Hands Tired from Typing? Try the Microsoft Foot Pad

By Jimmy Daniels
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

Ever get tired of using your hands to type and to send or check email? Want to try using your feet? Microsoft is debuting it’s Step User Technology, along with about 150 others, at the TechFest beginning today.

Computer scientists in Microsoft Corp.’s research division have developed a color-coded “dance pad” with buttons you can tap with your feet — or jump on — to scroll through electronic files. It may never make it to store shelves, but that’s no concern to Microsoft, which spends billions of dollars a year researching far-out technologies without worrying about whether the gizmos will ever make it to store shelves. Every year, the software giant holds an internal trade show where hundreds of researchers show off their work. Asked if he could envision any truly practical uses for such technology, Kevin Schofield, general manager of strategy at Microsoft Research, paused, then enthusiastically said: “I can envision a lot of things!” Source: Yahoo.

We Say: Suddenly, I’m having flashbacks of that old Nintendo game Track and Field, we had the foot pad with it and used to have a blast with it. I can definitely see this being handy for some people, say, ones who have had some digits or hands amputated, maybe even people with bad carpal tunnel, but I can’t see the foot pad being used in business situations to much. Maybe, if they have some kind of shoe with buttons you activate with your toes, etc, but a foot pad?