The wheel. Sliced bread. The George Foreman Grill. All of these inventions have changed the world and defined a generation. These great moments in time come only so often, however today, we are on the verge of another life-changing invention that will change the way you compute forever. It is called the Optimus Keyboard and this thing looks like it has the makings of an incredible device.

The keyboard is in the initial stage of production and is slated for release in 2006. The site says that it will “cost less than a good mobile phone”, so it won’t be cheap as far as keyboards go. As much as I’d like to throw my disposable income at this thing, I can see that it might have a few drawbacks.

Although it will be using OLED to illuminate the keys, it will still need a fair amount of juice to operate. And the size looks a little bit bigger than a standard keyboard so it may actually take up more space on your desk.

From a design standpoint, the Optimus Keyboard is beautiful and well thought-out. However, the price and usability are yet to be seen; which is what keeps me from selling a kidney on the black market to get one.