Dirty Keyboard is Killing You Softly with Its Germs

The Unotron keyboard is not only a washable keyboard, but it’s coated with a “silver-based biocide for antibacterial protection”  Sounds cool, right?  But why would you need a special antibacterial keyboard?  You are probably thinking, my keyboard is fine enough.  Let’s think again.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• How often do you clean your keyboard?
• Actually, more importantly, do you ever clean your keyboard?
• Do you eat and use the computer without washing your hands?
• Be honest, do you always wash your hands after you handle your bathroom business?
• Do lots of people use your keyboard?

If you think about it, either at work or at home, the keyboard is the happening place for germs to hang out.  With everyone using their Facebook, Myspace, Youtube, Twitter, etc… chances are you probably are using the keyboard more than you are anything else in your daily life.  Which is why it isn’t surprising that several studies have found keyboards are dirty…public restroom dirty.

What the Studies and Experts Say:

• 2004 study by Dr. Charles Gerba of the Unveristy of Arizona found keyboards have on average 3,295 germs per square inch vs a toilet seat which has 49 germs per square inch. Gerba say, “Desks are really bacteria cafeterias.“
• 2008 Which? Computing keyboard germ study found of 33 keyboards tested in a London office, 4 were considered health hazards, and one had 5 times as many germs as a toilet seat in the same office.  Dr. Peter Wilson, a consultant microbiologist stated “Should somebody have a cold in your office, or even have gastroenteritis, you’re very likely to pick it up from a keyboard“

What to Do About Dirty Keyboards

Now that we see that keyboards are dirty there are a couple of things we can do.

1. Clean your keyboard. Researchers recommend that you should give your keyboard a good “spring cleaning” by dusting off crumbs and cleaning with some kind of disinfectant.
2. Approach keyboard usage like disposable contacts. Every month buy a new keyboard and after the month is up, throw it away.
3. Buy a washable antibacterial keyboard.

Benefits of the Unotron Keyboard

The nice thing about the Unotron keyboard is the ease with which you can clean the keyboard.  Just unplug  it and run it under a faucet.  You can dry it off with a towel and then go right back to using it.  Many people have correctly stated that you can actually do this with any keyboard, but if you do you can’t use the keyboard until you let it dry completely (otherwise the keyboard will short out).  For less hassle Unotron is the way to go (and not have to worry about breaking your keyboard).

Watching the keyboard in action is much more interesting.

The video below features an older version of the Unotron keyboard. Here they smash potato chips and other snack foods into the keyboard.  And then to top if off they throw some coffee and soda on it.  In the end they rinse it off, plug it back in, and like magic it works again.

Even without all the cool clean-ability of the keyboard there’s also the built in germ protection,  the silver-based biocide antibacterial coating.  Better safe than in pain with gastroenteritis!

FuncFash-ness: 7.5/10

• Functional: 4.5/5 (easy to clean, antibacterial shield, and still funcitonal as a keyboard)
• Fashionable: 3/5 (won’t win any design awards for looks)

Where to Buy:

• Amazon.com: Unotron SpillSeal Washable Antibacterial Keyboard Black $20.77 (currently on sale 57% off regular price last updated 7-28-09)
• Wetkeys.com: Washable Full-size USB / PS2 Keyboard – S6000K $45.99 (last updated 7-28-09)

Features:

• SpillSeal washable and anitbacterial technology
• Detachable ergonomic wrist support
• USB/ps2 adapter
• Compatible with PC Windows® 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista or Mac
• Easy to disinfect (soak in your cleaning agent of choice)

Related posts:

1. Introducing FFPI: FuncFash Product Ideas
2. FuncFash Recap (Week of 7-27-09)