NumberKey turns iPhone into a Wi-Fi number pad

We love our laptops but we've got to say we miss our roomy desktop keyboards when it comes to crunching numbers. Running through our entertainment expenses is sheer hell without a numeric keypad bolted to the right of the return key. If, though, you've got a MacBook and an iPhone or iPod Touch, Balmuda has the solution.

By tethering the two via Wi-Fi and downloading Balmuda's Numberkey software from the app store, you can requisition the iPhone's screen and put it to work as a fully functioning, touch-screen numeric keypad.

It's inspired - but what about a few other uses for our roomy touchscreen friend? How about turning it into a giant trackpad to take over duty from those annoyingly small netbook touch pads we've been forcing our poor fingers to use lately? Or perhaps we could just turn it into one big giant shift key to replace netbooks' annoyingly small right-hand shift. No wait, even better - a Windows Key for our old ThinkPad. Come on programmers, hear our cries.

You can get your mitts on Numberkey by installing the software for your MacBook from Balmuda's website, then handing over $2 at the App Store for the iPhone app. Now, if we could just have a Windows and Linux version, please.

[ Balmuda]