haptix
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Touch+ turns any surface into a gesture controller for your PC
Haptix (now Ractiv) promised a cheap sensor that would turn any surface into a multi-touch PC controller, and it's making good on its word today by shipping the device worldwide. The $75 add-on has received a new Touch+ name and a sleek redesign, but it otherwise uses the same basic concepts we saw when the project got its crowdfunding a year ago. Put the device on a desktop stand or a laptop and its dual cameras turn your finger movements into gestures; you can play a first-person shooter by swiping across your keyboard, or sketch in Photoshop using your desk as a drawing tablet. It's definitely not for everyone, but it might be up your alley if you'd rather not reach out to a touchscreen (or use Leap Motion's in-air tracking) just to get more advanced input than a run-of-the-mill mouse or trackpad.
Haptix wants to turn every surface into a multi-touch controller
Motion-based PC interfaces are all the rage, thanks to Microsoft's Kinect and the folks at Leap Motion. San Francisco-based Haptix is sure it's got a better solution than the rest, but it needs a healthy $100,000 to get there. The company's got a Kickstarter page going for its self-titled peripheral that can be clipped to a device or placed on a table to offer up both a 3D sensing layer in the air and a multi-touch layer on a flat surface. The dual layers give you more ways to interact with your device, and a chance to rest your palm on the table, when the whole reaching out thing proves too tiring. In the Kickstarter pitch video below, you'll also see a Haptix picking up brushstrokes, which could certainly have some cool implications for artists.
