Smart doomsday preppers put money into solar-powered or hand-cranked radios to communicate with different future survivors of the zombie apocalypse. Add Lenovo’s hand-cranked mouse and keyboard to your shopper catalog of the top occasions.

Deep throughout the bowels of the Wynn Hotel, simply blocks away from the Las Vegas Convention Center and CES 2024, Lenovo is exhibiting off its newest laptops and extra, all trying forward towards a brighter, extra linked future. But if society collapses, Lenovo has you coated then, too.

Lenovo’s 12,800 dpi wi-fi mouse seems abnormal sufficient: two main buttons, a few secondary buttons, and a thumb relaxation that favors right-handers. (Lefties like myself will apparently be the dominant caste, the Eloi of the brand new world, leaving right-handed Morlocks to do the disagreeable duties like information entry.)

The Lenovo mouse can both use a devoted dongle or simply plain Bluetooth.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Below the mouse, although, is one thing uncommon: a pull-out crank. Yes, a hand crank: Spin the wheel for a couple of minutes, and also you’ll generate sufficient energy for half-hour of use.

Beware of spinning it too energetically: If the deal with breaks off, you’ll put mankind’s future within the palms of touchpads. (Or maybe will probably be the long-lasting Lenovo TrackPoint’s time to shine, as soon as once more.)

Mark Hachman / IDG

The wi-fi keyboard is extra optimistic. It, too, is wi-fi, but it surely has two energy choices. There’s a small Surface Dial-like knob within the higher left-hand nook. Spin it for five minutes, and also you’ll generate sufficient energy for half-hour of use. But there’s an array of photo voltaic panels, too, that can be utilized for charging.

That provides humanity an possibility: Live deep within the earth in sealed, probably lightless vaults and spin the wheel to keep up energy, or use the solar’s power to generate sufficient energy to attempt to hack into the worldwide AI that’s making an attempt to get rid of all natural life. Not dangerous, huh?

Mark Hachman / IDG

In much less dramatic phrases, you could possibly additionally merely spin away whereas in your subsequent Zoom name.

These are all formally labeled as proofs of idea. Okay, that’s high quality. We’ll maintain your secret protected, Lenovo. But simply keep in mind to avoid wasting us a pair when the aliens arrive and we’re all compelled to fend for ourselves amid the final remnants of human society.