touch-screen

Check it out. Nokia did something cool with a touch screen. I did not see that coming.

We're not sure why researchers from the phone maker would do what they did (other than that they were probably going stir crazy during the long Nordic winter), but they did. So this exists: possibly the world's biggest touch screen, which is made of ice.

The Fins stacked ice blocks together and fused them with a heat gun to make an ice wall. That itself isn't that awesome, but then they added a projector behind it that shot the back of the ice wall with infrared light.

When people touch the wall--which is about 6.5 feet long, 5 feet tall, and 10 inches thick--their hands reflect the infrared light back, and a sensor feeds the data into a computer, which in turns projects visible light in response to the users' touches. Thus it becomes a giant touch screen.

Right now all the chilly ice screen does is make an interactive light display, which is fun. But I want to play Angry Birds on a wall. Nokia, can we make that happen? Check out the New Scientist video below.… Read more

When Sony's latest e-readers were introduced recently, a lot of people wondered whether the touch-screen interface would be improved after previous attempts met with complaints of screen glare, contrast issues, and only so-so responsiveness. We expected it would be better, but were surprised by how well the touch-screen technology worked. So, what's the secret sauce?

Well, what's interesting is that Sony didn't use its own technology but actually licensed it from another company called Neonode. We're not saying that Sony never does this, but the company does take a certain pride in developing products with its own proprietary technology.

The latest Sony Readers, including the Pocket Edition PRS-350 ($180), Touch Edition PRS-650 ($230), and Daily Edition PRS-950 ($300), use a customized version of Neonode's optical touch-screen technology.

Neonode says its patented touch-screen technology, zForce, "supports high resolution pen writing in combination with market leading finger navigation including gestures, multitouch, sweeps and much more. zForce uses no overlay (like resistive and capacitive touch screens) on top of the e-ink display thus creating a 100 percent clear window free from reflexes and parallax effects and produces a true paper like experience."

The company also adds that its zForce technology is energy efficient and reduces the power consumption for so-called "low-power consumption" mobile electronics devices.

Neonode is a Swedish company that's been around for a while and even made some mobile phones, including the Neonode 2 in 2007. Back in 2008, the company filed for bankruptcy and many thought it had died but it's now become solely focused on licensing out its infrared-based touch-screen technology. … Read more

The oStylus is a stylus for capacitive touch screens. At first glance, it looks more like something your dentist would use, but it's actually quite a cleverly designed contraption.

A swiveling donut-shaped tip lets you hold the oStylus at an angle you like, and the hole in the middle of the tip allows you to see what you are drawing. To prevent scratches on your screen, the tip has a vinyl film so the metal doesn't touch your device's glass. Watch the demonstration video below to see how it works.

Creator Andrew Goss is shipping the product internationally from Canada. The oStylus costs $37.50 before freight, and a signed, limited-edition $75 version is also available. Don't want to pay so much for a capacitive stylus? Well, you can always use a sausage. Just remember to eat a hole first so you can see what you are drawing. … Read more

If you're still not satisfied with the selection of Android tablet options on the market (well, aren't we picky?) the fine folks at ViewSonic are throwing two more options into the ring.

The first is a 7-inch Android 2.2 tablet with the fitting name of ViewPad 7. Due out in late November, priced at $479, the ViewPad 7 runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with 512Mb of integrated memory and a microSD slot for your own supply. The device pulls the Internet down over Wi-Fi (b/g), but includes 3G capabilities if you want to supply your … Read more

Last year, Best Buy's Insignia brand made a minor splash by introducing the first portable HD radio player, priced to fly out the door at $49.

For the second-generation of the player (NS-HD02), Insignia is giving its HD radio the Nano treatment by switching to a 2.5-by-3-inch capacitive touch-screen interface and introducing a Live Pause feature that can cache up to 15 minutes of a live broadcast. The NS-HD02 will also serve up "Artist Experience" content, available in 10 to 20 markets, allowing album art and artist photos to be transmitted along with audio and ID … Read more

Judging by the user reviews for the Coolpix S70, people either loved it or wanted to find a Nikon executive nearby so they could personally smash them in the face with it. Its update, the Coolpix S80, hopefully inspires more of the former and less of the latter with a new touch-screen display and interface and some extra shooting features.

The camera body is redesigned and slightly slimmer, but still packs a 3.5-inch OLED touch screen, though this time around it has an 819K-dot resolution. To minimize screen clutter while shooting, Nikon uses a tabbed interface, which is good … Read more

There's been plenty of buzz for the high-concept Toshiba Libretto W105 since it was first announced in June of 2010. This dual-touch-screen minilaptop is a limited-release showpiece designed by Toshiba to celebrate the company's 25th anniversary in the mobile computing business, and is certainly an experiment that pushes the boundaries between laptops, tablets, and portable media players.

Despite the far-out thinking behind it, and the underpowered components, the Libretto W105 worked in practice far better than we expected in some areas, including certain kinds of media playback and general Web surfing. That was especially surprising, as the system is running Windows 7 Home Premium over two simultaneous displays, all from a 1.2GHz Intel Pentium U5400 CPU and 2GB of RAM. Our configuration (the only one currently available, according to Toshiba's Web site) is called the W105-L251 and sells for $1,099.

Looking a little like an oversize Nintendo DS, the libretto has two 7-inch multitouch displays, with the second taking the place of the traditional keyboard one would expect to find in this kind of clamshell design. By tapping a button on the side of the chassis, a virtual keyboard (similar to what you'd find on an iPhone or iPad) pops up to fill the bottom screen. Tap the same button twice and you get a virtual onscreen touch pad instead.

Our first struggle came with figuring out how to juggle these two virtual input devices, as the bottom screen isn't large enough to display both the keyboard and the touch pad fully at once (and, in our tests, the onscreen keyboard and touch pad couldn't register inputs simultaneously). Eventually, we got into a nice rhythm of single- and double-tapping to switch from keyboard to touch pad on the fly, although it's a little counterintuitive.

Pressing the button on the right side of the bottom display switches between the standard Windows OS desktop and a series of Toshiba's proprietary Bulletin Board screens, which allow you to arrange photos and notes on a touch-friendly surface. It looks snazzy, but we can't say it's particularly useful, especially as it (like almost any proprietary app) has its own learning curve.

Actually navigating around the Windows interface was mostly lag-free, which is something even many Netbooks can't say. At the same time, a 7-inch touch screen, no matter how many navigational tricks you include, simply isn't optimal for touch, and we spent plenty of time hunting and pecking, trying to center the tiny cursor on buttons and tabs. … Read more

Flip Video may have been the first out of gate with a touch-screen pocket video camera, but Kodak, Samsung, JVC, and now Sony have followed--all with more compelling packages than Flip's offering. Sony's new Bloggie Touch features a snappy 3-inch touch-screen LCD, an f2.8 lens with auto macro, and full hd 1080p-resolution recording at 30 frames per second.

Sony's past minicamcorders have had "youthful" designs, came in multiple color options, and the devices and packaging were typical of mass-produced electronics--loaded up with stickers, bits of paper, and software discs. The Bloggie Touch, however, has … Read more

September 1 has become a circled date on every Mac nerd's calendar following Apple's announcement of a music-related media event to be held in San Francisco. One of the big announcements, according to analysts, could be an overhauled iPod Nano, sans click wheel.

The click wheel has been one of the most iconic pieces of industrial engineering in technology since its release, but may be relegated to science museums sooner than later. Kaufman analyst Shawn Wu claims via sources that a "significant redesign" of the iPod Nano may also be part of Apple's media event … Read more