Touch texting

Researchers at Bonn University in Germany are working on a cellphone with pins that move up and down under your fingertips, with different motions connoting different meanings and messages.

While the system can to recognise circles, lines, squares, or letters such as V, the perception of more complex symbols is highly individual. For instance, the '@' sign might feel like a spiral the word 'I' as a wave that flows towards the person and 'you' as a wave that flows away.

We can see how the blind might dig this, but to expect the average person to learn an entirely new language of tactile sensations just so they can read a text message without looking at their phone is sheer craziness.

[Thanks, Mike]