Is this how we will type in the future?

FUTURE WEEK: Just five buttons and one hand

2 April 2010 16:00 GMT / By Stuart Miles

The keyboard is a funny thing, designed to slow typists down so the arms of a typewriter didn't get stuck, it's left us having to learn where a stack of keys have been placed randomly on a keyboard.

Yep, we are talking about you Mr QWERTY.

But how will we type in the future? Put aside your issues about touchscreen technologies and on screen keyboards, one suggestion is the chorded keyboard that allows you to type multiple words using just a handful of buttons - five to be exact.

Created by Erik Campbell the above design is a five-button control pad that can be used with just one hand. Working like a musical set of keys each one performs different functions when you press it and depending on the combination you press will give you a different result.

The concept is actually based on a design by Douglas Engelbart, why should you know that name? Because it's the same guy that came up with the mouse.