But 2007 might just be the beginning of the endgame for the keyboard, when we'll wave goodbye to the days of rattling our digits against harsh surfaces. And it took only 150 years.

Technology is advancing at a pace that leaves even the most avid coolhunters out of breath. "Smaller, faster and more integrated" is what the tech companies think we consumers are demanding, and so they are pouring considerable resources into giving us what we want. Chip sizes are being sorted, as are power issues so that now the two largest obstacles are screen size and keyboard size.

Mobile device manufacturers are catering to the almost paradoxical demand from people that they want smaller and smaller devices for their increasing communication needs but they also want bigger and bigger screens on these devices. With everything else pared down, keyboard and keypads are the next targets for manufacturers but in order to remove these interfaces, people will now have to shake, rattle and roll.

This new wave of interface change started with boogieing and getting on down.

Computer games like 'Dance Dance Revolution' proved to companies like Nintendo that there could be more to computer game interfaces than a joystick riddled with boil-like buttons. 'Dance Dance' had kids jump on different circles on dance mats to play a game. Great for parents who needed their kids to use up all their kinetic energy reserves and great for the kids themselves who upped their fitness levels.

Nintendo then brought out the touchscreen DS lite and once again removed complicated joypads from interactions. Two touchscreens and a stylus pen and people were playing complicated computer games and having a lot of fun. Since last Christmas the Nintendo Wii has made hand and body movements de rigueur for playing computer games.

Shimmying and shaking is in, clicking is out.

Browsers such as Opera and Firefox allow 'mouse gestures', which means a quick rattle of the mouse in the left direction will open a new browser tab or a circle with the mouse cursor will minimise all your windows or do any other action you want, since these 'gestures' are fully customisable.

All these new interfaces are now influencing business devices. Microsoft just released the Surface PC which allows a tabletop to be the interface to a computer multimedia system. Mobile phone makers are working on interfaces that allow you to move your phone forward, back, left and right to navigate menus, just like those mouse gestures.

Apple released the touchscreen-only iPhone . . .it is also working on a system where you don't touch the touchscreen of future iPods and iPhones but instead the screen will sense your fingers are near and put a virtual jogwheel on the screen which can be controlled by fingers near it but not touching it.

Just as people became addicted to their Blackberry phones, which had proper keyboards, they will now more than likely have to learn a whole new way of interacting with their micro communication devices.

This year it will be touchscreens and slight movements, next year it might be moving, squeezing and vibrating. If the Blackberry generation start playing their kids' Nintendo Wii, perhaps the changeover won't be too much of a shock to their system? Game on.