My biggest problem with meeting apps is that they each have a different shortcut to mute your microphone or turn off your webcam. It’s hard to remember which buttons do what when you’re in the middle of a meeting and trying to make a point or ask a question. I always wanted a physical, universal button for mute and camera control – something I could hit without thinking. Mirage’s Dune projectA small, three-button aluminum keyboard—about the size of a stick of gum—that plugs into the MacBook’s USB-C port does just that.
The $119 gadget has three buttons and changes context based on the program you’re watching. For example, in meeting apps and sites, this could be changing the microphone, changing the video, and bringing the window to the front. For Excel or Spreadsheets, this could be copy, paste and undo. For Chrome, it can be updated, passed to the URL bar, and pasted. You get the gist. Developers can use it to integrate with apps like VS Code or GitHub, to validate or close a pull request.
Startup builds each unit to fit your specific Mac model, so it sits in front of the laptop with no space underneath. If your ports are already in use, you can connect it via dongle. The Dune doesn’t have a battery and doesn’t need a separate charger—it draws power directly from your MacBook.
The startup currently supports the M2 Air or later, and the M1 Pro or later MacBook models running macOS 15 Sequoia or later.
The device looks and feels great, but I felt the buttons needed more resistance. Nowadays it’s easy to press a button by mistake. A few times I accidentally muted myself or killed my camera because my hand brushed the device while reaching for a water bottle or coffee cup. Pushing a button shouldn’t be this easy.
Dune ships with a utility to configure per-application or system-wide shortcuts. Within a given application, you can assign the Dune key to a keyboard shortcut, command, or link that opens the application or URL.
Through the app, Dune also syncs with your calendar and shows you a few minutes before your next meeting starts, so you can join, decline or send an “I’m late” message with one tap.
If you want deeper customization, you can write and run your own Python script. If you don’t code, Dune has easy integration with Claude Desktop: You describe the shortcut you want in plain language, and Claude writes it and assigns it to a button for that application — no manual installation required.
I created a shortcut that every time I’m on a startup’s website, it provides a brief overview of the company: its competitors, investors, and questions I might ask if I were to book a meeting with them. For anyone whose job it is to scale companies quickly – investors, founders, operators – Dune is a tailor-made task. I also set up one that converts images to JPEG so I can quickly upload them to WordPress or social platforms. Both were easy to set up and didn’t require any manual configuration, although getting the shortcut fully functional still requires some back-and-forth with Claude, including debugging after running it.
The app also has a marketplace where you can explore skills made by other Dune owners. If the market takes off, it could become the cornerstone of Dune’s growth and retention strategy—hardware as a subtle front-end for the Claude-powered skills ecosystem that gives each new skill owner one more reason to stay.
But at the moment there are only limited skills. Plus, there’s no way to test a skill without assigning it to a hardware button—ideally, the app would let you preview a skill before you hardware it. The startup should also actively add more skills offered to its users for various applications.
Project Mirage’s device retails for $149 after its introductory price ends, and is a solid choice for anyone with a passion for productivity. MuteMe just covers mute/unmute and Stream Deck offers business-oriented macros, but Dune is easier to customize in both hardware and software.
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