Enlarge / A Dell XPS 14 laptop. The Copilot key is to the right of the right-Alt button. (credit: Dell )

In January, Microsoft introduced a new key to Windows PC keyboards for the first time in 30 years. The Copilot key , dedicated to launching Microsoft's eponymous generative AI assistant, is already on some Windows laptops released this year. On Monday, Tom’s Hardware dug into the new addition and determined exactly what pressing the button does, which is actually pretty simple. Pushing a computer's integrated Copilot button is like pressing left-Shift + Windows key + F23 simultaneously.

Tom's Hardware confirmed this after wondering if the Copilot key introduced a new scan code to Windows or if it worked differently. Using the scripting program AuthoHotkey with a new laptop with a Copilot button, Tom's Hardware discovered the keystrokes registered when a user presses the Copilot key. The publication confirmed with Dell that “this key assignment is standard for the Copilot key and done at Microsoft's direction.”

F23

Surprising to see in that string of keys is F23. Having a computer keyboard with a function row or rows that take you from F1 all the way to F23 is quite rare today. When I try to imagine a keyboard that comes with an F23 button, vintage keyboards come to mind, more specifically buckling spring keyboards from IBM.

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  Fits in nicely with old cassettes and floppy disks. [credit: 8BitDo ]

The Commodore 64 introduced a generation of future computer geeks to personal computing. The 8-bit system first launched in 1982 and was discontinued in 1994. During that time, it made its mark as one of the first and most influential personal computers, and many still remember the computer fondly .

A Commodore 64. (credit: Bill Bertram/Wikimedia Commons )

Gaming peripherals maker 8BitDo wants to bring that nostalgia to people's fingertips and this week announced the Retro Mechanical Keyboard - C64 Edition . 8BitDo is careful not to use the name "Commodore" outright. But with marketing images featuring retro Commodore gear in the background, press materials saying that the keyboard was "inspired by the classics," and certain design cues, the keyboard is clearly a tribute to the '80s keyboard-computer.

8BitDo starts with the sort of beige that you only see on new peripherals these days if the gadgets are trying to appear old. A rainbow stripe runs horizontally and north of the function row, like on Commodore's computer. There's a power button with a bulb popping out of the keyboard case ready to illuminate when it receives the signal.

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson)

Your keyboard is the thread that connects you to your computer. The way a keyboard feels—from the sensations of each key pressing down and resetting to the build of the board’s chassis—has a direct impact on your typing experience, affecting accuracy, speed, and fatigue.

We’ve dug into the joys of quality keyboards and the thrills of customization at Ars Technica before. But what really makes one type of keyboard feel better than another? People say membrane keyboards feel mushy, but why ? And what about keyboards with cult-like followings? What makes decades-old IBM keyboards or expensive Topres so special?

In this guide, we’ll look at how some of the most popular keyboard categories work and how their differences impact typing feel.

Enlarge / The Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard is making a comeback. (credit: Microsoft)

In April, Microsoft announced that it would stop selling Microsoft-branded computer peripherals . Today, Onward Brands announced that it's giving those discarded Microsoft-stamped gadgets a second life under new branding. Products like the Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard will become Incase products with "Designed by Microsoft" branding.

Beyond the computer accessories saying "Designed by Microsoft," they should be the same keyboards, mice, webcams, headsets, and speakers, Onward, Incase's parent company, said, per The Verge . Onward said its Incase brand will bring back 23 Microsoft-designed products in 2024 and hopes for availability to start in Q2.

Some of the Microsoft-designed gear that Incase is relaunching. (credit: Incase )

Incase also plans to launch an ergonomic keyboard that Microsoft designed but never released. Onward CEO Charlie Tebele told The Verge that there's "potential" for Incase to release even more designs Microsoft never let us see.

There's an app for the keyboard promising new features, but it's not mandatory for the keyboard to work. (credit: Clicks Technology)

I used to be a speed demon on phone keyboards. Similar to when I use a mechanical keyboard , I could type with so much ease that during their early days of text messaging, people in my household would ask me to write out their longer messages. Those days of carefree cell phone typing hit a rut when I got my first iPhone.

Now, I can't start without first looking at my touchscreen keyboard. And I almost always make at least one typo when writing long texts, emails, or documents. That's why I'm intrigued by the latest attempt to bring old-school physical keyboards to iPhones.

A snap-on keyboard for the iPhone

On Thursday, Clicks Technology unveiled Clicks, a keyboard available for the iPhone 14 Pro , iPhone 15 Pro , and iPhone 15 Pro Max that snaps to the phone like a case. But instead of adding protection, it adds a physical keyboard. Each key boasts 0.22 mm of travel, Jeff Gadway, SVP of product marketing at Clicks, told Ars via email. That seems like miles compared to the flat nature of touchscreens.

Enlarge (credit: Scharon Harding)

When I tell people I prefer using mechanical keyboards , I often hear that they're too expensive. Even people in tech circles have told me they can't find a quality mechanical keyboard for a decent price. Is $28 decent enough for you?

That's how much the Keychron C3 Pro is going for on Amazon right now. It's a sale price that could change, but the keyboard was still only $35 when it released in September . Since September 21, I've been using the budget clacker as my primary keyboard, and it has kept up with my busy workload—writing about 17 articles for Ars Technica and more emails than I care to recount. Expensive mechanical keyboards often come with all sorts of perks worth obsessing over, but the C3 Pro proves that sometimes, cheap is good enough. Mechanical keyboards don't have to be a luxury peripheral.

Meet the C3 Pro

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  The C3 Pro is Keychron's lowest-priced mechanical keyboard. [credit: Scharon Harding ]

Keychron's C3 Pro is a tenkeyless (TKL) mechanical keyboard, so there's no numpad. If you can get past that, you're left with an affordable keyboard offering a typing experience that's superior to any membrane or mechanical keyboard in this price range.

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  Yes, this woman is supposed to be typing on her phone with her hat. [credit: Google Japan/YouTube ]

Is it a key-cap or a keycap cap? We here at Ars are having trouble nailing down the terminology for this cephalic peripheral. But whatever it's called, Google Japan's latest DIY project is for people who can't get keyboards off their heads.

Google isn't making this product . Instead, the Gboard CAPS project is another of Google Japan's joke keyboard ideas, like the 5.25-foot-long, single-row Gboard Stick Version keyboard shown off last year, used to promote Google's Gboard app. However, Google Japan seemingly prototyped the keyboard in real life. Everything you need to make this typing topper, including the firmware and hardware, is open source and available on GitHub .

So how does one type with a hat, you ask? Inside the hat is a 6-axis inertial sensor that can read the hat's positioning. The wearer turns the hat to the left and right, and each angle represents a different character code. Then, the wearer presses the top of the hat, which has 20 mm of travel, to enter the character. The keyboard connects with a device via Bluetooth and runs on a 3.7 V, 120 mAh battery. Google Japan even ensured it charges over everyone's favorite connector, USB-C .

Enlarge / Marcin Wichary's photos of an Olivetti Praxis 48 electric typewriter. (credit: Marcin Wichary)

It's the 150th anniversary of the QWERTY keyboard, and Marcin Wichary has put together the kind of history and celebration this totemic object deserves. Shift Happens is a two-volume, 1,200-plus-page work with more than 1,300 photos, researched over seven years and cast lovingly into type and photo spreads that befit the subject.

You can preorder it now , and orders before October 4 (Wednesday) can still be shipped before Christmas, while orders on October 5 or later will have to wait until December or January. Preorders locked in before Wednesday also get a 160-page "volume of extras."

Wichary, a designer, engineer, and writer who has worked at Google, Medium, and Figma, has been working in public to get people excited about type, fonts, and text design for some time now. He told the Twitter world about his visit to an obscure, magical Spanish typewriter museum in 2016. He put a lot of work into crafting the link underlines at Medium and explaining font fallbacks at Figma . Shift Happens reads and looks like Wichary's chance to tell the bigger story around all the little things that fascinate him and to lock into history all the strange little stories he loves.