The astute among you may remember an earlier version of this Russian beauty, the Lapa, which I featured last year around this time. Creator [lemosbor] claims that the worry was less about visual beauty and more about ergonomics. Way more. Well then, let this serve rather nicely as a textbook definition of that old form-follows-function principle.The lovely Lapa.See, [lemosbor] believes that the keyboard must adapt to the hands and not the other way around. The main goals were to minimize hand and finger movement as well as the visual attention required of the keyboard itself. No, there were never going to be any screens or RGB, and there likely never will be.But I refuse to sidestep the obvious beauty in this keyboard, which from the side resembles a stylish and expensive pair of slightly-heeled shoes that were tailored to the contours of the human hand. And let’s not forget those handmade, oval keycaps, which again are a product of form-follows-function.Underneath those keycaps are extremely light, tactile switches — Kailh White V2s with 30g springs. Now check this out. Those DIY keycaps weren’t just for added fun, they are very lightweight on purpose. They allow [lemosbor] to type more easily and accurately than on square caps. But they created gaps which showed the switches, and the whole effect was evidently quite ugly. To solve this, [lemosbor] designed the case so that the switches are mounted on the bottom. They nestle completely into switch-shaped crevices, so they are held in place only by friction.See? Kitten heels.You might be wondering why the wrist wrests are totally different. I suppose I’ve buried the lede, which is that the right half of Lapa operates as a mouse. Like, you move it around the desk.As you might imagine, this aspect wasn’t easy to design or execute such that the keyboard doesn’t move around like crazy while you’re trying to type. Basically, the right half is quite light by comparison. The cutouts of the honeycombed wrist wrest save on weight while also improving hand contact.The thumbstick on the right side is used instead of the cursor keys, which [lemosbor] reports as being very convenient. The left side has a thumb toggle switch for choosing between Russian and English. There’s also a left thumbstick, which [lemosbor] uses to switch between tabs and programs.But the coolest part might be the solenoid hidden under the left wrist rest. It knocks when switching layers, and does so a certain number of times corresponding to the layer so that [lemosbor] is never lost. Since [lemosbor] doesn’t type much English, the solenoid will constantly tap a little bit in English mode. Now I think that would be really fun to type along to, at least for a little while. Imagine what it could do for your flow state.Via redditClaude Plods Along, Emanating From An Enabled TypewriterAs far as AIs go, I’ve personally only used ChatGPT, and I feel somewhat attached to its response style at this point. Honestly, Claude might be a shock to the system. But what wouldn’t be a shock at all is using a typewriter to interact with either one of them.Hackaday’s own [Ben James] started with a electronic Brother AX-10, and that’s the important distinction here. This type of machine reads your keystrokes just like a computer keyboard, but it tells the daisy wheel print element how to spin, and the paper whether to go up or down.Thanks to this operation, [Ben] was able to both intercept key presses and inject them. So you see where this is going. You and Claude take turns typing. If only the keys would phantom-depress, like a player piano.For both processes, [Ben] used an Arduino Nano, which interfaces with the keyboard matrix through four multiplexers — columns, rows, input, and output. The Arduino is wired to a Raspberry Pi Zero W running a Python script that sends prompts to Claude’s API and gets answers in return. See Claude go in the video below. The Centerfold: E-Waste Vintage BattlestationBelieve it or not, these were mostly all pulled out of the e-waste pile just in time, kind of like Indy and the hat. In fact, rescuing stuff from electronics recycling is [ThisLifeSuckss]’ main hobby. Sounds like fun, if you have the space for all that you find. I myself do not.Do you rock a sweet set of peripherals on a screamin’ desk pad? Send me a picture along with your handle and all the gory details, and you could be featured here!Historical Clackers: the (Danish) JuniorAs the commonplace name suggests, the Junior is meant as a toy for children. But by the looks of it, this would be a fine machine to add to your late 1940s office lineup.For one thing, it’s almost all metal except for the wooden platen, two ink rollers made of cotton, and a couple of plastic platen knobs. The Antikey Chop declared it incredibly well-built for a toy, though the design is quite simple, clocking in at just 31 total parts.Because the Junior was assembled largely by pinning or pressing pieces together, it was completely un-serviceable as disassembly would likely cause irreparable damage.What you could do was change out the typewheel, which was cast, index and type, from one metal piece. It’s unlikely that non-Danish versions were created, however.In order to use the thing, you would just spin the wheel until the character you want is in the top dead center position, and push the Space bar. This action caused the entire carriage to pivot an inch forward, and would advance the spring-driven escapement by one increment when it came back to rest.The Return function involves pivoting the carriage forward and pushing to the right. Aside from this functionality, there’s not much to this typewriter. There’s no bell, no lever for Return, and certainly no line space lever or tab stops. After all, it’s a toy. But it would make one hell of a label maker.Finally, a Scented Mouse for Heated Gaming SessionsFor some reason, the keyboard is called Marshmallow and not the fluffy white mouse, which is known on the streets as Fragrance Mouse. But I think marshmallow is exactly the scent I would want emanating from beneath my hand. Or maybe a nice, calming lavender, which it actually comes with.The appeal of the keyboard is supposed to be in the muted, natural colors. Okay. That’s fair. Although it comes in three other colorways, I think this ‘green tea latte’ version takes the petit four.And no matter which colorway you choose, the typography of the alphanumeric key legends is stunning and highly-readable. The white-on-gray of the modifiers and such is highly lacking in the legibility department, however.As you might imagine, there’s a little tank inside Fragrance Mouse’s belly where you put the essential oils. But don’t worry about spilling, because there’s a porous insert that absorbs them.Although they are sold separately, both peripherals are supposed to be office-quiet, with scissor keys on the Marshmallow and quiet switches in the mouse. Fragrance Mouse is weird, but I would go for it if it were a nice, comfortable trackball instead. But this thing isn’t even meant for left-handers. It should be hitting Microcenter soon, but you’ll have to buy the Marshmallow keyboard from ASUS directly.Got a hot tip that has like, anything to do with keyboards? Help me out by sending in a link or two. Don’t want all the Hackaday scribes to see it? Feel free to email me directly.