A Punching bag keyboard for you work and exercise needs (via Bless)
Let's face it. Sitting in front of a computer all day is horrible and it's made continually worse by having to come up with brilliant ideas which are expected to float effortlessly across the page. Unfortunately, sometimes when you've been sitting on your butt all day ideas don't come. Sometimes you need to exercise and stop drinking so much coffee. But is it possible to do both at the same time?
Practically speaking, probably not. But theoretically, yes you can and a German design firm has created a quirky project to enable writers to take their frustration out on their keyboard. Or just pump out some words with gusto. It's a keyboard designed as a set of interconnected punching bags with a bag for every letter in the alphabet. You can also kick the delete and space button and body slam into the enter button if you'd like. I'm personally the kind of person that likes a good clacky keyboard so I can type so loudly that I can hear and feel the visceral damage my fingers are doing to the keys. Hence, I'd be pretty excited to beat the crap out of my enter key, metaphorically speaking. I also wouldn't mind developing killer abs in the process of working.
Bless, a group of wacky Germans decided to showcase their design in the Istanbul Tasarim Bienali 2014. If you want to see a strange video of how participants interacted with their punching bag keyboard, then watch their video here: http://vimeo.com/10630597. If you like random slow motion shots, set to euro techno music for no reason whatsoever, then you'll love it. They call it the N°41 Workout Computer.
As you can see by the layout of the design, it's not exactly conducive to actually using in practice as a Workout Computer and workstation. However, it is a really fun concept and the Bless team notes that they created the design for fun and to make a statement about the way people are living their lives these days: in front of a computer screen. With obesity rates and diabetes soaring in America and worldwide, it isn't hard to see the root cause is a lifestyle that requires sitting down all day and eating crap.
In fact, when it comes down to it, it is t terrifying to realize that our culture not only forces workers to sit in front of a computer all day, but most leisure time is spent sitting in front of a screen as well: TV, iPad, Kindle, iPhone. Somehow, someway, a healthier way of living in tandem with computers must arise and perhaps creating a computer workout station isn't a bad idea.
Currently, standing desks are all the rage, with some companies replacing their old desks with these new standing workstations that allow workers to get more exercise and prevent back injury and fatigue. I've also seen new computer workstation treadmills out! It seems a bit silly, but it isn't a bad idea to walk 6 miles while cranking out your typical workload. You'll not only be productive, but you'll be super healthy as well.
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