And literal physical keys to lock computers with!

I'm currently supporting (a couple hours a week) an exec who has mostly automated his workflow via vibe coding (the rest largely failed - not everyone can make the leap, and those that do are largely marginal) his workflow is largely a VS code window with the git commit/sync button on the left, and 2-20 codex/claude tabs in the main window on the right. I think he could actually make use of this sort of thing. Extremely small sample group but I'd estimate 1/300 people in a tech centric location like downtown SF. Globally it would be a tiny tiny fraction of that number lol. The venn diagram overlap of people who this would be useful for, vs people who have already vibe-coded their own macro keyboard with a streamdeck (myself included) is probably a pretty strong overlap. It's an amusing marketing gimmick, and historical artifact, if nothing else.

You can do that now with a Stream Deck + XL. https://www.elgato.com/us/en/p/stream-deck-plus-xl

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IMHO this is a much better solution.

https://marketplace.elgato.com/product/claude-code-usage-ea7...

I actually have this as a problem with Codex / Claude where I don't know if I have to make a decision .

At least it's much more expensive

Or you could get a bluetooth number pad for $20.

$56 premium for the OpenAI skin. :)

They could've at least made something custom, and claim it was designed with help from GPT 5.6

The price for that HW basically implies it either has sizeable margins or is made with artisan methods.

ooh Micro 2 is a lot cheaper, but doesn't seem to have individually addressable RGB keys unless I'm mistaken?

im reading its not well engineered.

Apple must be happy that they let Jony Ive go. What a letdown.

(assuming this meh partnership rebranding had his participation)

As someone with a few unused Teenage Engineering things. The real answer is probably rich tech people who love having things that make people say "I'm not sure who the target audience is".

I set up an old Stream Deck to do the same thing. I stopped using it after a few days. This design looks great though, status lights are a nice touch. YouTube vibe coders will love it, traditional devs will keep MacGyvering their own toys.

It’s for twitter AI influencers and general marketing

i'm guessing the primary market for these will be free gifts to enterprise customers at sales meetings.

People with too much money to burn and not enough brains to use it on something better

The keyboard community maybe? I think these little macro pads are neat, but I don't have a real use for them either.

I think people who want to project a 'cracked' (god I hate that word) agentic engineer vibe. But my experience with basically everyone in my immediate vicinity, is that people have no respect or awe for the 'tell the robot to do the thing' workflow.

I see it as another iteration of the wave that had everyone controlling agents directly from a chat app like slack. It isn't actually a more effective way to reach flow state, exchange information faster, and move your development projects forward to greater success, its simply a novel, oddly satisfying input mechanism, at least for the first day.

Which is no different than when the iphone first came out, the basic concept of touch screens was endlessly novel as an input and output device. That novelty did a lot more heavy lifting than what we can now see in hindsight was appropriate, because now many of us won't be able to control the temperature in our cars after the touch screen fails.

I think its the same underlying mechanism that explains why I, a person who has never recorded or mixed audio in a studio, and a person who can know for certain that purchasing a 24 channel mixing console isn't going to faclilitate my career change or even hobby development. But part of me is still viscerally certain that my life would be fuller if I purchased a 24 channel mixing console.

I don't need a legitimate reason to own a tool, or a problem I would fix with it, to fantasize about using that tool.

Its completely pointless yet I still want it. IDK, its the status lights that look fun.

And you would need to spend your day at your keyboard for this to be useful anyway. It's just an input device.

The audience is goobers.

My second reaction is: ah is this what the stolen IP from apple fuss was all about?

My first reaction isn't here yet

Special purpose keyboards can make sense (see e.g. music editing keyboards with sliders and volume knobs), but I'm with you that in this case the website totally fails at making a case for it.

My though process:

1. These abstract product visuals are not helping me understand what this software is

2. Wait, it's all about these renders, it's some kind of a joke

3. I don't understand, this can't be real, I need to check comments

just like the general mechanical keyboard community... over expensive hardware, sometimes not even shipping with friendly layers for rookies (like VIAL framework for configuring QMK) and oh! QUESTIONABLE ERGONOMIC DESIGNS like ortholinear arrangements for plank keyboards with 40% of the keys, the absurd goes on [0]

[0] i sell cheap handwired dactyl keyboards in Brazil

They asked ChatGPT for the ideal crossover product and now the dog is wagging.

But they have special colors - only $45 each!

For the first hour of learning about this, I thought it was an elaborate joke.

It's an overpriced macropad.

It isn't meant to sell like hot cakes. Work Louder is the keyboard equivalent of Teenage Engineering. They make expensive toys for silicon valley engineers.

It’s $230 vs. $699? That’s almost exactly a third, not half.

I want very hard to agree with you but then I remember elgato has built a very successful business from a 8/12/16/... Macro keyboard for streamers so what do I know.

"It is my pleasure to present you the Codex Box Signature Edition."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KbRA2RjhgQ