1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:02,880 Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 2 00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:08,840 Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 3 00:00:08,920 --> 00:00:14,280 Speaker 1: tech stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hi there, 4 00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:17,000 Speaker 1: welcome to the podcast. My name is Chris Poette. I'm 5 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:19,479 Speaker 1: an editor here at how Stuff Works, and with me 6 00:00:19,560 --> 00:00:24,040 Speaker 1: I have writer Jonathan Strickland. Hey there, So today we 7 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:26,639 Speaker 1: were going to talk about some peripherals for your computer 8 00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:32,360 Speaker 1: add ons, you know, extra things, mice, keyboards, not but 9 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:34,080 Speaker 1: but not not the kind of you and I use, 10 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:40,320 Speaker 1: right because we're poor. Yeah, yeah, no, we're talking well, 11 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:43,720 Speaker 1: in some cases we're talking about extravagantly expensive peripherals, in 12 00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:46,199 Speaker 1: other cases that they're not extravagantly expensive, but they are. 13 00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:49,040 Speaker 1: It's definitely an investment. And if you are not the 14 00:00:49,120 --> 00:00:50,840 Speaker 1: kind of person who would use these sort of things 15 00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:54,840 Speaker 1: on a regular basis, it would definitely be an extravagance. True. 16 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:57,200 Speaker 1: And you you even mentioned that you have a few 17 00:00:57,240 --> 00:01:01,000 Speaker 1: that aren't even computer related, right, Yes, that's true. Well, 18 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:03,639 Speaker 1: we'll get into those. I guess okay, I thought, I thought. 19 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:06,080 Speaker 1: I started off with the Granddaddy, the one that made 20 00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:08,080 Speaker 1: the news um when it was on a lot of 21 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:10,640 Speaker 1: the electronics and gadgets blogs about a year ago, a 22 00:01:10,840 --> 00:01:13,720 Speaker 1: year and a half. Yeah, you might have heard of it. Um, 23 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:19,520 Speaker 1: this energy keyboard, Yes, about such the heck you say, 24 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:24,000 Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, you are right. Um, yes, I did 25 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:26,720 Speaker 1: write an article on this energy keyboard. Uh. Those guys 26 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:30,000 Speaker 1: are are pretty cool guys. They did not send me one. 27 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:34,480 Speaker 1: But well, I mean, when you're talking about a twenty 28 00:01:34,640 --> 00:01:40,000 Speaker 1: eight thousand dollar keyboard, yeah, they aren't really eager on 29 00:01:40,080 --> 00:01:43,720 Speaker 1: sending out test copies even like, oh sure I'll send 30 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:46,960 Speaker 1: it back. No. Um, but let's let's clear up a 31 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:49,080 Speaker 1: few things first before we get too involved in this. 32 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:53,760 Speaker 1: Uh like what exactly? Yeah, with these blogs, when they 33 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:55,880 Speaker 1: say a twenty dollar keyboard, you know, you just sit 34 00:01:55,920 --> 00:01:57,800 Speaker 1: there and think, who the heck is gonna pay twenty 35 00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:02,520 Speaker 1: eight grand for a keyboard? Well, the the analogy I 36 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:05,760 Speaker 1: used in the article, which I think is fairly apt, 37 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:08,120 Speaker 1: is to call you know, if you call this energy 38 00:02:08,200 --> 00:02:13,440 Speaker 1: just a keyboard, it's like calling a Bentley two dollar radio, 39 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:17,240 Speaker 1: because the Bentley does have a radio in it, right, Um, 40 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:20,520 Speaker 1: but you're not paying two dollars for the radio. You're 41 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:25,200 Speaker 1: paying two hut dollars for the Bentley. Um, so you 42 00:02:25,200 --> 00:02:28,720 Speaker 1: can drive the keyboard kind of No, No, not at all. No, 43 00:02:29,360 --> 00:02:31,639 Speaker 1: you're taking the analogy too far. Let's step back a bit. 44 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:35,560 Speaker 1: The key it's not just a keyboard. It's really a 45 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:40,920 Speaker 1: media and audio video production center, all in one little 46 00:02:41,320 --> 00:02:44,359 Speaker 1: compact package. And I say little because if you've ever 47 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:48,920 Speaker 1: been in an audio video studio, like one of the 48 00:02:48,919 --> 00:02:52,000 Speaker 1: really big professional ones, they're huge, and you've you've seen them, 49 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:55,480 Speaker 1: right of course. Yeah, you're in your career as a 50 00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:58,239 Speaker 1: rock musician. God, you've seen these all the time, right 51 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:04,200 Speaker 1: of course. Okay, so um, good old Filet and his drums. Um. 52 00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:06,919 Speaker 1: So anyway, and we're not joking, he really and anyway, 53 00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:10,280 Speaker 1: let's move on. So these these studios are rather large. 54 00:03:10,280 --> 00:03:13,480 Speaker 1: They have these big consoles that are all specialized. Well, 55 00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:16,440 Speaker 1: the Synergy keyboard. The one of the purposes for this 56 00:03:16,520 --> 00:03:19,320 Speaker 1: is to kind of replace a lot of that equipment, 57 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:21,800 Speaker 1: put it all in a very compact package. And the 58 00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:24,520 Speaker 1: way it works is this, every single key on that 59 00:03:24,639 --> 00:03:29,360 Speaker 1: keyboard is really a tiny computer monitor, So the keys 60 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:33,000 Speaker 1: can display different images based upon what sort of task 61 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:36,840 Speaker 1: you're doing. If you're just typing regular letter or an 62 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:38,840 Speaker 1: email or whatever, it could be a quarty keyboard and 63 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:41,480 Speaker 1: everything just looks the way a normal keyboard would. If 64 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:44,160 Speaker 1: you go into video editing mode, you'll suddenly have the 65 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:46,760 Speaker 1: keys will just switch, so keys that you don't need 66 00:03:46,880 --> 00:03:49,840 Speaker 1: they'll disappear, and a new key will appear in its place. 67 00:03:49,920 --> 00:03:53,160 Speaker 1: Because the each key is a little monitor, and so 68 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:55,560 Speaker 1: you might have things like play and rewind and cut 69 00:03:55,680 --> 00:03:57,960 Speaker 1: and paste and all that kind of stuff, the common 70 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:00,240 Speaker 1: things you would use. And it has a jog we deal, 71 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:04,280 Speaker 1: it has its own little LCD screen. So um, it's actually, 72 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:09,360 Speaker 1: like I said, a full audio visual editing package in 73 00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:13,680 Speaker 1: keyboard format. So let's not you know. That's that's probably 74 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:16,760 Speaker 1: why most people you know maybe had read that far. 75 00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:19,880 Speaker 1: They're just like, wow, how can a keyboard cost that much? Well, 76 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:22,200 Speaker 1: when you're talking about replacing an entire studio, which could 77 00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:26,040 Speaker 1: cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, it's really, comparatively speaking, 78 00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:29,440 Speaker 1: not that expensive. I'm still not gonna be buying one 79 00:04:29,480 --> 00:04:32,400 Speaker 1: anytime soon. I would love to see one in action. Um. 80 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:35,160 Speaker 1: I keep hoping that I'll I'll run into one at 81 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:37,279 Speaker 1: a convention or something, just so I can see it 82 00:04:37,440 --> 00:04:40,560 Speaker 1: work in person, But um, yeah, I don't think I'll 83 00:04:40,600 --> 00:04:43,920 Speaker 1: be cracking the bank open to to buy one. When 84 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:46,159 Speaker 1: I could buy a car, not a Bentley, but a 85 00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:49,159 Speaker 1: car for that same amount. Well, it seems like we've 86 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:52,000 Speaker 1: come a long way from the video toaster days. You 87 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:55,000 Speaker 1: have that built into the keyboard itself, right, But we 88 00:04:55,040 --> 00:04:58,400 Speaker 1: are actually going to talk about another uh computer keyboard 89 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:02,000 Speaker 1: that allows you to display different things keys too. Yeah, 90 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:06,440 Speaker 1: the I believe you're referring to the Optimus Maximus, Yes, yes, 91 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:10,320 Speaker 1: which is a keyboard that dresses and gladiator clothes and 92 00:05:10,360 --> 00:05:13,240 Speaker 1: has a sword and also is more than meets the eye. 93 00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:17,360 Speaker 1: We'll just go ahead across genre that. But it does 94 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:21,080 Speaker 1: have O. L E. D S or oh lads built 95 00:05:21,080 --> 00:05:25,719 Speaker 1: into this screen and you can actually program the different keys, 96 00:05:25,760 --> 00:05:29,120 Speaker 1: like if you wanted one to be the Firefox key, 97 00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:31,640 Speaker 1: you can make it, you know, put the little Firefox 98 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:33,280 Speaker 1: logo in there and it will show up on the 99 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:36,640 Speaker 1: key because it's got a little video screen built into 100 00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:39,400 Speaker 1: it with little led Shi kind of cool. You could 101 00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:41,839 Speaker 1: actually put in animated gifts if you wanted to, so 102 00:05:41,839 --> 00:05:44,800 Speaker 1: you can have a little a little yeah, like Sparkle 103 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:47,800 Speaker 1: or twirl or whatever. Um. And this was a big 104 00:05:47,880 --> 00:05:51,680 Speaker 1: hit for a while, especially when we kept waiting and 105 00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:54,479 Speaker 1: waiting and yeah, this was one of those that was 106 00:05:54,560 --> 00:05:57,400 Speaker 1: delayed for a really long time. And and there's a 107 00:05:57,520 --> 00:06:00,000 Speaker 1: range of these. That's true, that's true. They a little 108 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:03,240 Speaker 1: le yeah, and and you can choose how many keys 109 00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:06,320 Speaker 1: actually have this feature. So if you didn't want to 110 00:06:06,360 --> 00:06:10,040 Speaker 1: pay the full one, the the knacked out one, if 111 00:06:10,040 --> 00:06:12,520 Speaker 1: you will, as all of its keys uh in O 112 00:06:12,760 --> 00:06:17,400 Speaker 1: L O L E de form that one's about um. 113 00:06:17,440 --> 00:06:19,719 Speaker 1: But you could get ones the where you're just like, okay, 114 00:06:19,720 --> 00:06:22,680 Speaker 1: well just these four keys have the O L E 115 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:25,960 Speaker 1: D S or just the just the function keys um, 116 00:06:26,040 --> 00:06:29,520 Speaker 1: and they were less expensive. They're still pretty pretty hefty 117 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:32,760 Speaker 1: price for a keyboard, but if you wanted to uh 118 00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:34,560 Speaker 1: and and that, you could even have it where you 119 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:38,080 Speaker 1: could switch out keys eventually. So let's say that you know, 120 00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:39,880 Speaker 1: you bought the keyboard, you got it with the ten 121 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:42,240 Speaker 1: function keys, and later on you want to upgrade, you 122 00:06:42,240 --> 00:06:46,919 Speaker 1: could do that. UM. Essentially you be paying the balance 123 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:51,320 Speaker 1: of whatever it was to get to the full keyboard. 124 00:06:51,839 --> 00:06:54,880 Speaker 1: But but it gave you that option. So people who 125 00:06:54,920 --> 00:06:56,360 Speaker 1: just wanted to try it out and see if that's 126 00:06:56,360 --> 00:06:58,279 Speaker 1: what they wanted, and they only wanted to drop, say 127 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:02,520 Speaker 1: nine hundred dollars, could do that. Again, I don't think 128 00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:05,520 Speaker 1: I'll be buying this keyboard anytime soon. Yeah, and I 129 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:08,119 Speaker 1: certainly wouldn't want to eat my lunch at my desk 130 00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:11,680 Speaker 1: if I had one of these keyboards. Right, a little expensive. 131 00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:14,360 Speaker 1: And there are other keyboards we could talk about their 132 00:07:14,960 --> 00:07:18,400 Speaker 1: their The gaming community has quite a few because a 133 00:07:18,400 --> 00:07:21,360 Speaker 1: lot of people have the specialized needs, you know, they 134 00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:24,600 Speaker 1: want to be able to fire and have a special control. 135 00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:26,400 Speaker 1: They want to frag you in in a fraction of 136 00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:30,600 Speaker 1: the second that they could with their old keyboards. Right, yeah, yeah, 137 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:34,440 Speaker 1: I've met you. You you ten year olds out there 138 00:07:34,480 --> 00:07:38,400 Speaker 1: who can snipe me from a mile away, and one 139 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:40,520 Speaker 1: day you're going to be old and slow like I am. 140 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:43,640 Speaker 1: But anyway, the two keyboards I was going to talk about, 141 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:47,640 Speaker 1: just very briefly, there's the the Microsoft Sidewinder X six 142 00:07:47,800 --> 00:07:53,160 Speaker 1: gaming keyboard and then the Steel Series seven G keyboard. Um, 143 00:07:53,200 --> 00:07:56,080 Speaker 1: these are both gaming keyboards. They both can store macros 144 00:07:56,240 --> 00:08:00,120 Speaker 1: so that you can program a series of commands and 145 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:02,520 Speaker 1: and assign it to a single key and that way, 146 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:05,520 Speaker 1: you know, you can display your leaked skills by pressing 147 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:09,160 Speaker 1: one button or another instead of like a series of them. Um. 148 00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:13,280 Speaker 1: The Sidewinders actually kind of interesting from an aesthetic point 149 00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:17,480 Speaker 1: of view, it's back lit with red light. It's red 150 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:21,640 Speaker 1: light glues from around your keys and uh, the sidewinders 151 00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:24,360 Speaker 1: eighty bucks. The Steel series is a hundred and fifties. 152 00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:26,720 Speaker 1: So we're talking about a much bigger step down in 153 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:29,280 Speaker 1: price from our others. But then again, we're talking about 154 00:08:29,320 --> 00:08:33,440 Speaker 1: gaining here or not uh not not some special productions, right, 155 00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:37,199 Speaker 1: not a not a big production kind of keyboard. Um, 156 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:40,199 Speaker 1: so yeah, that that pretty much covers my my area 157 00:08:40,200 --> 00:08:41,880 Speaker 1: of the keyboards. Did you have anything else on those? 158 00:08:42,080 --> 00:08:44,040 Speaker 1: Not on keyboards? On keyboards? Why do you want to 159 00:08:44,040 --> 00:08:47,360 Speaker 1: move on to next? Well, I was going to talk 160 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:50,320 Speaker 1: about other kinds of peripherals. You know a lot of 161 00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:52,439 Speaker 1: a lot of peripherals that you'll find for your computer 162 00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:57,440 Speaker 1: other than the standard mouse keyboard type stuff. Um, a 163 00:08:57,480 --> 00:09:00,280 Speaker 1: lot of the high end and and pricing stuff is 164 00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:03,680 Speaker 1: going to be for gaming now. Um, it's really funny 165 00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:06,920 Speaker 1: when I mentioned the video toaster a few minutes ago. 166 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:10,640 Speaker 1: I'm longtime listeners will probably remember that every once in a 167 00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:13,080 Speaker 1: a while, throw in the Amiga because that was my 168 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:17,040 Speaker 1: first computer, and people used to ridicule the Amiga is 169 00:09:17,040 --> 00:09:20,800 Speaker 1: a gaming machine, used to well, the thing was It 170 00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:23,400 Speaker 1: was way before a lot of the other machines had 171 00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:26,520 Speaker 1: full color and had stereo sound, and a lot of 172 00:09:26,559 --> 00:09:29,079 Speaker 1: people would build games for it, which were at that 173 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:33,760 Speaker 1: time really high end. UM. But of course those same 174 00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:36,720 Speaker 1: people now are buying the five thousand dollar PCs with 175 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:41,000 Speaker 1: the tricked out water cooled UH processors and the high 176 00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:44,760 Speaker 1: end graphics cards and the you know steering wheels with 177 00:09:45,600 --> 00:09:49,800 Speaker 1: force uh force feedback, and the driving seats where you 178 00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:52,920 Speaker 1: sit down in there, and the exactly with all the 179 00:09:52,960 --> 00:09:55,880 Speaker 1: pedals and stuff, and those those you know, can cost 180 00:09:55,920 --> 00:09:58,640 Speaker 1: thousands of dollars, you know, just as as add ons. 181 00:09:58,760 --> 00:09:59,880 Speaker 1: I mean, this is not the kind of thing that 182 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:04,559 Speaker 1: people are buying in in bulk. But you know, oh yeah, 183 00:10:04,600 --> 00:10:06,840 Speaker 1: I'll just run down and pick one of those up 184 00:10:07,600 --> 00:10:11,360 Speaker 1: one WARLD. I'm just gonna go grab another one. But 185 00:10:11,600 --> 00:10:15,560 Speaker 1: there are other other peripherals too, I mean gaming consoles there. 186 00:10:15,760 --> 00:10:18,199 Speaker 1: I thought of a couple that, you know, sort of 187 00:10:18,200 --> 00:10:19,680 Speaker 1: off the beaten track, because I figured you were going 188 00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:23,320 Speaker 1: to go for the computer e stuff and I was 189 00:10:23,360 --> 00:10:26,240 Speaker 1: thinking about, well, I mean, gaming consoles are a form 190 00:10:26,280 --> 00:10:29,280 Speaker 1: of computers, UM. And I remember a few years ago 191 00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:32,040 Speaker 1: there was a game for Xbox, the first Xbox called 192 00:10:32,040 --> 00:10:34,840 Speaker 1: Steel Battalion. It was actually highly rated. I went and 193 00:10:34,840 --> 00:10:37,880 Speaker 1: and you know, looked up a little information about how 194 00:10:37,880 --> 00:10:39,760 Speaker 1: it had been received. But the big news before it 195 00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:42,160 Speaker 1: came out, I remember, was that it came out with 196 00:10:42,280 --> 00:10:46,400 Speaker 1: this huge console of tan. It's a tank game. Um, 197 00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:48,679 Speaker 1: I think where a Mecca game. I was on the 198 00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:50,480 Speaker 1: impression of his tank on me. You can tell I 199 00:10:50,520 --> 00:10:53,719 Speaker 1: don't own an Xbox anyway. Um, but it came out 200 00:10:53,760 --> 00:10:57,079 Speaker 1: with this this uh big board of controls where you 201 00:10:57,120 --> 00:11:00,880 Speaker 1: could use all sorts of different levers and buttons to 202 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:04,240 Speaker 1: to uh you know, arm your weapons and move the 203 00:11:04,280 --> 00:11:07,439 Speaker 1: thing around. And it actually had more than forty buttons 204 00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:11,320 Speaker 1: with two joysticks and three foot pedals, which is you know, 205 00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:14,160 Speaker 1: you think about an Xbox game or any console game, 206 00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:18,600 Speaker 1: really they're around fifty bucks, right, fifty Well that pushed 207 00:11:18,600 --> 00:11:22,319 Speaker 1: the price of this game up to two because it 208 00:11:22,360 --> 00:11:25,320 Speaker 1: came with this specialized console, which was one of the 209 00:11:25,320 --> 00:11:28,720 Speaker 1: most expensive games out there. Yeah, and and really it's 210 00:11:28,760 --> 00:11:31,360 Speaker 1: it's expensive for now. Well yeah, but you see them 211 00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:33,440 Speaker 1: a little more often now because you have games like 212 00:11:33,520 --> 00:11:35,800 Speaker 1: rock Band, where you were to buy the full rock 213 00:11:35,840 --> 00:11:38,320 Speaker 1: Band set that's in the that's around that range. It's 214 00:11:38,360 --> 00:11:41,960 Speaker 1: funny you should mention rock band, is it? Yes? And 215 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:44,760 Speaker 1: uh and also the drummer thing going into this, you 216 00:11:44,760 --> 00:11:48,080 Speaker 1: can see why I'm I'm kind of keen on this thing. 217 00:11:48,480 --> 00:11:51,439 Speaker 1: Um ion Who's booth? I visited at c E S, 218 00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:55,240 Speaker 1: but I didn't see actually this particular peripheral. UM. They've 219 00:11:55,280 --> 00:11:58,480 Speaker 1: come out with a new uh drum set for a 220 00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:01,520 Speaker 1: rock band called the drum Rocker. And it's they actually 221 00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:06,320 Speaker 1: worked with the electronics manufacturer Elasis. They make keyboards and 222 00:12:06,559 --> 00:12:10,720 Speaker 1: electronic percussion and all kinds of uh, you know, electronic instruments. Um. 223 00:12:10,920 --> 00:12:14,199 Speaker 1: And this has four drum pads with a kick drum 224 00:12:14,360 --> 00:12:18,200 Speaker 1: and two symbols, and it's it's actually made of aluminum 225 00:12:18,400 --> 00:12:20,199 Speaker 1: rather than the plastic that you would find in the 226 00:12:20,440 --> 00:12:23,000 Speaker 1: typical rock band kits. So I mean it's it's more robust. 227 00:12:23,080 --> 00:12:26,840 Speaker 1: People are gonna yeah, people are really gonna hey, yeah, 228 00:12:26,880 --> 00:12:28,760 Speaker 1: thank you for doing that. So I didn't have to 229 00:12:28,760 --> 00:12:33,400 Speaker 1: say rock out wait I already did. Um Anyway, Okay, 230 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:36,400 Speaker 1: this this is actually a pretty pricey set too. But 231 00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:40,480 Speaker 1: not only do you work over the additional money for 232 00:12:40,480 --> 00:12:43,760 Speaker 1: for this set, you also can buy an additional symbol 233 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:46,640 Speaker 1: for fifty dollars, or the drum throne, which is what 234 00:12:47,559 --> 00:12:50,880 Speaker 1: we uh call the seat the drummer sits on, and 235 00:12:50,920 --> 00:12:54,120 Speaker 1: I still don't know why. Yeah, it's a stool, but 236 00:12:54,520 --> 00:12:57,120 Speaker 1: we call it the throne. And then you can, if 237 00:12:57,120 --> 00:13:00,720 Speaker 1: you really want, you can actually buy a drum brain, 238 00:13:00,760 --> 00:13:02,760 Speaker 1: which is essentially the computer that goes along with the 239 00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:06,080 Speaker 1: electronic drum set, the Elasis d M five drum brain. Uh. 240 00:13:06,280 --> 00:13:08,960 Speaker 1: You can add that for an additional three sixty so 241 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:10,720 Speaker 1: you don't have to be playing rock band with it. 242 00:13:10,760 --> 00:13:14,280 Speaker 1: You can actually use them for regular electronic drums, so 243 00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:16,720 Speaker 1: that here, you know, you can just hear the the 244 00:13:16,800 --> 00:13:19,800 Speaker 1: chitching sound every time you add on something else too, right, 245 00:13:20,080 --> 00:13:22,080 Speaker 1: But you know, if you're really into rock band, yeah, 246 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:24,800 Speaker 1: or if you really really are trying to start up 247 00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:27,680 Speaker 1: that flock of Seagulls cover band, or you need those 248 00:13:27,679 --> 00:13:31,880 Speaker 1: electronic drum sounds. I told you not to mention the 249 00:13:31,920 --> 00:13:36,640 Speaker 1: new wave roots come out, all right, Okay, I see 250 00:13:36,640 --> 00:13:38,840 Speaker 1: your console stuff, and I'm gonna I'm gonna switch back 251 00:13:38,880 --> 00:13:42,400 Speaker 1: over to computers. I'm gonna talk about computer mice just 252 00:13:42,480 --> 00:13:45,000 Speaker 1: really briefly. You want to talk talk about a little 253 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:48,360 Speaker 1: bit about the Yeah, yeah, so you know your standard 254 00:13:48,400 --> 00:13:51,600 Speaker 1: computer mouse costs maybe between fifteen twenty bucks something like 255 00:13:51,600 --> 00:13:54,480 Speaker 1: that if you want to wireless one and maybe thirty plus. 256 00:13:55,240 --> 00:13:58,040 Speaker 1: There's some there's some more expensive ones out there. There's 257 00:13:58,080 --> 00:14:00,480 Speaker 1: the Space Navigator mouse, which is that really a three 258 00:14:00,559 --> 00:14:03,480 Speaker 1: D mouse um where it looks almost like a paddle 259 00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:06,200 Speaker 1: like on the old Attori you know what I'm talking about, 260 00:14:07,640 --> 00:14:09,600 Speaker 1: kind of the same thing. You can twist it to 261 00:14:09,720 --> 00:14:11,839 Speaker 1: make it go left or right, and you can tilt 262 00:14:11,880 --> 00:14:14,600 Speaker 1: it to make it zoom in or zoom out. It's 263 00:14:14,679 --> 00:14:17,240 Speaker 1: useful for things like if you're in a CAD program, 264 00:14:17,360 --> 00:14:21,840 Speaker 1: UM architecture program, or Google Earth, you can use zoom 265 00:14:21,840 --> 00:14:25,840 Speaker 1: in and out and and reorient yourself. UM. Not necessarily 266 00:14:25,920 --> 00:14:29,840 Speaker 1: useful for other applications, but it's pretty cool. UM. Then 267 00:14:29,880 --> 00:14:33,320 Speaker 1: there are other things like there's the novent Falcon haptic mouse, 268 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:36,800 Speaker 1: which it looks really neat. It's got a base unit 269 00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:41,240 Speaker 1: that has some articulated arms that reach out and all 270 00:14:41,280 --> 00:14:45,440 Speaker 1: attached to a small UH sphere, and you hold the 271 00:14:45,480 --> 00:14:49,000 Speaker 1: sphere and you your motions. You you move the sphere 272 00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:51,280 Speaker 1: in three dimensions, so you can move it in and out. 273 00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:52,800 Speaker 1: You can move up and down, left, right, and you 274 00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:56,120 Speaker 1: can in any direction you want, and the articulated arms 275 00:14:56,120 --> 00:14:59,000 Speaker 1: allow you to do that, and your actions are are 276 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:03,520 Speaker 1: transferred into whatever computer realm you're exploring of that time, 277 00:15:03,800 --> 00:15:06,320 Speaker 1: and there's even haptic feedback there so we can push 278 00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:10,200 Speaker 1: it back against you for certain games and things. Um, 279 00:15:10,240 --> 00:15:13,000 Speaker 1: that's pretty cool too. I actually saw one of those 280 00:15:13,040 --> 00:15:14,320 Speaker 1: at c E S. I didn't get a chance to 281 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:16,160 Speaker 1: play with it. There was actually a pretty big crowd 282 00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:20,800 Speaker 1: around that. But those those look pretty neat too. Uh. 283 00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:23,760 Speaker 1: But I was really going to go into the grand 284 00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:29,720 Speaker 1: daddy of expensive mouse uh systems here. Um, and it's 285 00:15:29,800 --> 00:15:34,120 Speaker 1: not expensive because of its tech specs. Uh. It is 286 00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:39,760 Speaker 1: the pet says now computer mouse. It is twenty four 287 00:15:40,320 --> 00:15:44,800 Speaker 1: thousand dollars for a mouse for a grand less than 288 00:15:44,840 --> 00:15:47,520 Speaker 1: this energy and yet all it does is click And 289 00:15:47,960 --> 00:15:51,400 Speaker 1: it's just a regular mouse, except that's made out of 290 00:15:51,440 --> 00:15:56,320 Speaker 1: eighteen carrot white gold and has fifty nine diamonds in it, 291 00:15:56,760 --> 00:15:59,160 Speaker 1: like like on the on the surface of the mouse. 292 00:15:59,200 --> 00:16:01,280 Speaker 1: And you can have it in either a scattered or 293 00:16:01,440 --> 00:16:07,480 Speaker 1: flower design. I'm hoping that this is a laser not 294 00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:09,200 Speaker 1: at all, so you still have to pull the ball 295 00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:11,600 Speaker 1: out and clean. Yeah, you know, but it's it's it's 296 00:16:11,640 --> 00:16:15,680 Speaker 1: made from poor people. No, I mean no, it's but 297 00:16:15,880 --> 00:16:21,600 Speaker 1: it's it's alright, you go breaking news. Though, before you 298 00:16:21,640 --> 00:16:24,000 Speaker 1: can only get in the scatter diamond or the flower 299 00:16:24,040 --> 00:16:26,560 Speaker 1: diamond pattern. Now you can use your you can choose 300 00:16:26,560 --> 00:16:29,920 Speaker 1: your own pattern and even use your initials if you like. 301 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:33,040 Speaker 1: So if you were holding back because you're like, well 302 00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:34,840 Speaker 1: I don't really like the scatter of the flower, and 303 00:16:34,840 --> 00:16:36,920 Speaker 1: then now you can actually drop that twenty four grand. 304 00:16:37,400 --> 00:16:41,040 Speaker 1: Um it's mainly sold out of the UK. Yeah, I 305 00:16:41,080 --> 00:16:43,200 Speaker 1: thought that would be a nice little addition. And then 306 00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:48,440 Speaker 1: I was gonna talk also really quickly about monitors. Yeah. 307 00:16:48,440 --> 00:16:50,400 Speaker 1: When I was looking for monitors to see like what 308 00:16:50,440 --> 00:16:53,400 Speaker 1: would be a really cool, like big high end peripheral, 309 00:16:54,040 --> 00:16:57,840 Speaker 1: I found the enlightened i T seven to zero two 310 00:16:58,120 --> 00:17:04,560 Speaker 1: seventy two inch touch screen. That's huge obviously. Um, it's 311 00:17:04,840 --> 00:17:07,280 Speaker 1: got two different models. There's a three thousand dollar model 312 00:17:07,400 --> 00:17:11,080 Speaker 1: which chooses a light pen that has an infrared tip 313 00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:15,800 Speaker 1: to it. There's an infrared camera that's the screen is 314 00:17:15,840 --> 00:17:18,280 Speaker 1: backlit obviously, so there's an infrared camera on the back 315 00:17:18,359 --> 00:17:20,560 Speaker 1: right next to the light source that can detect where 316 00:17:20,560 --> 00:17:23,320 Speaker 1: the light pin is. Then there's a four thousand dollar 317 00:17:23,359 --> 00:17:26,679 Speaker 1: model that uses cameras mounted on the top of the 318 00:17:26,720 --> 00:17:30,360 Speaker 1: screen to triangulate positions. You can you can use your 319 00:17:30,359 --> 00:17:32,760 Speaker 1: finger on that one, so you would put your finger 320 00:17:32,800 --> 00:17:35,000 Speaker 1: against the screen and the cameras detect where your finger is. 321 00:17:35,040 --> 00:17:38,159 Speaker 1: There's no actual touch screen technology on the screen itself. 322 00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:41,320 Speaker 1: It's all done through visual like optics. So you move 323 00:17:41,359 --> 00:17:43,600 Speaker 1: your finger around and it follows your finger and that's 324 00:17:43,600 --> 00:17:46,119 Speaker 1: how you can change the input. So yeah, if you 325 00:17:46,119 --> 00:17:47,840 Speaker 1: have three or four grand to drop, you can get 326 00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:50,480 Speaker 1: a nice, nice large screen. I don't think our cubicles 327 00:17:50,480 --> 00:17:52,479 Speaker 1: would even allow us seventy two inch screen in them, 328 00:17:52,480 --> 00:17:59,880 Speaker 1: would they? Probably not? Note to self get bigger cubicle. Excellent. 329 00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:02,840 Speaker 1: I was wondering if this is the kind of thing 330 00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:04,360 Speaker 1: that we would need if we were going to move 331 00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:07,399 Speaker 1: to the next step of the Minority Report era. You know, 332 00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:09,800 Speaker 1: you start drawing in the air and until you get 333 00:18:09,840 --> 00:18:13,600 Speaker 1: the holographic displays. Yeah, exactly. Boy, those would be cool, 334 00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:16,680 Speaker 1: Yeah they would. I bet they're expensive, probably, I guess 335 00:18:16,680 --> 00:18:20,280 Speaker 1: that would counts a high end peripheral I'm sure, and 336 00:18:20,320 --> 00:18:24,119 Speaker 1: the technology you need to run away from the and 337 00:18:24,119 --> 00:18:26,560 Speaker 1: I think we're getting off track here, maybe here, maybe 338 00:18:26,560 --> 00:18:30,240 Speaker 1: maybe we can wrap this up. Okay, you think, all right, Well, 339 00:18:30,640 --> 00:18:32,680 Speaker 1: there are plenty of other high end peripherles out there. 340 00:18:32,680 --> 00:18:36,119 Speaker 1: We didn't even cover sound systems or or other input 341 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:39,040 Speaker 1: systems like Waycom tablets, which are pretty darn cool too, 342 00:18:39,840 --> 00:18:42,280 Speaker 1: although most of those are pretty affordable. Yeah. There, I 343 00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:44,800 Speaker 1: was looking at a two thou one. Wow. Yeah no, 344 00:18:44,920 --> 00:18:49,280 Speaker 1: but it was really nice. Um. So you can read 345 00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:51,800 Speaker 1: all about these kinds of systems on how stuff works 346 00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:54,720 Speaker 1: dot com right now. We cover everything from keyboards to 347 00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:58,360 Speaker 1: monitors everything in between. So check out the website learn 348 00:18:58,400 --> 00:19:00,400 Speaker 1: a little bit more about this. Figure out. You're gonna 349 00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:02,720 Speaker 1: drop all that massive cash you got sitting around, and 350 00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:08,200 Speaker 1: we will talk to you again really soon for more 351 00:19:08,240 --> 00:19:10,520 Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other topics. Is it how 352 00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:13,640 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Let us know what you think. 353 00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:20,800 Speaker 1: Send an email to podcast at how stuff works dot com. 354 00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:23,480 Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 355 00:19:23,800 --> 00:19:25,000 Speaker 1: It's ready, are you