Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Can keyboards get more weird?

taken from ICE World Team in Mumbai | April 19, 2006 10:59 IST

Let's start with the roll-up keyboard that has the same measurements as a standard 102-key keyboard, but can be rolled up and put it in your pocket.

The wrist keyboard, as the name suggests, can be worn on your wrist. The SafeType keyboard is designed such that your hands and arms shall be in a more relaxed position while working with it as compared to a traditional keyboard.

Then there's the Virtual Laser Keyboard, which is a laser gadget that projects a virtual keyboard on a table or other suitable material, and then interprets your finger movements and passes them on to your PDA or whatever you have it connected to.

You also have the Frogpad, which is a very tiny keyboard. The manufacturer says you can get up to 40 words per minute if you practice between six to 10 hours with it. But why do they call it a Frogpad?

The Twiddler 2, on the other hand, will take you 'a weekend' to learn typing 30 words per minute, so the Frogpad wins that round. Maybe, you can twiddle your thumbs in the meanwhile.

The Orbitouch creates a keystroke when you slide the two domes into one of their eight respective positions. It also has an integrated mouse, so moving the domes gives you full mouse and keyboard capability. And there's the Datahand, which is aimed at people who get pain in their hands from typing with a traditional keyboard.

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