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.'"

Comments

Usefulness of touchscreens is overrated.

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:Usefulness of touchscreens is overrated.

[Canazza]

one that can be taken off and replaced constantly without replacing the entire machine (or atleast a significant part, IE the whole display unit) would lower maintainence costs. This will likely be welcomed with open arms :)

And the drivers are available for????

[wowbagger]

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.