We often see massively hyped products which then fail to emerge as their release date is postponed time and time again. The correct term for these products is Vaporware.

The Optimus Maximus Keyboard of Art. Lebedev Studio could fit this description. First announced in 2005, the release was postponed twice. To be more cost-effective, the technical specification of the keyboard changed and after another postponed release were changed back to the original.

Especially at an estimated price tag of $1500 for a keyboard, noone would be interested in the product anymore. But the much-hyped and long-awaited Optimus Maximus keyboard is different. Behind each of its 113 keys, a small 48x48 pixel OLED display works its magic, allowing the user to change the picture on each key. Custom keyboard layouts or shortcuts can be switched easily on a per-application basis.

Today, Art. Lebedev Studio announced via a countdown on their website that they will apparently start taking pre-orders from computer owners with more money than sense in roughly 3 days. Only 800 keyboards will be shipped until end of January 2008, ensuring that the price is kept high.

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About three years ago a new NYC subway map design by Eddie Jabbour, graphic designer for Kick Design, started to find its way to the internet. It had issues but it was much better than the current MTA design in that it tried to focus on stations instead of trains. People using the subway want to get from point A to point B in the shortest possible time so they look for stations close to those points, not for specific trains.

Encouraged by the positive feedback, Eddie contacted the MTA but was quickly put off:

… when he showed up at the agency’s Midtown offices with copies of his work, they were quick to find fault with it. According to Christopher Boylan, the transportation authority’s executive director of corporate and community affairs, who recalled the meeting, the main criticism was that Mr. Jabbour’s map, like Mr. Vignelli’s, was artistic but geographically inaccurate. “He’s a good designer and it’s an interesting map,” Mr. Boylan said. “The design is important, but the thing we’re concerned with is the best directional guidance. We design a map for use, not solely to look good, and we think it looks good.”

Original map on the left, the Kickmap on the right.

But Eddie Jabbour is not a man easily deterred. He works on his maps on weekends and nights with the feedback of his 17-year old daughter.

Criticism that Eddie’s map is geographically inaccurate is inappropriate as most people use road maps or street signs for that type of information. As previously mentioned, the usability should focus on the key features of subway lines - something the Kickmap gets right.

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What started as a side project for Dan Benjamin and Dan Cederholm on a Mac Mini in a collocation facility has grown to be one of the largest online communities for wine tasting. In about one year the site amassed about 20.000 users. A lovely design paired with a big community got the site quite far.

This week, the creators of Cork’d announced the sale of the site to Gary Vaynerchuk, the host of WLTV. A really nice outcome for everyone, especially since Gary seems to be a guy who understands the values of good design and a community. If you haven’t seen him before, watch this little summary - it’s worth it.

Congratulations to they guys from the iceberg!

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Rain Noe wrote an article on Apple’s new Touchscreen patent:

Touchscreens have one single but, as of yet, unadressed design flaw: your finger on the screen is obscuring the very elements you’re interacting with. This has several implications for the user interface, for example buttons need to be quite large so you can still see them.

Never fear though, the clever designers from Cupertino have come up with a solution for this particular dilemma. It’s still only a patent and I would be very surprised if this ever made it into a real product but it’s nevertheless a cool and unique idea.

Basically it’s an iPod or (i)Phone with a screen covering the whole front of the device. A transparent control layout on the screen allows interaction. The difference is, you’re not touching the screen, you touch the back, the opposite side of the controls. A cursor is shown to give you visual feedback on the position of your fingers and if you press harder, the device registers it as a click.

Since your fingers end up on the back of the iPod anyway, simply by virtue of holding the thing, it sounds like a pretty good idea. The whole thing, especially the cursor and “press harder to click” function might take a bit of getting used to but I’m sure Apple’s designers and engineers could come up with something.

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