New tech could spell end for keyboard

Innovations on display at the CeBIT show in Hanover promise to herald the end of keyboards as we know them.

A virtual keyboard from iBIZ uses a low-powered laser to project a virtual keyboard onto any flat surface.

An infrared beam in the base of the 6cm x 2cm x 2cm device is projected over the keyboard and a small CCD camera logs finger strokes.

"I can project an image anywhere and it picks up keystrokes with 100 per cent accuracy," said Sharon Weshler, European sales manager for iBIZ.

"It's small enough to be portable and can be used on computers and potentially on any mobile computing device."

The device will be aimed at consumers and sold through major retail outlets from July.

Another device on show relies on pen and paper.

The ITPen is the size of a standard fountain pen and can be used as such. But inside it has three sensors, which measure movement in each direction.

The pen can be used in conjunction with a dedicated graphics tablet or on standard paper.

When used on paper the pen's movements are recorded and can be downloaded later to a PC or mobile device and outputted as text.

With a capacity of 64MB, the ITPen can store up to 200 pages of text; data can be transferred to the PC via Bluetooth.

"The bottleneck for mobile computing is the input device," said Nissim Oz, chief executive of ITPen.

"Yet pen and paper is a familiar format the world over. Now you can write what you like, load it onto a smartphone and synchronise it with your PC or send in off to the office. You can even use it as a mouse."

Two major manufacturers are reported to have shown interest in the pen, which is in final prototype stage. It is expected to cost around £70.