Touchscreen problem would be your fingers getting in the way of small screen. That is why Microsoft bring the concept of backside touchscreen which allow user to control the device from behind but still being able to see their fingers. Microsoft has shown off Microsoft LucidTouch prototype at the TechFest fair, an internal event highlighting key tech from the company’s 800 research and development staff.
According to the company, the key to making this usable is what it calls pseudo-transparency: by overlaying an image of the user?s hands onto the screen, the illusion of the mobile device itself being semitransparent is created. This pseudo-transparency allows users to accurately acquire targets while not occluding the screen with their fingers and hand.
According to Microsoft in initial studies, results suggest that many users found touching on the back to be preferable to touching on the front, due to reduced occlusion, higher precision, and the ability to make multi-finger input.
Actually I do have a problem with touchscreen, I really hate about how many of my finger prints are left on the screen. Microsoft LucidTouch might not solve that problem since this is still a touchscreen, but at least it will reduce the finger prints on my screen problem.
Designer : Microsoft
One of Next-Gen PC Design finalists is Siafu PC Design. The idea behind Siafu was to give people with vision loss an intuitive computer experience. It provides a digitally tactile interface that completely revolutionizes the way that blind people interact with a computer. Siafu lays flat like a tablet and allows the user to fully interact with it by way of touch. The surface of Siafu utilizes a conceptual material called magneclay. This material has the ability to morph upward into any shape. This means that Siafu can generate infinitely refreshable braille and then display it in a book format instead of just one line at a time like current braille displays. Siafu also has the ability to display images as a 3-dimensional relief, allowing blind computer users to experience digital images, and graphic layouts for the first time.
This product is to be used by people who have experienced a loss of sight. Siafu allows users to read text by generating full page braille displays.
The onscreen relief feature also allows users to explore the internet and navigate through websites by physically touching, clicking, and dragging the graphic elements, links, and arrows of the web page. Siafu is also capable of converting all onscreen text to braille relief, so that the user can read whatever is on the screen first hand.
Designer : Jonathan Lucas via NextGenDesign
Scentsory is a mobile communication device that works with the senses of smell, sight, hearing and touch, giving users the ability to experience remote communication on multi-sensory levels. With the development of Scentsory, remote interfacing will become more biologically natural. The future of mobile communication is ready to take part in rich, multi-layered, multi-sensory experiences. In addition to basic audiovisual features, Scentsory is able to detect, transmit and emit smells. It can also radiate colours, lighting, and temperature from the caller?s environment.
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