Touchscreen

California startup Tactus Technology recently caused plenty of "oohs" and "aahs" at SID Display Week 2012. The prototype touchscreen the company presented featured buttons that can rise out of the flat surface of the screen at the user's whim, disappearing completely once they are no longer needed.  Read More

Founded upon open source plans for optical touch tables, the designers of the Playsurface hope to develop a versatile touchscreen table-top suitable for a variety of "blazingly fast" applications (yes, including gaming) supporting multpiple users. Though purely an input and display device, the table can be had with an integrated PC as an extra. If the project goes ahead (funding is currently sought through Kickstarter), its designers claim it would be as easy to assemble as Ikea furniture. It's not a bad comparison: the flat-packed, affordable Playsurface is a product that its makers at Templeman Automation hope will close the disconnect between the popularity and availability of table-top touchscreens.  Read More

Apple is expected to unveil the next iPhone at its annual mobile keynote this year and as is the case with any high profile product launch, rumors about the device are beginning to materialize months before the event is scheduled to take place. Most recently, Wall Street Journal sources suggest that Apple intends to upsize the iPhone’s display from 3.5 to 4 inches.  Read More

Medium format camera manufacturer Mamiya-Leaf has announced three new high resolution camera backs named the Leaf Credo. All of the new backs sport a specially designed DALSA CCD sensor, a touchscreen LCD display with Live View functionality for both tethered and untethered photography, and a dual-core microprocessor that's said to offer the fastest available image viewing, focusing and editing.  Read More

Currently, virtually all touchscreen displays found in our electronic devices rely on a coating of indium tin oxide (ITO). It is used because of its electrical conductivity, its optical transparency, and the ease with which it can be deposited onto a display as a thin film. Using graphene, researchers at the University of Exeter have developed a viable alternative to increasingly expensive ITO that they claim is the “most transparent, lightweight and flexible material ever for conducting electricity.”  Read More

The argument that new technology somehow tarnishes sport as a purely human endeavor has created controversy in swimming circles and the like. We average golfers, on the other hand, need all the help we can get. Garmin's latest effort in getting you to the green takes the functionality of its handheld golf GPS units and puts it on your wrist - the S3 touchscreen GPS golf watch.  Read More

Reading for pleasure among today's youngsters simply cannot compete with the temptations of readily available immersive gaming, online networking and HD movie entertainment. According to a report by the Every Child a Chance Trust, shortcomings in child literacy are said to cost the taxpayer an estimated £2.5 billion (nearly US$4 billion) per year in England alone. Ergo Electronics has responded to the electronic reading needs of children by launching two new color e-Reader solutions, an Android reading app and a parent/child reading campaign at the London Book Fair, which runs from April 16 to 18 at the capital's Earls Court.  Read More

Although winter is currently coming to an end in the Northern Hemisphere, a certain cold-related problem with capacitive touchscreen devices still persists – you can’t use them if you’re wearing gloves or mittens. According to Washington, DC-based inventor Alice Ning, however, her TapCaps will allow you to do so, while wearing any pair of gloves.  Read More

People who want to use capacitive touchscreen devices outdoors on chilly days currently have to wear conductive gloves, such as Agloves or Etips – that, or they just have to endure getting cold fingers. As anyone who lives in a truly cold climate knows, however, there are times when gloves just aren’t warm enough. That’s where ISGLOVES come in.  Read More