Touch

18:55 January 31, 2010 PST

Touchscreens found in most mobile devices today use capacitance or resistance technology - fine for detecting input from a finger, but not so great when it comes to detecting how much pressure that finger is applying. However, this limitation could be about to change with news that Japanese touch screen manufacturer, Nissha, has licensed new technology that allows a touchscreen to detect pressure, even from a finger. This adds a third dimension to touchscreen interaction and opens up a raft of potential applications. Read More

MOBILE TECHNOLOGY

Autograph for iPhone app lets you sign on the dotted screen

By Jeff Salton

23:06 January 27, 2010 PST

The Autograph for iPhone app lets you add your signature to electronic documents on your P...

From Ten One Design - the creators of the Pogo Stylus (the first capacitive touch-screen stylus for the iPhone and iPod touch) comes Autograph for iPhone – a new iPhone/iPod touch app that lets you sign off documents by creating a digital signature directly on your device’s capacitive touch screen. Read More

GAMES

The PEREGRINE gaming glove: Own the Glove, own the Game

By Karen Sprey

12:05 January 12, 2010 PST

The PEREGRINE gaming glove is perfect for RTS and a host of other non-gaming applications

Throw away your keyboard – well lessen your dependence on it anyway - the PEREGRINE USB glove can be customized for over 30 user-programmable actions allowing you to react more quickly in intense gaming situations. The glove allows the wearer to carry out those time sensitive gaming commands with a twitch of a finger by utilizing the touch sensitive pads embedded in the fingers and palm of the glove. Read More

PERSONAL COMPUTING

Touch, smell and feel before you buy with Project Sense

By Paul Ridden

20:11 December 30, 2009 PST

Sense wirelessly connects with a computer and will give users a sensory representation of ...

The Sense concept designed by CD&I Associates is a wireless device that will, it's claimed, offer a "more emotional connection between users and experiences" through touch and smell. It aims to give users haptic, thermal and olfactory sensations while playing games, watching movies and shopping online via a tactile hand sheath and flavor-ink printed output. Read More

HEALTH AND WELLBEING

SmartHand brings movement AND touch to amputees

By Darren Quick

02:49 November 5, 2009 PST

The SmartHand and its first human subject, Robin af Ekenstam

Scientists have successfully wired a state-of-the-art artificial hand to existing nerve endings in the stump of a severed arm. Its creators say the device, called “SmartHand,” resembles a real hand in function, sensitivity and appearance. In order to develop such an intelligent artificial prosthetic hand with all the basic features displayed by a real one, the SmartHand team integrated recent advances in nanobioscience, cognitive neuroscience and information technologies. Read More

ELECTRONICS

Ideum’s 86 inch multi-touch table explores the electromagnetic spectrum

By Paul Lester

23:47 November 2, 2009 PST

Ideum’s multi-touch table was developed for Adventure Science Center in Nashville

One area of real potential for multi-touch technology is in touch-sensitive tables. Some may remember Microsoft’s Surface display, and innovative designs like the ROSIE coffee table. Ideum’s ultra-wide alternative takes a slightly different approach though, as it is able to create digital representations of images across the electromagnetic spectrum. Read More

HEALTH AND WELLBEING

Sweep Technology touch interface for hearing aids

By Darren Quick

18:04 November 1, 2009 PST

A S Series hearing aid with Sweep Technology touch interface from Starkey Laboratories

Touch-screen interfaces have already usurped traditional buttons on a range of mobile devices that boast a larger screen size and/or smaller form factor by doing away with a wide range of buttons or dedicated keypad. Now buttons of all sorts on all sorts of devices are under assault. Just last week Apple declared war on mouse buttons, and now hearing technology company, Starkey Laboratories, has taken aim at fiddly hearing aid buttons with its "Sweep Technology" touch-based interface for hearing aids. Read More

HEALTH AND WELLBEING

Bioengineered scaffold could restore sense of touch to prosthetic limbs

By Darren Quick

00:15 October 15, 2009 PDT

Thankfully prosthetic technology has come a long way since 1944 - the latest developments...

Existing robotic prostheses have limited motor control, provide no sensory feedback and can be uncomfortable to wear. In an effort to make a prosthesis that moves like a normal hand, researchers at the University of Michigan have bioengineered a scaffold that is placed over severed nerve endings like a sleeve and could improve the function of prosthetic hands and possibly restore the sense of touch for injured patients. Read More

PERSONAL COMPUTING

HP releases TouchSmart PCs and 42-inch HD digital touch display

By Jeff Salton

19:20 October 14, 2009 PDT

HP has unveiled a choice of 20- or 23-inch diagonal wide-screen consumer TouchSmart PCs. U...

HP has burst forth and launched a range of multi-touch computing products comprising three new TouchSmart PCs and a fully-functional interactive 42-inch HD digital signage display, the HP LD4200. The company has also upgraded its multi-touch notebook range with new touch features. Read More