The Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard K750 charges on solar or indoor light and can work in darkness for up to three months. The only other requirement is a Microsoft OS.
Swiss company Logitech is offering some innovation for the keyboard
- still the best input device for emails and other messages, it rightly
points out. Come this November, Logitech will begin offering a not only
wireless but solar-powered keyboard, the K750.
Panels running the length of the keyboard absorb sunlight, but even
indoor light will do, the company says, eliminating the need for
batteries, power bricks and charging cables.
"The Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard is powered by light but can
work in total darkness for up to three months," Denis Pavillard, vice
president of marketing for Logitech, said in a Nov. 1 statement. "Plus,
with its PVC-free construction and fully recyclable packaging, it's
designed to minimize its footprint."
The K750 is one-third of an inch thick, has rounded edges and a
black-on-black design with lit-from-behind, laser-etched keys that are
said to curve in to support one's fingertips and help guide them to the
right keys.
An included solar power meter application-available for download
beginning Nov. 15-lets users see the keyboard's battery level at a
glance and alerts them when a recharge is in order.
The K750 uses 2.4GHz wireless connectivity-which according to
Logitech connects with "virtually no delays or dropouts"-as well as
128-bit AES encryption to keep things secure. It connects to devices
using a Unifying receiver that's approximately the size of a nickel and
that Logitech recommends setting up and forgetting about-it can be
left in a laptop, and users can add keyboards and mice as they're
needed. It works with up to six devices.
Bad luck for Mac fans, though. In addition to a light source, the
only other thing the Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard K750 requires is
a Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 operating systems to work
with.
Suggested pricing is $80, and it'll go on sale in the United States and Europe.
Michelle Maisto has been covering the enterprise mobility space for a decade, beginning with Knowledge Management, Field Force Automation and eCRM, and most recently as the editor-in-chief of Mobile Enterprise magazine. She earned an MFA in nonfiction writing from Columbia University, and in her spare time obsesses about food. Her first book, The Gastronomy of Marriage, if forthcoming from Random House in September 2009.