DIY wooden keyboard kit brings out the carpenter in you

We caught a glimpse of Marubeni Infotec's wooden input peripherals earlier this year at Computex, and now the makers of the Hacoa brand are reportedly readying a DIY kit that will enable users to actually assemble one of their own. Apparently, the company is downright tired of working long hours just to crank out a minimal number of 'boards, so it's hoping to offload some of the labor and attract industrious consumers by offering up the Ki-Board DIY Kit. The package will purportedly include your choice of maple or walnut wood, a USB keyboard base, a few tools / connectors and a "plank with the beginnings of keys carved into it." Word on the street has it that these bundles will go on sale later this month for around ¥34,800, or just over $300.

[Via PinkTentacle]

[DickHardknocks @ Oct 3rd 2007 9:16PM]

WOODGRAIN for computers?

What's next? 22's with Spinners?

[i luv nose candy @ Oct 3rd 2007 9:31PM]

Oh Jeez, here we go with another gadget maker who thinks it would be sexy hot to have a keyboard made of wood. Don't get me started again...
Why not concrete? Or animal hair? Paper Mache?
Oh well, better do a line and just calm down...

[ryantrevisol @ Oct 3rd 2007 9:57PM]

At the speed most of us on here probably type, I forsee splinters aplenty.

[Kieran Egan @ Oct 3rd 2007 9:39PM]

There is no way I 'wood' ever buy that

[John @ Oct 3rd 2007 11:06PM]

Berry funny!

[DickHardknocks @ Oct 3rd 2007 9:43PM]

The mere fact VERTU can sell ridiculously obsolete cellular phones for $1000 merely because they are wrapped with leather and accented with chrome, you just know a WOOD GRAIN fad could catch on if it was done right.

I know if a company like Apple or Microsoft would invest in "luxury keyboards" using decent materials, it would take off very quickly.

I'll never understand why people want wood grain inside a car. Why not simply have precious metals that don't wear out and the highest quality plastics?

[justinf951 @ Oct 3rd 2007 9:45PM]

wood has natural anti-bacterial properties so I could see a use in public places, especially the medical library where i work. Filthy med students.

[DickHardknocks @ Oct 3rd 2007 10:37PM]

How about I make a special chair with a hole in the seat that attaches to a colostomy bag so that people playing HALO 3 can play completely uninterrupted?

...well, at least until their PARENTS get home.

[Jimmy @ Oct 3rd 2007 10:43PM]

Why not hire better workers to make the keyboards faster? or maybe more? but that's just me thinking.

[bombastinator @ Oct 3rd 2007 10:55PM]

so it's kind of an ikeaboard then...

[Kevin Farley @ Oct 3rd 2007 11:22PM]

These guys must've been so high when they dreamed this up, wish I could've been there!

[HineyWipe @ Oct 3rd 2007 11:23PM]

Ok Class. I am going to drill you on typing!

Next up, a wood router!

[DickHardknocks @ Oct 3rd 2007 11:30PM]

Fine wood might make a nice SERVER cabinet - but a keyboard?

[sid @ Oct 4th 2007 12:18AM]

A nice server cabinet made of wood might catch fire if you let the clock heat up too much... lol...

[Twitchy @ Oct 4th 2007 1:00AM]

I don't know what you lot are on about. If it is nice to type on (has anyone tried it yet?), and one finds it visually appealing (I sure do) then I think there is a place for this in the market.

That and the fact that it is constructed (at least in part) from a renewable resource, which gives it that tree-hugger seal of approval.

[Okie @ Oct 4th 2007 2:04AM]

C'mon, it's one of those 'hmmm' and 3 second brags to your geeky friends. Just like putting blue neon things in a plexi side on your tower.

Way way way way way back on the edge of the mainframe days, when TRS-80's were the state of the art, a magazine had an ad with a STUFFED one with a floppy drive that had a floppy and the door velcroed shut(gods that was a deluxe model, they stored stuff on cassette tape!) and I just had to make one. [It has disappeared in the decades, and I'm betting I know what geeky friend lifted it.]

This is no different. Think of it as RETRO and watch it be the fad for the next few days (aka a few generations now).

[Jon @ Oct 4th 2007 4:38PM]

Superb. Reminds me of the Nigerian scammer who was made to carve a wooden Commodore 64 - http://www.419eater.com/html/john_boko.htm