Hasta La Ideas

A company called CharaChorder has produced this Master Forge product. It’s a chord keyboard, that the company claims allows typing speeds above 300 words-per-minute. (For you non-writers, that’s a staggering claim—I can do maybe 80-90 wpm and that’s considered fast.)

Chord keyboards have a steep learning curve, as you’ve got to learn all of the combinations from scratch; a lifetime of QWERTY familiarity does you no good.

As amazing as the device is (if the testimonials are to be believed), my question is: Why on Earth does it have to look like that? Was any industrial designer even consulted?

Alien aesthetics aside, demand for the device is shockingly high: While they were seeking just $10,000 in funding, at press time they’d soared past $515,000, with 11 days left to pledge.

Here’s the pitch: