Yanko Design - Form Beyond Function |  |
- Let your Fingers Experience the Joy of Dancing on the Kira Keyboard
- This steampunk 1700s gadget signs your checks for you
- Air purifying technology that’s older than electricity itself!
| Let your Fingers Experience the Joy of Dancing on the Kira Keyboard Posted: 21 Apr 2018 06:43 AM PDT Can I say, as a writer, gamer, and someone who spends most of his time around a keyboard, there’s a marked difference in productivity between me sitting in front of a desktop, and me on my laptop. The difference? The keyboard. Laptops, made to be thin, have extremely thin keyboards that are A. silent, and B. have very little travel (the distance a key covers when pressed). There also seems to be a lack of standardization as far as key sizes and placement goes, varying from laptop to laptop, and company to company. Switch brands, and you’ll find yourself struggling, because now the Home key is somewhere else, or the arrow keys have a different design. With a desktop’s external keyboard, the story is completely different. It’s all about productivity… and reveling in the noise. There’s a joy to the tactile and audio feedback of a clickety-clack keyboard, and its curved tops and long travels mean you’re less likely to hit keys accidentally. It was in the pursuit of that very feeling, that the Kira was born. Designed well for all professions that use the keyboard, the Kira is a mechanical fingerjoy for writers and gamers, for recreational use, studio use, and office use. Designed “without compromise”, the Kira is a keyboard that takes Input Club’s mission of designing the world’s best keyboard. Over a year after their previous project the WhiteFox (that garnered 2000 backers on Kickstarter alone), the Kira is a more expanded version of its predecessor, featuring a full number pad and customizable RGB lighting among other features. What makes Kira so universally wonderful was the fact (and I say this a lot) that it was designed alongside a community of power-users, by a bunch of experts in the field. The result is a keyboard that is marvelously tactile, interactive in the sense that it can light up, and completely customizable in every sense. Not only does the Kira allow you to change and modify keystrokes, deciding what hitting each key will do, you can even physically change your keyboard, swapping keys, and even the mechanical switches underneath, giving you the tactile feedback you need. While some typists may love the tackety-tack sound, gamers care much about actuation force and key travel, or even offices, which prefer mechanical keyboards that are quiet. The Kira lets you hot-swap the switches underneath, letting you choose what sort of sound and feel you want, giving power to its user to use it as they see fit. In fact, they’ve published an extensive guide right here. The Kira also comes with backlighting, which is something of a rarity in external keyboards. While the keys don’t individually light up, the area between the keys does, giving you a sense of where your fingers are in relation to the layout. The Kira even comes with RGB lighting on the back that you can toggle, washing your table in a soft glow of light, perfect for gamers (and completely customizable). A cross between extremely functional, extremely nostalgic, and extremely delightful, the Kira was made for your fingers but also your eyes. The RBG lighting adds a much-needed ambiance to your games, while giving you a sense of the keyboard layout, while the keyboard itself is so finger-friendly, I feel like an idiot typing this out on my disgustingly bourgeois laptop keyboard. (Editor’s Note: Laptop keyboards suck, and I hit the backspace key at least 80 times on this article) Designers: Angelo Tobias & Input Club Click here to Buy Now: $179.00
Its unique RGB underglow and custom mechanical switches give you an unmatched typing experience. Kira is fully hardware programmable, which turns any key into a multi-function macro without active software.
Top Keyboard Features
Efficient and Durable Traditional full size keyboards are less space efficient than Kira, which packs all the keys you want into a condensed layout. Its custom keycaps use long-lasting, wear resistant plastic and a printing method that can’t be worn off. They also have a wonderful texture that won’t easily shine or show finger oils. This durable plastic, known as PBT, was proven in keyboards like the IBM Model M. Model M keycaps from the 1980s are still sturdy enough for continuous use today, even after decades of wear.
Engineered to Last Membrane keyboards don’t offer the pleasurable typing experience that users have come to expect from mechanical keyboards. Color-coded mechanical keyswitches set Input Club’s mechanical keyboards apart from generic models. Each color corresponds with a unique tactile experience. With that in mind, you can choose the perfect switch for your ergonomic needs. Average keyboards can suffer from reliability issues and force typists to bottom out harshly, which isn’t helpful for long term use. Input Club’s Hako switches—which our engineers designed—are smooth, self-cleaning, bottom out resistant, and deliciously tactile. They can also last for decades. In the unlikely event that a switch fails, or needs cleaning, hot swap sockets make removal and replacement simple. Every switch on the Kira can be replaced without a single drop of solder, completely changing how it feels.
Programmability Kira is fully open source. Its design files will go live on Github after we meet our commitments to backers. Input Club’s programming tools enable complete customization; all layouts and key combinations can be configured at the hardware level. Efficient layouts like Dvorak and Colemak are also within your grasp. Our easy to use online configurator doesn’t require programming knowledge or complex scripting. Its point and click interface is meant for everyone.
Mechanical Switch Options We test mechanical switches from many companies all over the world and publish our findings in The Comparative Guide to Mechanical Switches.
More Features
Included Keycaps
Click here to Buy Now: $179.00  |
| This steampunk 1700s gadget signs your checks for you Posted: 20 Apr 2018 04:00 PM PDT This complex smartphone-sized device is a miniaturized iteration of a product first created in 1738, by Pierre Jaquet-Droz. Using a complex series of mechanisms and gears, his entirely mechanical automata could write complete sentences by moving a pen/quill across paper… much to the amazement of European royalty, in whose courts Pierre showed off his mechanical miracles. Near 300 years later, his company, devoted to creating magical mechanical marvels (primarily watches), decided to recreate “The Writer” as it was called back then. Jaquet-Droz’s Signature Machine is now available for sale, replicating its owner’s signature by using historic cam technology and a complex series of 585 parts, assembled and finished by hand. With a window that lets you look at the complex workings of the machine inside, and an arm that works on X, Y and even Z axes (it has to lift the pen off the paper when it’s done), the Signing Machine is custom made to the signature of its owner and even comes with an engraved plate featuring your signature. Additionally, so that your signature isn’t misused, the Signing Machine even includes a 4-digit security code. Absolutely exquisite, and limited edition, the Signing Machine is undoubtedly a luxury item with its $367,500 price tag. Why yes, the pen is included. Designer: Jaquet Droz
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| Air purifying technology that’s older than electricity itself! Posted: 20 Apr 2018 01:12 PM PDT
This innocuous little artistically presented block is quite remarkable. Sitting on a V-cut wooden stand, the block contains a honeycomb structure, meant to allow air to pass through. Why? Because the Chikuno Cube is an air purifier. Originally created by Japanese craftsmen four hundred years ago for its purifying properties, the Chikuno Cube is made from a mixture of activated bamboo charcoal and clay, extruded into the honeycomb structure. The clay gives the cube its shape and structure, while the activated charcoal absorbs toxins, harmful gases, traps dirt, eliminates odor, and absorbs or releases moisture depending on the environment. Truly a wonder material, the charcoal cube doesn’t require an exhaust/fan or electricity to operate, and only requires to be kept in the sun for six hours every month or so, to cleanse the cube of toxins, and keep the charcoal “active”. Made in two sizes (the larger one simply employing 4 cubes instead of 1), the Chikuno Cube is made in Kyoto from indigenous bamboo, and also happens to be a winner of the Japanese Good Design Award! Designer: Chicuno Life
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