touch-screen

LAS VEGAS--A considerable line of CES attendees who must have just imbibed their morning coffee is forming at the Toddy Gear booth. They're clutching what look to be colorful washcloths and feverishly wiping their various touch screens.

The Consumer Electronics Show is only halfway through, but in the right light these screens have obviously been stuck in some sort of fingerprint purgatory, perhaps not thoroughly scrubbed since long before being used voraciously in Vegas for directions, schedules, gossip, and who knows what else.

The fuss is over a product almost laughably simple, the 5x7-inch antimicrobial Toddy Smart Cloth, one … Read more

Gorilla Glass, which I wish covered my cracked Samsung Galaxy Nexus screen, is heading to market in a stronger 2.0 version.

Corning introduced the new material at CES yesterday, saying that newfound strength lets screens be made 20 percent thinner. That, in turn, can improve brightness, touch response, and of course device thickness.

I also hope the thinner glass will effectively bring text and graphics closer to the surface of smartphones, something I find makes them much easier to use since my eye isn't as distracted by multiple layers of visual information.

"Product qualification and design implementation … Read more

Those who dwell in cold climates know how it feels to be helpless when a phone call arrives and they're wearing gloves.

It just doesn't work.

Because smartphones don a capacitive touch screen--meaning, it responds to the static electricity in your fingertips--gloves block this "signal" and disable you from using your phone.

To fix this issue, some simply remove their gloves, while others cut off a couple fingertips, or even resort to flip-top mittens.

Luckily, there's an even better solution that allows you to transform almost any pair of gloves into touch-screen-compatible accessories so your … Read more

Bonnie's back, just in time to witness a barrage of futuristic concept videos.

We get Samsung's take on the transparent tablet of the future. Also, Toyota's vision of a self-driving psychedelic car from a frightening nightmarescape where the middle-aged are given the "Logan's Run" treatment. We revisit the fashion predictions of 1939 and watch as flying robots construct foam towers. In Geek News, Eric recounts his obsession with MST3K and the latest RiffTrax RiffPlayer, makes amends with Dr. Who fans, and shows us the creepier side of Batman.

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The future may not be bright, but it will require shades if you want to be able to view your computer monitor and avoid a fight with Rowdy Roddy Piper. Little Printer puts the Internet back onto paper, while invoked computing concepts put the Internet inside a pizza box. Eric and Donald meet up with the Keepon Pro, and Neil deGrasse Tyson predicts the end of the West Coast.

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Tablets are done. The future is tables. Unfortunately, it's the same future where giant teddy bears punch you in your sleep and adorable pugs are transformed into bloodthirsty monsters. This week, Bonnie Cha joins Donald and Eric to talk all about this topsy-turvy dystopia and provides the invaluable function of translating Eric's obscure '80s film references for the rest of us. In Geek News, Eric channels the dark heart of Bane.

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Sometimes one monitor is not enough, and over the years, MimoMonitors has provided an easy way to add extra screen real estate with its line of USB-powered monitors for desktops and laptops. Now, the company is taking it to the next level with what it says is the world's first USB capacitive touch screen.

Available in two models, the Mimo Magic Touch and Mimo Magic Touch Deluxe are less than 1 inch thick and weigh less than 1 pound. Both feature 10-inch, 1,024x600 resolution displays and connect to your PC or Mac via a USB 2.0 connection. The Deluxe model also includes two mini-USB ports and a separate AC power adapter, so you can hook up other devices and charge them. … Read more

Insulin pumps, which deliver fast-acting insulin continuously through a catheter and are often preferred over injections, are still only used by only 20 to 30 percent of the 1.5 million people in the U.S. who are diagnosed with Type I diabetes.

Pumps might start getting more popular as the systems are get smaller, sleeker, and easier to use. Take Tandem Diabetes Care's t:slim, an insulin delivery system that has just been cleared by the FDA.

It's not only the smallest, but also the first to employ touch screen technology. Friends just might get gadget envy.… Read more

If you've been avoiding all touch-screen devices because you love the feel of physical buttons, a new kind of tactile screen may have you singing a different tune.

Researchers at the Swiss Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) have come up with next-generation haptic technology that creates the feeling of pressing actual buttons on a touch screen.

"We're adding the sense of touch to tactile surfaces," said Christophe Winter, a Ph.D. student at EPFL's Integrated Actuators Laboratory (LAI) who is writing his thesis on the subject. "The term 'touch screen' that's used to describe current technology is really a misnomer, because they only provide visual and auditory feedback."

To achieve this, the scientists at the LAI used a piezoelectric material that vibrates when voltage is applied to it. The vibrations are undetected by human touch, but they create a thin layer of air between the touch screen and a user's finger to give the feeling of a raised surface. … Read more