Phantom Lapboard now on sale, suckers rejoice

At this point we're pretty certain Phantom's shady, vaporous history is warning enough to anyone thinking about giving cash to the company, but the risk-takers out there might want to take note: Phantom's oft-delayed Lapboard is now available for purchase. Of course, there's no ship date listed and -- true to Phantom form -- the site's SSL certificate is a little shady, but come on, you know you want to pony up your credit card number and let us know what happens.

[Thanks, Ray Z.]

[Halfmad @ Dec 15th 2007 2:30PM]

Oddly whenever I imagine the telephone ordering and support line for Phantom I can't help but imagine the Ugandan chap off of Fonejacker..

Give us your monies.. please.

[ssuk @ Dec 15th 2007 5:38PM]

Gooooood aftanuun Madame, I'm George, I'm calling from your baaank.

[billy bob thorton @ Dec 15th 2007 6:15PM]

anyone interested in their current stock price? http://www.marketwatch.com/quotes/phei

[monkfishbandana @ Dec 15th 2007 7:11PM]

@billy bob thornton

Holy crap! Buy 'em up now; those figures must be a stock broker's dream!

[AlexL @ Dec 15th 2007 8:33PM]

It is overpriced for a company that is worth nothing.

[Shane @ Dec 15th 2007 10:04PM]

It's hard to put any credibility in a company that was part of a pump-and-dump stock scam...
(as if anyone had any trust in them to begin with)

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUKN1041045120071210?rpc=44&pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true

[billy bob thorton @ Dec 15th 2007 10:27PM]

Here's some more disturbing info on this "company"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_Entertainment

[Student Driver @ Dec 16th 2007 2:34AM]

Hey, Ms. Cleo told me it's "teh hawtness" (her leet-speak, not mine) so I'm in.

You know, this could also be re-branded as "Tommy Lee's Penis Typing Table." Now *that* would move some units (and sell some of this crap, too).

[computer.dude.28 @ Dec 15th 2007 2:31PM]

I don't like it. looks uncomforable.

[computer.dude.28 @ Dec 15th 2007 2:32PM]

Uncomfortable, sorry.. strange IE glitches

[Tachikomatic @ Dec 15th 2007 3:25PM]

You mean brain fart for not proofreading your post? :P

[computer.dude.28 @ Dec 15th 2007 3:52PM]

Well everything just kind of turned blue and I couldn't fix it till I hit Add Comments, but yeah, that too

[Arathon @ Dec 15th 2007 8:57PM]

You mean, "Sorry - I should have been using Firefox"?

[computer.dude.28 @ Dec 15th 2007 9:29PM]

Exactly.

[broli @ Dec 15th 2007 2:32PM]

Does it get bundled with Duke Nukem Forever?

[Yubastard @ Dec 15th 2007 3:34PM]

damn, man, that is the best LOL

[Tiptup300 @ Dec 15th 2007 2:34PM]

Ha, one of the features:

"
• Powerful digital rights management (DRM) solution that ensures seamless delivery of digital content to consumers while protecting against piracy
"

[CaptCaveman @ Dec 15th 2007 4:37PM]

If they add some securities fraud protection I'm sold...

[Conrad @ Dec 15th 2007 6:33PM]

Uuh, thats for the phantom game service. Which sounds equally creepy. If this 'product' is supposed to be urnning embedded windows, why does it need an existing XP machine? And why do you need cable AND broadband? This site could be better thought out, especially for a scammer...

[Andreas @ Dec 15th 2007 2:34PM]

after reading pretty much the whole site. it is very scary. nothing ads up. dates, prices, nothing. they have the store that only sells the keyboard but offer other services. their dates on things are all over the place
the customer service page is creepy.
why is this even posted here? this is an obvious scam

[Big John @ Dec 15th 2007 2:38PM]

I still don't understand how anyone would actually want one of these.

[jd @ Dec 15th 2007 2:40PM]

can someone explain why the keyboard is tilled?

and how does rotating 360 degree going to help left handed people? does that mean people who are left handing type with the keyboard upside down?

for god sake, someone please from china make the same key board and sell it for 19.99$

[brett @ Dec 15th 2007 2:55PM]

"and how does rotating 360 degree going to help left handed people? does that mean people who are left handing type with the keyboard upside down?"

wow. words fail me.

...no, wait. here they come:

k, i understand your powers of mental acuity might not be all there today, so i'll go slow for you. Imagine not the keyboard rotating, but the lapboard rotating around it.

...i'll let you think on that for a minute or two...

ready?

great, now for step 2. with the keyboard staying still, mr. left-hander takes the lapboard and rotates it 180 degrees.

Voila: a left-handed lapboard. Genius.

...i'll be here all day, so keep 'em coming...

[Yubastard @ Dec 15th 2007 3:35PM]

lol

[ByronGman @ Dec 16th 2007 5:56PM]

Last time I checked, most people time with both hands, the whole idea of a left-handed keyboard is bogus anyway.

[AlexL @ Dec 15th 2007 2:53PM]

The whole concept of the lapboard is stupid in the first place. The solution for a keyboard-and-mouse control scheme from a distance has been introduced a long time ago, and it consists of a cordless keyboard and a motion sensing air-mouse. Perhaps the notion of the lapboard still made sense when it was first announced, when those technologies were still obscure, with only Gyration making most of the equipment. But now that the idea has been popularized with Microsoft's media center remote keyboard and Nintendo's Wiimote, there is really no place anymore for a contraption like the lapboard.

[MDB @ Dec 15th 2007 3:09PM]

Couldn't agree more. I have a gyration mini keyboard and airmouse--guaranteed to work better than this piece of shit and takes up far less space as well.

[Jesse S @ Dec 15th 2007 7:42PM]

Have you ever tried a FPS with an air mouse?

It doesn't work very well.

[memodude @ Dec 15th 2007 8:01PM]

@Jesse: Have you ever tried a FPS with a lapboard?

It doesn't work very well.

[AlexL @ Dec 15th 2007 8:37PM]

An air mouse is a different control scheme than a mouse, to be sure, and games need to recognize it to fully support it.

[jd @ Dec 15th 2007 3:22PM]

to Brett:

thank you for being patient with me. i am a software engineer but i still fail to realize the advantage of the tilled keyboard, except maybe you can have the mouse under the keyboard, but it is un-natural type with the tilled keyboard.

i think the company's website failed to show people the usefulness of this keyboard.

ps: to the chinese copy cat:
just make a keyboard and add a thin slide board that can slide out from the left side of the right side of the keyboard so user can put the mouse on it, like this:

|----|--------|----|
|mice|keyboard|mice|
|----|--------|----|

haha, it seems like my idea is already better than the lapboard, thats sad.

[Josh @ Dec 15th 2007 3:53PM]

it's tilted so you can have a surface to use the mouse on underneath the keyboard, since this is intended to be used from your couch, not on a desk.

[Adrian @ Dec 15th 2007 3:30PM]

What a horrible product! They should have just killed this thing off years ago!

[CaptCaveman @ Dec 15th 2007 4:36PM]

Actually everyone liked the lapboard when it was demoed. 50 bucks may cause some impulse buys.

But 129 bucks +
no shipping date +
expired security certificate on the store site +
Phantom's history of not delivering +
other devices out there that pretty much does the same thing for a lot less =
a warehouse full of product that won't be moving.

/OK, so the chances of them actually having these things already made are slim.
//OK, so the chance of them actually having a warehouse is even slimmer.
///OK, so they are most likely also operating out of some room in someone's basement also
////OK, chances are that the room also holds the boiler for heating the house...

[Jesse S @ Dec 15th 2007 7:44PM]

Where are some similar products? I actually want something like this.

[Karel Jansens @ Dec 15th 2007 3:57PM]

Do they sell Medison Celbebrity USD 150.00 laptops as well?

[Ryan @ Dec 15th 2007 4:02PM]

I just bought one, I'll be sure and leave a full review once I get it!

[Roy @ Dec 15th 2007 4:12PM]

*if

[Ryan @ Dec 15th 2007 4:24PM]

...and 400 dollars has already disappeared from my checking account, that didn't take long at all!








(I'm really stupid enough to give my money to them)

[Ryan @ Dec 15th 2007 4:25PM]

whoops, i mean NOT stupid enough...

[Spinfusor @ Dec 15th 2007 4:14PM]

They've been excepting (pre)orders for a long long time now. This is old news.

[Spinfusor @ Dec 15th 2007 4:20PM]

*accepting, excuse me.

[tekdroid @ Dec 15th 2007 6:01PM]

22 degree tilt? No thanks. Frankly I see any regular wireless kb and mouse as a better solution. Hard surfaces and smaller keyboards are not hard to come by. 22 degree tilts easy to avoid.

[Ross @ Dec 15th 2007 6:12PM]

well, they have an office listed in NY, i think engadget should send someone there to check it out...

[jason @ Dec 15th 2007 7:51PM]

Where in NY? (sorry, I'm being lazy)

[Ross @ Dec 16th 2007 11:18AM]

Phantom Entertainment, Inc.
222 Grace Church St.
Suite 302 # 1000135
Port Chester, NY 10573
U.S.A
[phone] (phone/fax)

i say that engadget either send a writer/editor or bribe a closeby reader with goodies to go down there to see whats up

[Zeus the God @ Dec 15th 2007 7:33PM]

I'd say just buy a good keyboard and mouse and a cutting board. Keyboard in lap and cutting board on the couch beside you- how could you go wrong?

[Macha88 @ Dec 15th 2007 7:55PM]

ill buy it if it can give me lapdances

[sectionz @ Dec 15th 2007 10:08PM]

The SSL Cert is invalid for the store :0 SHOCKING.

[Wickedashtray @ Dec 15th 2007 10:21PM]

I'm sure with a little tweaking you can make a Splitfish work on your PC.