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The Verge
15-06-2025
- The Verge
Norbauer Seneca review: a $3,600 luxury keyboard for the keyboard obsessed
Some people can tell great wine from okay wine. They go on wine tastings, take wine tours. They tend to spend more money on wine than most. I am not one of those people. I can tell wine from vinegar if you show me the bottle. I am just a little bit obsessed with keyboards, though. I have spent the past couple of months typing on the Seneca, a fully custom capacitive keyboard that starts at $3,600 and might be the best computer keyboard ever built. I've also made a bunch of other people type on it — folks whose attitude toward keyboards is a little more utilitarian. My wife uses a mechanical keyboard because I put it on her desk; if I took it away, she would go back to her $30 Logitech membrane keyboard with no complaints. I put the Seneca on her desk. She said it was fine. I took it away. She went back to her other keyboard. The more normal you are about keyboards, the less impressive the Seneca is. I am not normal about keyboards, and the Seneca is goddamn incredible. The Seneca is the first luxury keyboard from Norbauer & Co, a company that would like to be for keyboards what Leica is to cameras, Porsche is to cars, or Hermés is to handbags and scarves. The thing that's interesting about the Seneca is not that it's expensive. It's easy to make something expensive. It's interesting because it's the product of a keyboard obsessive's decade-long quest to make the best possible keyboard, down to developing his own switches and stabilizers, at preposterous expense. It would be a fascinating story even if he'd failed. But he didn't. How to build the best keyboard in the world You can read about Ryan Norbauer's journey to develop the Seneca in the other article we just published. The brief version is this: the Seneca is a custom keyboard, a descendant of the aftermarket housings Norbauer used to make for Topre boards, except here it's not just the housing that's custom. The entire keyboard is made of parts you can't get anywhere else, inside a metal chassis manufactured to a frankly unnecessary degree of precision, and hand-assembled in Los Angeles by a small team of mildly famous keyboard nerds. It is staggeringly heavy, ungodly expensive, and unbelievably pleasant to type on, in a way that maybe only diehard keyboard enthusiasts will fully appreciate. For lack of a better word, the Seneca feels permanent. It weighs nearly seven pounds and looks like smooth concrete or worn-down stone. The case is milled aluminum, with a plasma-ceramic oxidized finish that has a warm gray textured look but feels totally smooth. It's actually hard to pick up; there's nowhere to curl your fingers under it. It's supposed to go on your desk and stay there. The switches and stabilizers were developed by Norbauer & Co. and are exclusive to the company's keyboards, which is just the Seneca for right now. They are the most interesting thing about the keyboard — the whole reason I wanted to test it. They're phenomenal. The switches are a riff on the Topre capacitive dome design (most famously found in the Happy Hacking Keyboard), but they're smoother and less wobbly, with a deeper sound. Unlike every other Topre-style switch, they're designed around MX-style keycaps from the start, so the housings don't interfere with Cherry-profile keycaps. (This is a bigger deal than it may sound; it means the Seneca works with thousands of aftermarket keycap sets, instead of the bare handful that work with Topre boards). The stabilizers, like the switches, took years to develop. They're hideously complicated and overengineered, finicky to put together, and they're without a doubt the best stabilizers in the world. There's no rattle or tick in any of the stabilized keys, and although the spacebar has a deeper thunk than the rest of the keys, it's not much louder to my ears. The typing experience is sublime. The keys have a big tactile bump right at the top, a smooth downstroke, and a snappy upstroke. The ones on my review unit are medium weight, which are supposed to feel similar to 45g Topre; there are lighter and heavier options. The switches are muted, not silenced; silicone rings on the slider soften the upstroke, and there's a damper between the switch and PCB that quiets the downstroke and prevents coil crunch. (The switches are compatible with third-party silencing rings; I tried an old Silence-X ring, and it worked fine). There are gaskets between the switches and the solid brass switchplate, and between the plate and the housing; there's damping material everywhere. The result is a deep, muted thock, without a hint of ping. The keyboard's info page says, 'The gentle sound of the Seneca is often likened to raindrops. It has a soft intentionally vintage-sounding thock without being obtrusively clacky.' Read that in whatever voice you'd like. For what it's worth, Verge executive editor Jake Kastrenakes, who did not read the info page but did listen to the typing test embedded below, also said it sounded like raindrops. Whatever you compare it to, the Seneca sounds and feels great. The Seneca is available for preorder now, in a first edition of around 100 to 150 units, starting at $3,600. The unit I've been testing is from Edition Zero — the first production run — which includes 50 that were offered in a private sale last summer to a small group of previous Norbauer clients, as well as a few more for testing, certification, and review. The Edition Zero Senecas, including my review unit, came with closed-source firmware that doesn't allow for hardware-based key remapping, which, for me, is the biggest omission. When Norbauer commissioned the firmware half a decade ago, he opted not to include remappability for the sake of simplicity. He deemed software remapping good enough for a keyboard with a standard layout that isn't meant to be carried from computer to computer. I do not share that opinion. I program the same function layer into all of my keyboards, and I'm moderately annoyed every time I reach for a shortcut on the Seneca that just isn't there. But I have to concede that software remapping — I've been using Karabiner-Elements on Mac and the PowerToys Keyboard Manager on Windows — is basically tolerable in the short term. But hardware remapping is important on compact keyboards, like the one the company plans to make next. Norbauer is working with Luca Sevá, aka Cipulot — the guy for third-party electrocapacitive PCBs — on new open-source firmware that will allow for remapping. That firmware will be available on the Seneca, probably by the time the First Edition keyboards ship, but wasn't yet available during my test period. There are a few other quirks. The Seneca's custom cable uses USB-C on the computer end and a Lemo connector at the near end. It looks very cool, and it keeps the aesthetic coherent, but if the Seneca is joining a rotation of other keyboards on your desk, it means you have to swap cables every time. On the one hand, if you're buying a 7-pound, $3,600 keyboard, are you really going to move it off your desk that much? On the other, if you care enough about keyboards to buy this one, you probably do have a lot of nice keyboards you want to rotate between. (Norbauer is working on a short Lemo-to-USB-C dongle, but that also wasn't ready during the review period.) The Seneca has a totally flat typing angle. Most mechanical keyboards are higher in the back than the front, with a typing angle between 3 and 11 degrees. Ergonomically, flat (or even negative) is better. There's an optional riser ($180, made in South Africa from native hardwoods) that gives it a three-degree typing angle, if you prefer. On a whim, I put it backward, giving the keyboard a negative three-degree angle, and now all my other keyboards feel weird. This might be the Seneca's biggest impact on my life going forward. Over the past month or so, I've asked a few friends and family members to try typing on the Seneca. Most of them have desk jobs, and most use mechanical keyboards all day long, but they're not keyboard nerds. They have been, as a rule, moderately impressed. Everyone thinks it looks nice, and everyone likes the way it feels and sounds, but they are not blown away. It hasn't ruined them for their Keychrons. Most of them ask where the number pad is. On a functional level, the Seneca doesn't do anything more than a $115 Keychron. Actually, it does less: there's no wireless, no backlighting, no volume knob, no hotswap switches, and (for now) no firmware remapping. As a machine for typing, it's peerless, but maybe not in a way that anyone but a keyboard obsessive is going to notice or care about. And that's fine. If you're selling a keyboard for $3,600, you've narrowed your audience to two tiny and overlapping groups. You have to be able to convince the pickiest keyboard nerds on Earth that there's something about your keyboard they can't get anywhere else. And you have to convince the nouveau riche coders and status-obsessed desk jockeys that you've convinced the keyboard nerds and that this keyboard is worth half an entry-level Rolex. Some small number of people who buy the Seneca will surely only do so because it's beautiful and useful, and they can afford it. And that's as good a reason as any. But mostly, this is a luxury keyboard for a very specific type of keyboard nerd. If your idea of nice is a preposterously heavy capacitive board, the Seneca is better than anything else you can buy or build. You don't have to spend $3,600 to get an amazing keyboard. Obviously. It's very easy not to spend $3,600 on a keyboard. You can have a great time with an off-the-shelf board that costs under $100. For less than 10 percent of the Seneca's price, you can get a barebones kit keyboard, add whatever switches and stabilizers and keycaps you want, and have way more control over the end result than you do with the Seneca. (Strong endorsement here for the Classic-TKL and the Bauer Lite). You can get a Realforce keyboard for $250 and fall in love with the Topre switches that launched Norbauer on the path to the Seneca all those years ago. If you're smart, you'll stop there. Or, if you're like me, you'll find yourself a decade later with way more keyboards than computers, half-convinced to spend $3,600 on the nicest keyboard in the world.
USA Today
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Jane Birkin's personal Hermès Birkin bag prototype up for auction
Jane Birkin's personal Hermès Birkin bag prototype up for auction Jane Birkin's Hermés bag was the first ever, personally crafted for her lifestyle and it's now up for auction with record-breaking expectations.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Master the 'rich grandma' look with these Martha Stewart-approved styles
When it comes to pulling off the "rich grandma" aesthetic, who better to look to for inspiration than Martha Stewart? She is, after all, a very rich grandma. Though she's been known to wear high-end designer brands like Hermés and Max Mara in real life, she recently teamed up with QVC on a fashion collection that includes affordable pieces that perfectly embody her signature style. Stewart took to Instagram to show off a few of her faves from the line, and she makes a really compelling case to grab the clothing while you can. As soon as I came across her in this classic navy and white striped sweater paired with white pants, I thought, "I need that outfit!" Very elegant and expensive-looking, right? It'd be perfect for eating a nice lunch at a beachfront restaurant, strolling around a cute downtown neighborhood or meeting up with a friend. The best part, though? The entire get-up is less than $125. Fans of Stewart will undoubtedly appreciate that she included a denim shirt in her QVC collection. She's been wearing this timeless classic for years and now fans can own one of her go-to pieces for less than $60. While modeling the top for an Instagram pic, Stewart paired the top with the Rolled Hem Ankle Jeans in white from her collection, but it can be worn several different ways. Try it with khaki pants, a linen skirt or over dress — the options are endless. There are lots more 'rich grandma' pieces up for grabs from Stewart's QVC collection, but you shouldn't wait to shop. Unsurprisingly, styles are already selling out, so add them to your cart and make your purchase before they're gone. The reviews quoted above reflect the most recent versions at the time of publication.
New York Times
12-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Masters fashion: Stretching the concept of quiet luxury underneath a giant oak tree
AUGUSTA, Ga. — The Masters will never be cheugy. It may be a crime of fashion to be overdone, outdated or, gasp, dressed in millenial-core for 51 weeks a year. But for this week, at Augusta National Golf Club during the Masters, the patrons come dressed for the scene they find when they step on property, and there's something about the place that makes it all work. Advertisement The open space between the clubhouse, the first tee and the practice green at Augusta National is like the Shibuya Crossing of golf. Spectators shuffle in every which direction, creating a dizzying blur of rye green, seersucker and straw hats. The Green Jackets gather under the canopy of the legendary oak tree, schmoozing with VIP guests, while groups of done-up women meander about, greeting each other and dishing out compliments on floral dresses from the latest spring collections: 'Oh I love that! Where's it from?' Meanwhile, the golf bros walk with purpose to find their next vantage point, as spikeless golf shoes and big box brand dry-fit polos do exactly what they are supposed to do: perform. From the old to the young, to the PGA Tour superfan and the clueless significant other, the patrons at Augusta National all have one thing in common when it comes to their varying fashion choices: They're trying to say something. The spectators at the Masters take full advantage of the opportunity to be, well, extra. For the men, this effort manifests in a competition as old as time. The Country Club Logo Olympics begin at 7:00 a.m. Monday, when the patron gates open for the week's first practice round. At the Masters, the idea of 'quiet luxury' is not just a Hermés bag or a pair of Chanel ballet flats, but also needlepoint whales and acorns stitched onto canvas golf hats. It's impossible for a few not to catch your eye: Pine Valley on a navy polo, Seminole Golf Club on a cashmere pullover. Spot the ultra-private Ohoopee Match Club onion? Or the lesser-known but mighty crest for Scotland's finest course, North Berwick Golf Club? It might spark a conversation. That's exactly what they want. 'You see these logos and you're like, he definitely knows a member. But you're not sure if he is a member. But if he is a member, I need him to be my friend,' says Stephen Malbon, founder of Malbon Golf, a lifestyle brand that has partnered with PGA Tour pro Jason Day to stretch player fashion past slim-fit golf pants and shades of blue. Advertisement That's the least of it. Turn to the left or right anywhere on property and it won't take long to find the GOAT: The Augusta National Golf Club logo. It is not to be confused with the Masters logo. These are very different things. There's already an exclusivity to the idea of purchasing Masters merchandise because it is only sold on site. When you get there, there are about 19 other elevations beyond what you can take home from the massive merchandise building, which contains 64 check out registers and 385 mannequins and sells everything from $400 cashmere hoodies to scented candles and gnomes. Now Augusta National has Berckmans Place and Map & Flag, two brand new and hot-ticketed hospitality venues that also sell their own apparel. The holy grail is, of course, the club's intimate pro shop. That's the only place one can purchase an item that is simply adorned with the coveted 'ANGC.' Yes, those four letters make the difference. 'There are people flexing their Berckmans merch. And that's different from the main merch. And the pro shop merch is different from that merch,' says Malbon. 'There's levels to it. People are showing their social or economic status by wearing this stuff.' For the women of Augusta National, there's an understanding that you dress for the female gaze. Admit it or don't, you're scrolling Pinterest and TikTok in the months leading up the tournament to find outfit inspiration for your Masters outfit, which, if you're attending Thursday-Sunday, will not be seen on an Instagram feed (unless you film an 'outfit check' in the parking lot.) Cell phones are prohibited from the Augusta National grounds and cameras are only allowed on practice round days. You dress to impress, though, even if the internet may not see it. 'The key to fashion at the Masters is not necessarily clothes that you'd wear to play golf. Those outfits are great for other golf tournaments. For me, the Masters is more like the Kentucky Derby of golf, minus the hat and definitely minus the heels,' says Golf Channel's Kira K. Dixon. 'If you wear a hat, it should just be a really good wide-brim hat because sun protection is key.' Advertisement 'Wear something really cute that you wouldn't normally wear, blow it out of the water. Wear the wide leg pants, wear the fun blazer, wear the fun print. This is Augusta National. Do it.' A pop of green is the first aesthetic necessity for women at the Masters, but there are always ways to go above and beyond. Annie Shoulders and Kylie Shemanksi stood on the ropeline of the fifth fairway at Augusta National, waiting for Jordan Spieth's Thursday pairing to find the short grass. Shemanski's name was stitched onto the back of her white sweater in green letters in the style of the traditional Masters caddie bibs — a creative touch. But then Shoulders turned around for the grand reveal. She had painted her square-shaped crossbody purse by hand to look like a pimento cheese sandwich. 'I knew I was going to do this for about a month,' said Shoulders, an engineer from Little Rock, Ark., attending her second Masters. 'I also made sweaters for (Shemanski's) daughters.' There's a decadence to the women at Augusta National. Round, flat-brim straw hats and monochrome matching sets have been two popular trends in 2025. Color combinations of Masters green — also known as Pantone 342 — and Butter Yellow, the season's hottest spring shade, have been plentiful. Adidas Sambas are the tournament's most popular shoe, with New Balance 327s coming in as a close second. Dixon, who has received hundreds of direct messages from Masters ticket-holders asking for outfit advice, coined a term to describe the style: 'Augustacore.' The local boutiques in Augusta make it their mission to capitalize on Masters week. The Swank Company prepares inventory with the proper color schemes and accessories for patrons in need of a last-minute shopping trip. The Peppy Poppy says that Masters season is their second-most profitable time of the year, behind only Christmas. Advertisement 'Masters style is always going to be the same: Something green and something stylish and comfortable to walk around in,' says Dawne Byrd, owner of the Peppy Poppy. The fashion circus at the Masters feels like it could get old really fast, but somehow, it just never does. There's a sense of, if you're at Augusta National, why wouldn't you go all out? 'When I told my sister that we were going to the Masters, her first question was 'What are we going to wear?' says Kiara Dowdell, who was wearing a matching cardigan with her sister, Alexis Vega. The players and their sponsors participate in the frenzy too, with pre-planned weekly scripting and outfit choices that they wouldn't make at any other golf tournament. For example: Cam Smith wore a four-way stretch blazer during Wednesday's practice round. It was the result of a drunken conversation with the man who makes said blazer. The tournament participants are focused on the task at hand, but they're also aware of what's going on around them. 'When you're walking the golf course, everyone looks like they're having a good time. Everyone is dressed up really nice,' Day, who is known for pushing the boundaries with his on-course attire, says. 'It's kind of like a horse racing event when everyone comes out and they're wearing some really nice clothes. They just do it right here at Augusta.' The Masters is not just a golf tournament. It is different. So naturally, the patrons, in all sorts of ridiculous ways, are going to treat it like a one-of-a-kind opportunity. And that allure will never go out of style. (Illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic; Photos: Andrew Redington, Richard Heathcote / Getty Images; Rob Schumacher, Kyle Terada / USA Today Sports)
Buzz Feed
27-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
You've Heard Of The 'Wirkin,' Now Check Out These Other Luxe-Looking Bags From Walmart
Early this year, a handbag broke the internet. Dubbed the ' Wirkin ' or 'Walmés,' the structured bag from Walmart looked awfully similar to one of the most expensive and elusive bags on the market: the Hermés Birkin. The luxe bag was created for and named after the actress Jane Birkin in the early 1980s. According to lore, Birkin was seated next to Hermés CEO Jean-Louis Dumas on a flight with her signature basket bag. Birkin lamented the lack of stylish bags big enough to carry everything she, a busy working mother, needed and Dumas took note, designing the Birkin bag in response. To this day, the luxe tote is considered by many to be the ultimate trophy bag. So naturally, when Walmart dropped an alternative at a fraction of the cost, people took notice. The bags sold out quickly and have not returned due to legal controversy, so you may not be able to get your hands on a Wirkin. But there are other luxe lookalikes lurking on Walmart's site. Several trending styles and shapes — think: minimal elongated shapes, soft slouchy oversized totes, woven leather and hardware embellishments — are ripe for the picking. So why not fake it til you make it? With these affordable bags that look more expensive than they are, folks will be none the wiser. 1. A woven leather everyday bag Walmart This oversized tote is the perfect everyday bag. The woven vegan leather is reminiscent of Bottega Veneta's signature woven leather, particularly the Hop bag. Sometimes it's hard to tell if a bag will tote all you need for the day, but one shopper reassures in her review that the bag 'was much larger than I expected.' At 18.5 by 12.6 inches, you can tote items like a laptop, cardigan and water bottle along with all your other essentials. Choose from four chic colors: coffee brown, cool light gray, warm dove gray and the customer-favorite burgundy. 2. Another woven bag with a removable crossbody strap Walmart Multiple reviews pointed out that this Time & Tru satchel looks designer. This is likely thanks to its woven design, which — like the previous bag on this list — is similar to Bottega Veneta's woven leather. The bag is 12.25 by 9.5 inches and has a removable crossbody strap as well as a top handle, zippered back pocket and snap closure for the main compartment. You can get the bag in two colors. 3. Walmart It's hard to improve upon a classic and nothing is more classic than a simple tote bag. This version, in supple faux leather, features slim, long straps with an 8-inch drop to accommodate chunky sweaters and winter layers, and an interior pouch to keep essentials quick at hand. "I do not even know where to start," one reviewer wrote, adding that the bag is "so soft inside it's giving luxury on a budget." While not exactly the same, this bag looks similar to The Row's Park Tote, Toteme's Suede Tote and Khaite's Frida Bag. The key difference: The designer picks all ring up over $1K, while this minimal bag is just under $30. You can grab it in a bunch of different colors, each of which comes with a matching extra zipper pouch. Need ingredients for all your new recipes? Shop each recipe directly through the app, or check out Walmart's grocery selection to get veggies, meat, seafood, and more delivered right to your door.
