By John G. Spooner
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
May 14, 2002, 1:50 PM PT

Call it typing the light fantastic.

Start-up Virtual Devices has developed a flashlight-size gadget that
projects an image of a keyboard on any surface and lets people input data
by typing on the image.

The company's Virtual Keyboard is designed for anyone who's become
frustrated with trying to peck information into a handheld but doesn't want
to schlepp a notebook computer around. It uses cameras to track the
location of a person's fingers in relation to a map of a full-sized keyboard.

The company announced the device Tuesday.

Handheld manufacturers "have saturated the market for people who just want
address books," said Virtual Devices chief technical officer Steve
Montellese. He thinks the Virtual Keyboard could help lift sales in the
slowing PDA (personal digital assistant) market. Handheld makers, he said,
will have to make it easier to enter data into a PDA before people will
leave their notebook PCs behind and carry only a handheld.

At this point, Virtual Devices plans to sell its gadget as a standalone
unit. But it's also in discussions with device makers to incorporate it
into handhelds, smart phones as well as PDAs, Montellese said.

Depending on the timing of these deals, Montellese said, the Virtual
Keyboard may debut first in a device. Either way, "one will be out later
this year."

A standalone version of the keyboard would cost between $100 and $150,
Montellese said.

The Virtual Devices product plan is yet another in the quest for a portable
keyboard that will let people extend the usefulness of their PDAs. The
company Think Outside, for example, has dished up a foldable keyboard.

And other companies have taken the virtual approach. Start-up Senseboard
Technologies, for example, is working on a keyboard that uses sensors and
pattern-recognition software to determine what a person is typing.
Samsung's Scurry, demonstrated at last year's fall Comdex trade show, uses
motion sensors too.

But Montellese said the keyboard quest is only one approach to simplifying
data entry. The other, being explored by the likes of IBM and Microsoft, is
speech recognition. However, "I don't expect either one will win,"
Montellese said. Instead, he believes most handhelds will be modified to
accommodate both methods.

Meanwhile, companies like IBM are hedging their bets in the market for
portable computing devices with various research and development projects.
IBM Research has cooked up the Meta Pad, a 9-ounce, wallet-size modular PC.
The MetaPad basically contains the vital organs of a PC, such parts as the
processing unit, or CPU, along with a hard drive and memory. Users then add
modules to convert the device into a handheld, notebook or desktop.


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