This Computer Keyboard Tells You When It Needs to be Cleaned
We've written about the microscopic horrors infesting your keyboard before -- bacteria can grow at levels five times worst than found on a toilet seat -- and researchers in the UK have developed a new keyboard that they hope will cut down on deadly drug-resistant staph infections among patients.
On average, more than 8,000 people die each year from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) that was contracted while being treated for something else in a hospital. Along with taking other measures to clean up the hospital environment to fight infection, British researchers at the University College London Hospital have created the Medigenic keyboard, an easy-to-clean, flat silicone keyboard that will tell you when it needs to be cleaned (usually at 12 hour intervals).
Why spend time and money developing a new keyboard? Doctors and nurses already wash their hands between touching patients, but keyboards are shared by many people and are actually a big source of cross-contamination. Researchers found that many of the hospital's keyboards contained more than 150 times the recommended safe level of bacteria. Most people only clean their keyboards with compressed air -- if at all -- which won't kill the bacteria the dirty keys are harboring.
No word yet on a price, but the Medigenic Keyboard is manufactured by Advanced Input Systems, and the clean device sounds like the perfect gift for germaphobe friends, preschool teachers, and OCD sufferers alike. [Source: Daily Mail]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Diane said 5:42PM on 6-18-2008
ok, so HOW does it "tell" you when it needs to be clean? does it beep? does it glow? and if it's saying it needs to be cleaned every 12 hours then why not just clean the regular keyboards every 12 hours? this has been a pretty much completely useless article when it comes to info about the keyboard.
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Seanross said 12:07AM on 6-19-2008
Makes me feel like i'm touching money which is also dirty
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TVGenius said 1:05AM on 6-19-2008
Wow. A warning light. That's gonna motivate 'em.
Seeing as how it apparently has 'sensors' that will know when it's been cleaned (HOW?), how about it DISABLES itself until it's been cleaned.
And that product shot (both in this post and the article) is ho-riffic. Looks right at home in front of a cardboard monitor at a furniture store.
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Joseph said 12:52PM on 6-19-2008
Why not make it out of a AntiBactirial Silicon? I like the idea of having an easey to clean keyboard. Mine is so hard to clean I rarely do it I even have two of the same Microsoft split keybrds so that I can clean one while another is in use.
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Randy said 7:00PM on 7-09-2008
The Medigenic keyboard was developed specifically to help reduce bacterial cross-contamination from keyboards in hospitals. The surface is totally flat and yet the key stroke has the feel of a conventional keyboard to minimize any affect on a typists normal speed and accuracy. The cleaning alert reminder comes factory preset at 12 hour intervals but can be changed via a software download to whatenver the user wants. Time to clean is indicated by a flashing light on the keyboard. Once the light starts to flash the only way to extinguish it is to clean the keyboard. Sensors in the surface of the keyboard sense the pressence of moisture and pressure. There is a disable key that can be activated while cleaning.
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