Let Your Fingers Do the Walking . . . and More

First keyboards. Then the mouse. Then touch screens. Now, multi-touch screens handling input from many fingers, many people, many locations, doing strange and wonderful things that until now have been buried in the arcane menus, commands, and instruction sets of complex software applications. The July 2008 issue of Scientific American has an article about the emergence of this new technology, already in use in high-end applications, that in the next three to five years will probably reach consumer-level pricing. The most popular example already in use: Apple's iPhone. Other highly visible applications: weather and voting results news broadcasts. Read all about it, and think about how multi-touch screens (we need a better name) will change your computer use at home or in your business. And be sure to check out the great video clip on Perceptive Pixel's web site, the company started by Jeff Han, whose pioneering work is at the root of this innovation.