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Nokia Builds a Touchscreen Display Made of Ice

Posted by samzenpus on from the cold-touch dept.

hasanabbas1987 writes "Touchscreens have been with us for quite some time now and we have seen all kinds of them: resistive touch, capacitive, multi-touch, etc. However, Nokia's research lab in Tampere, Finland has developed a rather unique kind of touchscreen: a touchscreen made of ice. Well, to be honest, it's not really a touchscreen for everyday use, nor is it very portable, as the rig includes a projector and some infrared cameras (PDF) which are connected to a computer, but after all it's a touchscreen made out of ice and that is quite remarkable. Nokia says this 'playful experiment' reveals that interactive touch displays can be built anywhere, and we are very sure that Mr. Freeze from Batman will be highly interested in the project."

6 of 66 comments (clear)

  1. After what break? by netsharc · · Score: 4, Informative

    Wow, nice straight copy and paste job of the blog post there...

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  2. Just to clarify by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's not really a "touch screen" like on an iPad et al, it's really a "touch surface" like on the Microsoft Surface.

  3. More details by minsk · · Score: 4, Informative

    That work was just published at the ACM Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces conference, so there is a rather more coherent explanation (and another video) at:
    http://www.dfki.de/its2010/papers/sp199.html

    (Not affiliated with either group, but ITS was a lot of fun)

  4. Re:Congratulations Nokia, you accomplished nothing by minsk · · Score: 2, Informative

    Blame the idiotic coverage rather than the folks building the wall. They're well aware it was just a cool (sorry) art piece. And shared their experiences for anyone who wants to build or build on the design.

  5. Re:Maybe there IS a use for it... by Securityemo · · Score: 4, Informative

    Yah, I live in Kiruna (you can see the site from the hill across my house if you have a good set of binoculars). The Ice Hotel gets rebuilt from ice blocks hauled up from the frozen Torne river every year. I believe it's some sort of collaborative art/architechtural project as far as the actual design and building goes, but I'm not really sure. It's privately owned, in any case.

    --
    Emotions! In your brain!
  6. Direct link to article by minsk · · Score: 3, Informative

    For anyone who doesn't feel like clicking through the slow copy-and-paste blog to get to the actual NewScientist article:

    http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20827875.800-worlds-first-ice-touchscreen-virtually-burns.html