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Membrane That Turns Any Surface Into a Touchscreen
alx5000 writes "Engadget has a story about Displax Interactive Systems, a Portuguese company that has created a new polymer film that, when stuck onto a surface, converts it into a multitouch touchscreen with up to 16 contact points. The article states that 'if all goes well, the first Displax-enabled wares will start shipping this July.'"
Oh no, they proved MC Hammer wrong!
Think of the pr0n possibilities!
Japanese sexbots + touchscreen membrane = teh sex
Living With a Nerd
Oh great, so I can use all my fingers...elbows...uh, my nose...tongue?...WTF?
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
16 contact points, as in 4 x 4? That's only slightly useful for kiosks, etc, not much for general interactivity.
The usefulness of touchscreens is truly overrated.
I used to work at a pizza chain where we had to ring in orders using a touchscreen. They were the biggest pieces of shit ever. It'd take five or six taps to perform any action.
Just last week I was at the airport, and ran into the same problem using a much more modern ticket printer station that used a touchscreen.
I can't help but be very skeptical about this technology, given how poorly existing touchscreens work. And those existing touchscreens are just basic rectangles, in very predictable and controlled environments.
You've been able to get membranes that could be put on normal screens and make them touchscreens for a long time. I remember a school where my mother worked got some in the mid '90s and put them on monitors. A bit later there were companies advertising them for putting on laptops, with a serial adaptor so you got something that looked like a serial mouse to Windows 3.11 but was a touch screen. The news here is that they now support multitouch.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
:D
"...there are some things that can beat smartness and foresight. Awkwardness and stupidity can." ~ Mark Twain
I mean really, this doesn't produce any image at all. Yes, you can put it over a monitor of some kind, but if you stick it on any other surface, it's not a touchscreen but a touchpad.
I support the Slashcott and will not be reading or commenting from 2/10/14 to 2/17/14. Beta is steaming pile of dog shit
Is this truly a touch-screen, as in OLED membrane with touch, or just a touch surface that can be stuck to a screen? The article doesn't really give many details to determine this.
Oh, yes, we're all about the touching.
I am sure there are some NPE salivating over this news....
I'm sure the porn industry will be an early adopter on this one.
Finally, I can turn my life-size colonel Sanders cut-out into a data entry device.
Is it good or bad that my first thought was to make a multi-touch battle mat for wargaming?
It puts the polymer on its skin or it gets the hose again!
I don't know, but being able to turn anything into a touchpad/screen seems pretty sweet. And since it seems that it can be attached to any kind of surface, I guess museums can have bones that are touchable to give information on a screen next to it, maps, windows that protect items can be touched to select or interact with something on the other side of the glass.
I would think that ppl that gather around here would have a bit more of an open mind regarding tech...
.... iOuija....
does it actually have a visual display? Am I missing something? This turns surfaces into multi-touch inputs, but does it actually turn into a display device as well? What is the point of placing this film "over a wood surface" if you can't see what the hell you're actually dong?
With the rash of card skimmers being placed on ATM's I have to wonder just how long it will be before someone "overlays" an ATM's console to grab pin numbers too. These days it pays to be observant of minor differences in hardware because these creeps are getting more and more sophisticated with microelectronics and wireless transceivers. I think it won't be long before someone puts this technology to use in some diabolical and illegal manor.
I've been trying to find touchscreens to incorporate into an embedded system, and few of the touchscreen vendors have drivers for anything other than Windows - as such they get eliminated from my consideration.
I've just check Displax's site, and a search for "linux" gives no hits - so either:
a) They are just doing the actual sensing system, and letting somebody else build the actual interface chips
or
b) They only support Windows.
Which makes them a non-starter in my line of work.
www.eFax.com are spammers
...to my 62" QuadHD monitor with input so I can mark up architectural prints, full size, on my screen (placed flat /sloped like a drafting table, of course)
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
We could realisticly hope to see shaky first implementations by next January.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_quoque
But then again, atheists should just be in the closet with the gays, right? Women should be grateful to stay at home and make us dinner.
It's a sign of being a member of a privileged class when you take offense at an outsider speaking up for themselves. Women and blacks who wanted equal rights to men/whites were treated in much the same way. Those in power regarded activists as "uppity" and wondered "why are they so angry all the time?". Some of us are angry and sometimes rightfully so. That doesn't mean we all are. Just because some individuals are obtuse and belligerent doesn't mean you should misrepresent the whole. Otherwise, atheists might hold up folks like Haggard and OBL as examples of theists.
Want atheists to be less outspoken? Treat them with the same respect you want (that sounds familiar, hrm). Or better yet, treat people like they WANT to be treated. Start with something minor like... knowing that atheism is NOT an ideology or even an actual group or movement. If someone says they are atheist... respond in the same way you would if they said they like to watch baseball. It has nothing to do with you. They can watch baseball, and you can watch football. It's not a zero sum game.
Unless it's the first word of the sentence or in a book title, just leave it lower case.
Utilizing the synergization of benchmark e-solutions to pre-workaround action items!
Mouse Organ Sketch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9nGyPz9uT0
How are we in the news? We never do real scientific work. There must be some sort of mistake.
I heard this shyt causes e-cancer in usb mice.
Realdoll Skin.
I did RTFA and it explicitly states 'breath' as a means of exciting a response. And yes, that was intentional wording of that sentence.
I don't get it. This is old stuff. I tried such a membrane at CeBit in Hannover almost two years ago. It was made by a Japanese firm and could register "only" four concurrent touchpoints, but it is still very similar to this.
... :-)
It was delivered as a thin plastic film in a black plastic frame about one inch wide all around and with a USB cable sticking out the lower left corner. They had sizes for 32, 37, 40, 42 and 50 inch LCD/plasma screens and showcased two 42 inch screens running Vista at their booth.
I wonder if the membrane is strong enough to used as a table surface. One of these membranes with a cheap 42 inch LCD TV and an Asus EE-PC could be a very cheap way to make a "Surface computer". And I would love to put such a homebrew surface/table computer between my sofa and my lounge chair
My security clearance is so high I have to kill myself if I remember I have it...
I've been wanting to build a multitouch table, but I haven't been able to afford a high-resolution projector and a pair of high-res video cameras. I do, however, have a fairly sizable LCD television. All I need now is a way to bring the television level, and a layer of glass over the display so that I can press on it without damaging the display.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
You make an interesting point, if not necessarily for sexbots...
Think of the Star Trek movie First Contact where Data gets feeling on his arm from the Borg - image what a difference this could make to a robot?!
Imagine not only touch sensitive fingers, but the ability to detect wind, or feel past objects such as trees or guage the movement of a crowd. For a robot that's pretty cool.
This has big implications for the robot industry. They shouldn't look like us, but they should be as functionally similar to us as possible (or better).
Try reading the article and their web site.
I used to work at a pizza chain where we had to ring in orders using a touchscreen.
Most touch screens for data entry are layers on top of the glass. This is capacitive, and can go under the glass. If it were under the glass, you'd have a much harder time wearing it out than if it were a simple touch screen like the type they use at Pizza Hut.
Personally, I was disappointed that they wanted contact information, and gave zero information on where to obtain engineering samples, since I's really like a 27" touch screen iMac (my iPhone has already got me trained to the point I am leaving fingerprints all over every display I own). They are really only interested in talking to people already interested in buying quantity, sight unseen.
-- Terry
I'm confused why this is new. Resistive touch screens have always been a polymer surface that could be attached to anything. For example:
http://www.elotouch.com/Technologies/AccuTouch/howitworks.asp