Artificial Muscle ramps up production -- expect touchscreens that push back in 2011
By Sean Hollister 
posted March 29th 2010 11:01PM
posted March 29th 2010 11:01PM
posted March 29th 2010 11:01PM
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amazing :o
@N900androidOS
Small electric shock could also provide feedback :)
Ew... oh wait, there are probably some better uses for this. ;)
@Please forgive me
You naughty naughty boy (or girl).
squeeze frog phone from macross f
it can happen.
Blackberry already tried something similar to this and failed.
@captnred
I see them trying again with this news.
I wonder how the porn industry will exploit this one?
@Pryomancer lol beat me to it
@Pryomancer Exploit? No. Integrate, Yes. Hopefully they leave our the razor stubble though.
isn't the porn industry usually the one who decides which way technology will go?
@eko2 Pretty much. I believe it helped with the demise of HD-DVD, alongside Disney, was it?
@Pryomancer I think HD-DVD died as a result of it being too small. Blu-Ray was future proofed for 3D movies that the industry is trying to push. The porn industry definitely decided the fate of BetaMax. Though I hear that was the better format, back in t'day!
@Pryomancer
Nope. The porn industry was IN FAVOR of HD-DVD, because it was cheaper and easier to author.
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One reason why you shouldn't get a first-gen iPad (among others).
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This will work great on the next gen Jitterbug. :|
now thats niffty!
so, it's only a matter of time before the game is playing you.
@bohoy2k
Just like in Soviet Russia...?
@NaJaKwa lmfao
It would be cool if currents could be passed through small regions of the surface, so that small bumps form on it. Allowing the device using it to generate braille on the surface of the touchscreen, that could dynamically change during navigation of the devices menus.
Don't all touch screens push back? it's called the force normal (Fn).
@wehdat
Indeed. Good one.
Newton's Third Law: The Sequel
@Nitrocoot I don't know why, but that made me laugh.
"the entire screen stiffens when pressed" O_o ... what is this... a romance novel?
but on a more serious note, if this sort of feedback could be used in specific areas , like when a virtual keyboard is created - the keys could perhaps lift-up from the touch-screen surface allowing our fingers to kind of "glide" over them without making a "press" as we do instinctively on conventional keyboards that would be great.
What's the point of this?!
@Mcblue01
Exactly what I am trying to figure out. Perhaps I am being short-sighted, but I really don't see what would be the use of a screen that gets hard from touch?
Is that John Heder's bottom jaw showing off that muscle?
http://futureupdate.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/jon-heder-400a052307.jpg
Having it make a click sound is good enough for me.
What I'd like to see would be a sort of glove (ala Heavy Rain) that could apply force in such a way that it could simulate the pressure one would feel from holding and manipulating an object.
@MrPointedHelix
That would have to be one mechanical glove... If not what's going to hold you back from pushing through the virtual object even if you do feel the pressure?
@MrPointedHelix yeah that force feedback thing has been on the drawing board of VR nuts for decades (and I mean, decades, since the 60s :) ). It obviously is able to be done but unfortunately not in a cost-effective consumer-friendly way... not yet anyway.
Is that a banana in your purse, or are you just haptic to see me??