Flat Input System Cool Leaf, A Mirror-Like Surface Devoid Of Keys

Cool Leaf is an input system that's one hundred percent flat, and keyless at that.  Created by Japanese company Minebea, the technology debuts as a series of input devices, ranging from a keyboard, a remote control, and a calculator.

Users manipulate "buttons", or rather the lack of buttons by pressing characters on a flat, mirror-like panel with a backlight, that uses a special film and an "electrostatic capacity type touch panel with force sensors beneath and the backlight as the bottom layer" to activate the movements.

With this kind of novel technology, users won't have to worry about keeping the devices clean, as there aren't any keys (and therefore crevices) for random bits and pieces to be stuck between.  No word of commercial release, but leave it to the Japanese for some of the most innovative thinking.

[Minebea via CrunchGear]