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Smartphone-Style Touch Sensing On an 82-Inch Screen

Posted by Soulskill on from the life-size-angry-birds dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Those giant touch screens used by CNN anchors look slick, but have to be several feet thick to make room for the cameras that track the touches. Perceptive Pixel, which makes the screens, has now figured out a way to use capacitive touch (like on an iPhone or tablet screen) at a larger scale, and says giant touch panels with 82-inch screens but just six inches deep will appeal to many businesses."

9 of 31 comments (clear)

  1. I'm sure they'll be in huge demand. by blankinthefill · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm sure they'll be in huge demand. At least, they'll be in demand till Apple hears about the 'iPhone-Style' touch and sues them out of existence!

    1. Re:I'm sure they'll be in huge demand. by wjsteele · · Score: 2

      ...although its not 82 inchs

      Microsoft's Surface uses a technology called PixelSense, which can scale to any sized device simply because each pixel also contains an infrared sensor.

      Bill

      --
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  2. They're not slick, poo bear by 7-Vodka · · Score: 2

    Those giant touch screens used by CNN anchors look slick

    No, they really don't. Can we please go back to when professional artists made the graphics and let the mouthwhores go back to reading their teleprompter rather than faffing around with a big screen.

    --

    Liberty.

    1. Re:They're not slick, poo bear by Solandri · · Score: 3, Interesting

      During the nuclear crisis in Japan, watching NHK coverage was a treat. I had expected the Japanese to be well ahead of the U.S. in fancy computer graphics during news broadcasts. Instead, they had a hand-made 3D model of the nuclear plant, giant posters for various charts, and the weather reports used cardboard cutouts drawings of clouds, sun, rain, etc. which the weather lady stuck to a cloth map with velcro. Very quaint, and for the most part just as effective as the CGI stuff.

  3. Can't call it "table" mounted on a wall by symbolset · · Score: 2

    So how about "surface"?

    No, really, there are a number of ways to solve this problem.

    There exists a musical instrument, a theremin, that alters tone based on 3-dimensional proximity. A pair or triplet of them should give a nice no-touch input in 3d space with appropriate digitization and calibration without the lag of the 3-d camera approach.

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    Help stamp out iliturcy.
  4. Resolution is lacking by Solandri · · Score: 2

    It's a 1920x1080 HDTV with touchscreen capability. That resolution is fine for viewing from 10-15 feet away, or if you're broadcasting it on TV. But if you're right in front of the screen touching it, it works out to an underwhelming 27 DPI. The pixels are nearly 1 mm square. I'm not sure this will work as the whiteboard replacement they're envisioning.

  5. great- and we just got them smart boards... by TWX · · Score: 3, Insightful

    More tech that some teachers will think they need in the classroom now that it's mass producable. Mind you, they use the current smartboard as a screen only or just to let the kids amuse themselves after the lesson has concluded, and the document camera serves only as a replacement for the transparency and overhead projector. Let's take an already overpriced, underused setup at ~$300/2000hr bulb and instead install a setup that's probably many times that, so little Skyler can virtual-fingerpaint at the front of the class instead of using chalk on a board or dry-erase markers.

    Some teacher is writing a grant proposal right now, mark my words...

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  6. Um by symbolset · · Score: 2

    Shuttle hits Warp 2 Graphics might come out of my butt Definitely not gay Team Name Team Name.

    (NSFW) The weather penis is actually an entire category: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djItGln6IxY

    Yeah, let's stick with professionals. For the lulz.

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    Help stamp out iliturcy.
  7. HUH? Whats new here? by maxwells_deamon · · Score: 2

    The article seems to think that anything more than about the size of an ipad has to be inches thick. The computer I am using at the moment is about 3 inches thick and that includes the CPU/disk/memory. It is a 23 inch HP touchsmart. It has two finger multi-touch and some Microsoft surface apps running on it.

    What am I missing? I can not think of a reason you would need more than at most 4 contact points unless you wanted to finger paint. I rarely use more than one finger at a time and in most cases just use the mouse.

    Much larger than about the 23 inch screen I have would be overkill if you were within arms length of one unless you were doing a presentation or some sort of group project

    I obviously missed something here.