Microsoft's hardware group this morning unveiled a prototype of a pressure-sensitive keyboard that can detect precisely how hard each key is being pressed.
The company describes the potential uses as "limitless," saying it has tested concepts including pressing a letter harder to get a capital letter or a larger font size, or hitting the delete key harder or softer depending on whether the user wants to delete one character or an entire word.
It's just a prototype for now, and Microsoft Hardware isn't discussing any plans to bring the keyboard to market. However, the keyboard will be the subject of a student competition at the User Interface Software and Technology conference in Victoria, B.C., in October. Students will be challenged to develop new ways of using the prototype keyboard to interact with computers.
Microsoft researchers have been putting a big focus lately on natural user interfaces, such as the motion-detecting Project Natal interface planned for the company's Xbox 360 game console, and the new multi-touch capabilities planned for Windows 7. Microsoft Hardware focuses primarily on mice and keyboards, but its engineers also work on a variety of other hardware projects inside the company.
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