I was listening to NPR on the way to work, and there was a short story about a company named Tactus that makes a dynamic touch screen. When I say dynamic, I mean physically–it actually changes shape. Go look at the pictures on their website, and keep in mind that all those buttons are created on-demand. It’s pretty remarkable.
“We make this invisible network of channels, and fill these little channels with a special oil, and then we use simply a change in the pressure of that fluid to make the buttons appear and disappear,” says Tactus CEO Craig Ciesla.
This sounds pretty awesome. I’m imagining a tablet with an onscreen keyboard with raised buttons. Ever tried to play a game on your phone with an onscreen touch keypad? It’s hard. Your fingers slip off the buttons while you’re paying attention to the action, and then you lose because you’re not hitting the button you’re meaning to. Now imagine the same game on a screen that pops up buttons when they’re needed–how amazing would that be!?
It sounded cool on the radio, but you should definitely check out the video!
adamprescott.net 