BT has developed a device for laptops that aims to make life easier for the disabled or elderly by removing the need for a keyboard or a mouse.
The company has used Nintendo Wii style technology to develop a device for laptops that lets you control applications by moving or tilting the machine.
Called BT Balance, the device - a small adaptor containing movement sensors - can be plugged into any standard laptop or tablet PC. The adaptor is then able to 'talk' to software downloaded to the laptop and translate the motion and rotation into actions on your computer screen.
Adam Oliver, head of age and disability research who helped develop the technology, said: ?The technology has obvious implications for those who are disabled or elderly and have difficulty using a fiddly laptop keyboard or mouse.
?We also wanted to create an interface that was simple and intuitive. Standard ways of controlling PC applications can be too complicated, so we decided to use the analogy of a book to work with. What we ended up with gives you the same look and feel of picking up a book and reading it but in a 3-D digital format.?
According to BT, the software is "extremely adaptable" and can let people move a cursor around the screen or turn the pages of a virtual manual or book just by tilting or moving around their machine.
If you want to know the science behind the technology, the BT Balance adaptor is built around an accelerometer chip, which works in much the same way as the balance system in the human ear. It tells the computer which way is up and how the device has been moved.
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