Open source
Your keyboard comes with source code and a screwdriver: while the product works great out of the box, you can tinker to make it even better.

 

Keyboardio’s Kickstarter campaign has already received more than double the initial ask of $120k. Check out their campaign video, below.

[Full disclosure: Our Editor, Mark Mian, is a branding mentor at Highway1, but gets no kickback for this. We just love great hardware design.]