The TactaPad is a concept technology awaiting development funding and manufacture. The system provides for two handed manipulation of your computing screen via a USB pad and integral camera, with full touch and audio feedback. Quite an ambitious concept, but the demo animations make it look very cool indeed. They say it could cost around $1000.00 though, so it looks as though they’re aiming at the top-end of the market initially. Nice.
Where does the keyboard go? For two-handed operation the TactaPad is most comfortably used when centered in front of the user. The preferred setup will typically be a split keyboard, with one half to the left, and one half to the right of the TactaPad. Another benefit of this layout will be that the distance your hand must travel when switching between pointing and typing will be less than with a keyboard and mouse.
