Forever Geek » touchscreen

Light Touch: Project a touch screen onto any flat surface

Andy — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 23:11:18 +0000

We’ve seen gadgets that can project a keyboard onto a desk and allow users to type on it, but this idea from Light Blue Optics will create an entire touchscreen on any flat surface.

The Light Touch is an interactive projector that creates a 10-inch touch screen and has many application possibilities.

It uses holographic laser projection technology to create a WVGA image even at very short distances, yet the laser is actually safe enough that no damage is done if someone accidentally looks into it.

The infra-red touch sensing system is what creates the virtual touch screen, allowing interactive apps to be developed and offering a decent alternative to installing a physical screen.

The Light Touch runs Adobe Flash Lite 3.1 which means it should be easy to develop standard applications, and its battery lasts up to two hours. It also has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth built in so it will happily run web apps and connect up to other mobile devices.

How do you fancy one of these in your home?

Touchscreen technology comes to coffee machine (concept)

Andy — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:29:31 +0000

I’m not a huge fan of coffee vending machines, but that’s usually because they “brew” such atrocious sludge that’s barely worth drinking for the caffeine hit. Give me a professionally trained barista or, if I’m at home, a small but perfectly formed coffee machine and I’m set.

Having said that, this concept coffee machine does look interesting. The BeMoved machine has got the Douwe Egberts brand name on it, so it can’t be all that bad… can it?

The most important aspect of getting your coffee is getting it just right, and the large touchscreen’s primary purpose is to offer a range of options which make choosing style and ingredients easy.

While that coffee is brewing, the screen can also be used to check news, weather, sports and so on. Just don’t hold up the queue.

Apparently the concept was devised because “people wanted more interaction with their beverages”. I’m not sure about that — at least I love interacting with my freshly brewed coffee but only inasmuch as I quaff a cup or two of it every morning.

Via

Touch Book: the magnetic touchscreen tablet netbook

Andy — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 16:06:19 +0000

Here’s an interesting soon-to-be-manufactured device from Always Innovating. It’s a netbook that features a rotatable and detachable touchscreen, making it a pretty versatile unit both on the move and at home.

Featuring an ARM OMAP3 processor from Texas Instruments, it uses a lot less energy than a standard system and, coupled with its two batteries (one in each section) it could offer up to 15 hours of use from a single charge.

It features a 1,024 x 600 resolution 8.9-inch screen with an easy-to-use 3D user interface, has accelerometer, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, six USBs, and uses 8GB micro SD cards for storage.

The screen portion is magnetic, so you could stick it to the fridge or other metal surface, and it runs on open source software.

It all comes in at US$399, too, which isn’t at all bad for something that sounds so versatile. The first batch is going to be limited, so if you’re interested you’d better get over to the web site and pre-order now. It’s going to be available from early summer this year.