Personal computers may get smaller every year, but few have eliminated their most quotidian appendage: the keyboard.
The Virtual Keyboard, being developed by VKB, a small company based in Jerusalem, uses laser technology to project a glowing image of a keyboard that can detect finger strokes. Users can tap away on a desk, a kitchen table or the floor as they would on a traditional keyboard.
"The surface needs to be relatively flat," said Klony Lieberman, VKB's vice president for research and development, but "the keyboard supports the fastest typing speeds and is completely accurate."
The Virtual Keyboard may be available to consumers by the end of the year, most likely as an accessory to handheld PCs and cellphones. VKB's technology could also be used to replace a computer mouse or telephone keypad. Such virtual input devices offer another benefit as well: it's much easier to wipe a flat surface clean with a rag than to poke under the keys with a cotton swab.
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