Stefan Mileschin

Razer's switchblade concept may not have made it out of CES 2011, but its dynamic, adaptive keys lived on, both in the outfit's Star Wars: The Old Republic keyboard and Blade laptop. The hardware is slick, to be sure, but what if you could snag similar functionality for free from your local app marketplace? That's what ROCCAT hopes to deliver with its newly announced Power-Grid application. In addition to providing quick-key hungry gamers with a programmable touchscreen grid of applications and in-game macros, the handheld suite will let iOS and Android users monitor their gaming PC's vital statistics (such as CPU status, RAM usage, hard drive space, etc), manage Facebook, TeamSpeak, Skype and Twitter traffic, and even fine tune their audio settings -- all without the need to minimize their game.

Of course, delegating all of your text chatter to your smartphone means you'll be tapping up your responses on its itty-bitty touchscreen keyboard -- at least until ROCCAT finishes its companion keyboard, Project Phobo. The modular PC keyboard not only provides a dock for your Power-Grid equipped mobile, but also lets you respond to texts, chats and tweets using its full array of keys. Pairing your phone with the Phobo will even route voice calls to your PC's gaming headset, leaving you free to continue to rack up kills without missing important business calls. The German peripheral outfit will be rolling out the beta to iOS devices after CeBIT, and says an Android version is scheduled for release at Gamescom 2012. Hit the break for the official press release and a look at the Phobo keyboard.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/06/r...pc-controls-t/