Of all the student projects I saw at last week's Research In Action conference at the University of Toronto, one really stood out.
RearType was not necessarily the most sophisticated thing on display at the one-day event, but it was among the few that took a look at hardware rather than software, systems or processes around IT.
At first glance, I'm not sure if the idea will make its way out of the lab, but I could be wrong. I would never have predicted so many people would get used to typing with their thumbs. It does raise another issue, however: if RearType frees up that much of the screen, there better be something pretty compelling to show on it. If this is successful, it will be one less excuse for a poor user interface.
