The Virtual Keyboard starts a limited run

Japanese website Tanomi.com is taking orders for a virtual keyboard "developed and manufactured" by Matsushita Electric Industrial subsidiary PinChange (though it seems VKB of the US and i.Tech of Hong Kong are also involved). We had heard all sorts of stories about production problems, so perhaps Matsushita have stepped up to the challenge, Called, er, the Virtual Keyboard, the device weighs about 90g and looks to be pretty compact (here's some video of one in action). We have a feeling we'd rather have a foldup keyboard if we were using it with a portable, but tapping out your masterpieces in red light on the bar counter does have something to be said for it in the coolness stakes. Works with Pocket PC200x and most other flavours of Windows, Palm OS 5.0 and up, and Mac OSX. Costs about •30,000 in the limited-edition run that's being offered; it's not clear whether a general release is in the offing.

[Via PC Watch (Japanese)]