The Next Stroke: Laser Projection Keyboard

Things are going to feel a little different.

The buzz over the technology grapevine these days is about the advent of the laser projection keyboard. This virtual input device can project the layout of a keyboard on any surface and by simply tapping on said layout you could work your PC as if you do have a wired keyboard. This is bound to send your old, dusty, crumb-ridden, tippety-tap PC keyboard to obsolescence in a few years.

It is certainly an exciting technology but certainly nothing new. As early as 2008, the i.Tech Virtual Keyboard was already being sold at Amazon.com. The latest projection keyboard to come out in the market is the Celluon Magic Cube Laser Projection Keyboard and Touchpad. It debuted with an SRP of about $200 during the summer and is fast gaining the interest of tech aficionados. And what's not to drool over? You're typing with laser!

While projection keyboards are certainly a step closer towards realizing a Matrix-like future, personally I would wait for the second or third generations of this technology to come out. As were most transitional technologies (i.e. laser discs, zip drives, etc.) it won't take long for the trend to snowball into better, faster and cheaper versions of the product.

At any rate, apart from the flexibility of using your projection keyboard with multiple devices (from PCs to mobile gadgets) the clear upside for the device -- you won't have to worry about spilling your drink on your keyboard!

Learn more about the laser guided keyboard here and here (Death of the Keyboard).

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Blackberry Playbook: RIM's Rival Tablet to IPad Available By 2011

Research in Motion (RIM), the company that currently hogs the smartphone limelight in North America with its Blackberry product line, is set to make available its enterprise-grade tablet PC in the market by 2011. Dubbed the Blackberry Playbook, the 7-inch touchscreen device was recently launched and is now making gadget-conscious heads turn with a sleek, handier exterior while maintaining a reliable, powerful and -- dare I say it -- Flash-friendly system.

It seems that RIM is taking advantage of every negative point against the Apple iPad from consumer surveys and has incorporated them into the Blackberry Playbook. These include true multitasking and interoperability with Flash-based technology -- something that Apple is yet to adopt for its iPad device.

Despite the announcement, RIM shares fell by 2.75 points which analysts take as a criticism against RIM management particularly for the odd-timed release of the Playbook, set after the year-end holidays. Perhaps RIM executives are anticipating loyalty sales from existing Blackberry users especially since the Playbook has device-pairing integration with Blackberry smartphones. This should encourage consumers to hold-on to their hard-earned cash and snub the latest iteration of the iPad this holiday season. The same goes for corporate and institutional buyers looking at distributing tablet computers for their organization since the Blackberry Playbook is largely targeted for the enterprise setting.

That said, I think the delay is a smart move. However, we'll have to wait until next year whether this gamble will pay off for RIM.

The Playbook is also equipped with Bluetooth and WiFi and uses the Blackberry operating system although RIM pledges a Playbook OS soon. See the video preview of the Blackberry Playbook below. How about you -- Are you going for Playbook or the iPad?

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Laptop Goes Green: The ASUS Bamboo Series

There's an indigenous Filipino creationist myth that says "Bathala" (the great deity) sent down a bird to split open a giant bamboo and out came "Malakas" (the male, translated as "strong") and "Maganda" (the female, translated as "beautiful").

Well, them technology gods at ASUS just came out with a bamboo fashioned laptop that is supposed to be both strong and environmentally beautiful. The bamboo finish reminds me of my old computer table. I never saw it coming that one day the bamboo would actually be the computer itself.

The bamboo-cladding seems amusing at first but the folks at ASUS are serious, especially in the matter of using biodegradable materials for its products. There's no word from the manufacturer's press release just how environment friendly this particular piece of technology is but the specs would easily rival many top of the line laptops in its class. The Bamboo series comes in both 12.1" and 11.1" models. Furthermore, if you split this Bamboo, you'd find an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and DDR-2 RAM, expandable up to 4GB.

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ASUS claims that the Bamboo computers are energy efficient due to its next generation "Super Hybrid Engine". They stretch the pitch further by saying it "is the first notebook to have survived the unforgiving conditions of snow-capped Qomolangma Peak". That's Mount Everest for those of you who didn't get the chance to read on my previous posts on the Olympics.

A few questions come to mind. How does the bamboo surface fare in terms of the heat generated by the device? Wouldn't it warp as most organic materials do when subjected to heat? Just how much of the skin is made of bamboo? For that matter, the question still remains on how much of the notebook is actually biodegradable and how much of it is just marketing hype?

At any rate, I'm keeping tabs on this innovation. Anything that puts emphasis on going green should be given the chance to prosper, I think.

Personally, I would love to give this handsome equipment a test run. Ahem... attention ASUS. (wink!)