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OpenAI's first hardware is a Work Louder macro pad
Codex Micro, OpenAI's first piece of branded hardware, is a macro pad built by boutique vendor Work Louder on the bones of its $199 Creator Micro 2. It ships July 15, 2026, with pricing still unannounced as of this piece's publish date.
thock6 min read
Week 29 / 2026
open trends tracker →Trending — what's moving on the tracker
switch
Hall Effect/Rapid Trigger
+91%
brand
Keychron
+86%
layout
Split/Ergo
+77%
vendor
Work Louder x OpenAI Codex Micro
+94%
vendor
Mode Designs
+53%
layout
Alice layout
-44%
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Deep Dives
Long reads worth your weekend
Deep Dives
Gateron Lanes: The Alps-Inspired Tactile Taking Over the Mid-Range
Gateron's Lanes draws its DNA from the Alps SKCM Orange — one of the most loved tactile mechanisms of the 1980s — and arrived in June 2026 with enough community conviction to sell out on first drop.
thock11 min read
Deep Dives
How optical switches actually sense a keypress
An optical switch replaces the metal contact with a beam of light. That one change eliminates contact bounce entirely, reshapes the latency math, and is why some optical boards can offer per-key actuation at 0.1mm granularity. The mechanism is simpler than the marketing makes it sound.
thock12 min read
Deep Dives
The physics of thock: how every layer shapes your keyboard's sound
Every component between your fingertip and the desk makes a decision about your keyboard's sound — the switch, the plate, the case, the surface it sits on. Understanding what each layer adds or subtracts is the difference between chasing a sound blindly and engineering it deliberately.
thock15 min read
Not sure which switch to try? Find your switch — or find your keycap set — answer 4 questions, get your top matches. Browse all interactive tools — quizzes and comparison tables in one place. Or browse the parts catalog — every switch, keycap set, and board in one place.