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Home / News / World’s slimmest keyboard is thin enough to give you a paper cut

World’s slimmest keyboard is thin enough to give you a paper cut

At less than 0.5mm thick, this Bluetooth keyboard could be the answer to your bulky tablet typing woes

Cambridge-based electronics company CSR has created a wireless keyboard that’s slim enough to slip through the cracks in your floorboards.

Measuring in at under 0.5mm thick (at its thinnest point – the electronics are stored in a thicker oblong at the top of it), the paper-thin keyboard features ultra low-powered Bluetooth Smart technology for a longer battery life and can can accept handwriting and sketching input from a specialised pen.

Flexible

Lightweight and flexible, it’s the ideal candidate for creating thinner tablet keyboard covers like those seen on the Microsoft Surface, and it’s all possible thanks to the way its made.

The flexibility is down to Conductive Inkjet Technology, a company which has developed a method of printing catalytic ink from digital files, which copper can then adhere to form a conductive circuit. Another company called Atmel provides the touch silicon, which is able to detect multiple contact points on its surface. The entire keyboard’s entire surface can be touch sensitive, or sensitivity can be reduced to individual keys to save power if required. Combine the two technologies, and boom – you’ve got a ridiculously thin, flexible keyboard.

Larger, more rigid versions can also be produced for desktop use – and custom designs and languages can be printed onto each keyboard, which will come in handy for specialised applications like video editing and gaming. Wingdings keyboard, here we come.

We’re looking forward getting some time with a sample at IFA in Berlin this week, though sadly it’ll still be another 12 months before we’ll be able to buy the razor-thin keyboard.

[via The Guardian]

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Esat has been a gadget fan ever since his tiny four-year-old brain was captivated by a sound-activated dancing sunflower. From there it was a natural progression to a Sega Mega Drive, a brief obsession with hedgehogs, and a love for all things tech. After 7 years as a writer and deputy editor for Stuff, Esat ventured out into the corporate world, spending three years as Editor of Microsoft's European News Centre. Now a freelance writer, his appetite for shiny gadgets has no bounds. Oh, and like all good human beings, he's very fond of cats.