If you have been looking for the holy grail of keyboards it seems you will have to wait. For now, the highly anticipated Optimus Maximus - is already shipping from artlebedev.com and Engadget.com got one for testing. Now, almost every gamer and designer out there is salivating to know if it is worth the almost 3 year wait and worth the “are you kidding me?” $462 price tag. Short story - it doesn’t seem worthy of either. Yes, that price is JUST for a keyboard.

Well according to the first impressions of Engadget.com the Optimus Maximus is a very nice keyboard that fails at the basic premise of being a keyboard. Confused? Well they say the keys are very hard to press and do not flow like a keyboard should, causing unnecessary strain and fatigue for your hands.

For those that never heard of this keyboard, the idea is having a keyboard that can display an image in real time on each separate key. This can offer incredible customization to your work flow. Imagine keys that change depending on which programs you are actually using, keys that display a status like something as simple as “new emails” or any other notification you usually need. But, that is not all we users wanted; we also wanted a usable keyboard.

It seemed to me like an epic fail ever since they announced the price. But there was always hope. If you consider that technology which succeeds is lowered in price as time goes by; this is the best idea for a keyboard in a long time. If it doesn’t sell well, there will always be someone else that takes the idea and perfects it, the Optimus Maximus “new and improved” 2.0 or the desinger’s latest Optimus Tactus.

PC World has a very interesting article about technologies that we can’t buy, well at least not in the USA.

Imagine a cell phone that offers true TV capabilities, works as your bus/subway/train pass, it links sales to a credit card (wave your cell phone at the register), tells your car where to go, which route has less traffic and which gas station is cheaper, and can even warn you of an impeding disaster like an earthquake. And this is a phone we are talking about here, not a computer you have to carry on your back.

Sounds like science fiction but it is reality at the other side of the world, in Japan. Read the article for more info.

Here is an actual review, not just first impressions, of the MacBook Air by Ars Technica. This review deals with only the standard 4200rpm hard drive version - they will do another review for the solid-state hard drive version of this laptop on February 5th.

Big points of the review are:

• The small size is only based on how thin it is, since in terms of desktop space it only saves a bit compared to the regular MacBook.

• It’s trackpad is bigger than MacBook and MacBook Pro, but the gestures use is still limited.

• For audio it has one speaker (good bye stereo) and it is still louder than a MacBook - but then again what isn’t?

• Lacking a regular CD/DVD drive can be a pain if you don’t plan ahead or don’t always take your installation disks with you

• The weight is a huge attribute; makes it very comfortable

• It’s performance “Achilles heel” is the slow hard drive

• Some users are experiencing louder than normal fans on these, but not the reviewer

• Don’t even try the remote Migration Assistant, just don’t

• WiFi is ok, but not close to the MacBook sensitivity

• Actual usage time on the battery was about 2 hours and 33 minutes. Ouch, that is not even half of the 6 hours advertised!

Read the full review to make your opinions… but seems quite a disappointment for some of us. I could have lived without the DVD drive. I could have lived with the slower performance (on the go only!!). But such a short battery life is really a disappointment; especially for a computer that is made to take with you everywhere you can take a manila folder.

Every year the electronics community gathers to see what is the future of those lovable gadgets and plasma screens every technophile salivates for. This show is called the CES; the Consumer Electronics Show and this year it was celebrated January 7 to 10, 2008 in Las Vegas.

The lucky guys at Gizmodo where there and have created a list of what they think were the best offerings at the show. Everything from 150″ TVs (yep, that is right 150 inches of pure imagery), media players, geek appearances and weird gadgets you weren’t expecting. Like for example a leopard skin taser with built-in MP3 player - what? Don’t believe me? Just follow the link.

And that is why we love CES; a bunch of gadgets that we won’t get anytime soon, if at all, and a lot that are just fun reading about - because you don’t really want them.

Apple lovers, keep in mind this is just a concept and not coming to stores any time soon so don’t go asking for it at the Apple store just yet.

The iRing, a concept design by Victor Soto, is meant to connect to the iPhone or iTouch via bluetooth. (although the iTouch doesn’t have bluetooth right now) It would control functions like volume, move back and forward through you songs or media, and mute. All this through touch sensitive controls on the surface of the ring; it also employees a lock mechanism so you don’t go changing the volume because you moved your hand.

A bit ahead of it’s time in terms of actual implementation, but I believe it is a nice idea on what the future can hold for device control. It was made with the Apple products in mind, but imagine music systems and TVs that can be controlled this way.

Imagine never running around the house trying to find the TV remote, it is always in your hand. I surely want to imagine that.

For those of you that don’t know, Apple released their MacBook Air January 15th 2008 and it should start shipping the first week of February. The lucky guys at Gizmodo have received one already. How does it compare to other ultra-portables in the market? How does it compare to the Sony VAIO?

Gizmodo has an article about it. Looks like a great machine for those that don’t care to lose a bit of performance for commodity and design, it sure looks nice. Check it out.