1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:02,880 Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 2 00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:08,959 Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 3 00:00:09,039 --> 00:00:17,840 Speaker 1: tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello everybody, 4 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:20,120 Speaker 1: and welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Poulette, 5 00:00:20,120 --> 00:00:21,919 Speaker 1: and I'm the tech editor here at how stuff works 6 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:24,840 Speaker 1: dot com. Sitting next to me as usual as senior 7 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:29,360 Speaker 1: writer Jonathan Strickland. I have the swine flu. Actually, yes, 8 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:34,240 Speaker 1: yes he does. Yeah, that's I'm I'm beyond the contagious stage. 9 00:00:34,240 --> 00:00:36,440 Speaker 1: But if you guys think I sound a little weird 10 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:38,800 Speaker 1: or maybe even sounded weird and past episodes, because the 11 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:41,480 Speaker 1: episodes we recorded last week, I was already coming down 12 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:45,520 Speaker 1: with it, that's why. And uh, I can report that 13 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:50,520 Speaker 1: it kind of is awful. It's very much like the flu. 14 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:54,600 Speaker 1: It is, um, except that apparently I now also have 15 00:00:54,800 --> 00:01:01,360 Speaker 1: the uncontrollable urge to lick pigs. I'll so let's uh 16 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:04,560 Speaker 1: and then of course lead Yes, I was about to say, 17 00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:08,000 Speaker 1: it leads directly into our topic. UM. Now, I don't 18 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:10,880 Speaker 1: have a listener mail for this specifically, we did have 19 00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:13,240 Speaker 1: a request for this topic, and it was from a 20 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:17,080 Speaker 1: listener and it did arrive in mail, but our listener 21 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:24,319 Speaker 1: Thomas sit in several requests for different text stuff podcast episodes, right, Like, 22 00:01:24,360 --> 00:01:28,520 Speaker 1: he had about five or six different lists topics listed, 23 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:30,720 Speaker 1: And so we're just gonna tackle one of those today, 24 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:35,679 Speaker 1: and that one is touch screens. And of course touch 25 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:41,520 Speaker 1: screens are becoming more and more ubiquitous ever present all 26 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:45,600 Speaker 1: over the place because things like smartphones. You got a 27 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:48,400 Speaker 1: lot of cell phones out there that now have touch screens. Um. 28 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:54,400 Speaker 1: You've got things like the iPod, TOUCHERSK reader right that 29 00:01:54,480 --> 00:01:56,400 Speaker 1: has a touch screen. Um. So yeah, there are a 30 00:01:56,440 --> 00:01:58,280 Speaker 1: lot of them out there. And of course then they're 31 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:00,520 Speaker 1: always the other ones that have been around for ages 32 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:05,280 Speaker 1: a t M S. Yeah, good example, vending machines, Um, yeah, 33 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:09,760 Speaker 1: vending machines. I always think back to, uh, Epcot, the 34 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:12,760 Speaker 1: old days of Epcot where they would have a computer 35 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:14,960 Speaker 1: screen and you could walk up to it and touch 36 00:02:15,040 --> 00:02:18,679 Speaker 1: the computer screen and uh and and pull up information 37 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:21,480 Speaker 1: about the park and about you know, the different aspects 38 00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:24,000 Speaker 1: of the park and make reservations. And this was back 39 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:26,360 Speaker 1: in the early eighties, you know, when Epcot first opened 40 00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:29,600 Speaker 1: and uh and back then, a touch screen seemed like 41 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:32,960 Speaker 1: freaking science fiction to me. It was. It was pretty 42 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:34,960 Speaker 1: amazing because you didn't have to have like any sort 43 00:02:34,960 --> 00:02:36,920 Speaker 1: of keyboard to get it. In fact, that was that 44 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:42,440 Speaker 1: was even before computer mouse had become really a commonplace item. Yeah, 45 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:45,079 Speaker 1: you know, some of those early touch screens, at least 46 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:46,960 Speaker 1: the ones that I used, were sort of like touched 47 00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:52,720 Speaker 1: touch touch touch, touch, touch, touch touch touch touch screens. Punch, punch, cry, 48 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:56,640 Speaker 1: mop up blood. Yes, those were the stupid thing doesn't work. Yeah, 49 00:02:56,639 --> 00:03:01,399 Speaker 1: that the technology has improved somewhere, it hasnally. Now, there 50 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:07,520 Speaker 1: are different touchscreen technologies that that are commonly used today. 51 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:10,400 Speaker 1: The two most common when it comes to things like 52 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:14,720 Speaker 1: portable electronic devices, so things like NP three players or 53 00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:20,880 Speaker 1: smartphones or whatever, would be resistive screens and capacitive screens. Yes, 54 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:24,600 Speaker 1: all right, so let's talk about the differences between these 55 00:03:24,639 --> 00:03:27,639 Speaker 1: two systems since these are the most common that you'll 56 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:33,320 Speaker 1: find out there a resistive screen or resistive system. It 57 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:38,240 Speaker 1: consists of several layers of screens. It's like an onion 58 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:41,920 Speaker 1: of screen. Yes, And the way that the system works 59 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:46,360 Speaker 1: is when you press upon the screen, you compress these 60 00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:49,720 Speaker 1: different layers together and when they touch, it creates an 61 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:53,240 Speaker 1: electric circuit. Right. Normally, there are spacers they keep the 62 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:56,920 Speaker 1: two the layers apart. Right, If those spacers were to 63 00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:01,600 Speaker 1: be damaged and the space the screen were to permanently 64 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:06,000 Speaker 1: be fused together, you would lose your resistive UH capabilities. 65 00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:09,280 Speaker 1: It would it would constantly be detecting a specific point 66 00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:12,600 Speaker 1: of pressure somewhere on the screen. So those the spacers 67 00:04:12,640 --> 00:04:16,000 Speaker 1: are very important because basically where you're touching it, the 68 00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:19,960 Speaker 1: computer is able to tell basically the coordinates of where 69 00:04:19,960 --> 00:04:22,480 Speaker 1: you're touching, and you know, maps that up to what's 70 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:24,920 Speaker 1: being displayed on the screen, and that's how it knows 71 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:27,960 Speaker 1: what you're touching and when. Right, So there's a processor 72 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:33,200 Speaker 1: that is um it's receiving this information based upon where 73 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:36,960 Speaker 1: the different layers of the screen are touching, and that 74 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:39,920 Speaker 1: way it can it can give the correct response. So, 75 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:41,800 Speaker 1: for example, if you have a phone that has a 76 00:04:41,839 --> 00:04:46,760 Speaker 1: resistive screen touch screen and you're pushing the call feature, 77 00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:50,960 Speaker 1: then it's going to map out the location of the 78 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:54,520 Speaker 1: touch send that information to the processor. The processor says, hey, 79 00:04:55,080 --> 00:04:58,360 Speaker 1: when this particular area on the screen is touched, that 80 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:01,919 Speaker 1: means that this action must be performed, and your phone 81 00:05:01,960 --> 00:05:04,520 Speaker 1: makes a call. And this all happens very very quickly. 82 00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:08,320 Speaker 1: Anklebone is connected to the footphone something like that. And 83 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:13,479 Speaker 1: old resist of screens had a few big disadvantages really 84 00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:17,200 Speaker 1: compared to the other type the capacity of screen. One 85 00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:22,599 Speaker 1: of those was that the the the different layers would 86 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:26,320 Speaker 1: somewhat obscure the light coming from the screen, so you 87 00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:29,400 Speaker 1: would only get a certain percentage of the light coming 88 00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:31,200 Speaker 1: out of the screen that you would get if the 89 00:05:31,480 --> 00:05:35,120 Speaker 1: if the screen were completely clear or transparent. UM. The 90 00:05:35,160 --> 00:05:37,520 Speaker 1: layers had to be really thin, yes, in order for 91 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:40,919 Speaker 1: this to work properly, right, and some of them could. 92 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:44,680 Speaker 1: Some of them could detect things like the amount of 93 00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:47,200 Speaker 1: pressure that you used, and really the amount of pressure 94 00:05:47,279 --> 00:05:49,800 Speaker 1: was coming from not how hard you were pushing, but 95 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:53,720 Speaker 1: how much surface area of your finger or other whatever 96 00:05:53,760 --> 00:05:56,839 Speaker 1: it was was in contact with the screen. UM and 97 00:05:56,880 --> 00:05:59,000 Speaker 1: that could give it an indication of how hard you're pushing, 98 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:00,760 Speaker 1: because the harder you push, the more of your finger 99 00:06:00,920 --> 00:06:03,760 Speaker 1: is going to be against the screen. So that whole 100 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:06,839 Speaker 1: punching thing not really effective. No, that would be a 101 00:06:06,839 --> 00:06:09,160 Speaker 1: bad idea. It's pretty much a guarantee that you're gonna 102 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:13,760 Speaker 1: break your resistive or any other touch screen. UM. The 103 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:18,279 Speaker 1: the other disadvantage was that early resistive screens couldn't do 104 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:23,680 Speaker 1: multi touch. Um, they were not capable of of accepting 105 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:26,800 Speaker 1: two different points of contact at the same time and 106 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:32,080 Speaker 1: could not interpret that as a you know, a legitimate command. Now. 107 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:33,960 Speaker 1: Of course, we've got a lot of devices out there 108 00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:36,440 Speaker 1: that support multi touch now, and most of those are 109 00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:40,520 Speaker 1: using capacity screens. However, I can report it is possible 110 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:44,000 Speaker 1: to create a resistive touch screen that supports multi touch. 111 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:47,520 Speaker 1: You have to create a system that specifically supports this. 112 00:06:47,640 --> 00:06:49,920 Speaker 1: You know. It's not just like any resistive screen could 113 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:52,400 Speaker 1: do this with a firmware update. You'd actually have to 114 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:55,560 Speaker 1: go through the manufacturing process. But engadget has a video 115 00:06:55,640 --> 00:07:00,760 Speaker 1: on their site of a pretty cool device. Um. It 116 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:06,440 Speaker 1: really was a concept of prototype where it's resistive screen, 117 00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:09,960 Speaker 1: it can detect pressure, and it is uh, it can 118 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:13,320 Speaker 1: detect multi touch. One of the advantages of the resistive 119 00:07:13,320 --> 00:07:16,760 Speaker 1: system to the capacitive system is that you don't have 120 00:07:16,960 --> 00:07:20,080 Speaker 1: to You can use pretty much anything to contact the 121 00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:22,720 Speaker 1: screen and and give a command. So it doesn't have 122 00:07:22,760 --> 00:07:24,280 Speaker 1: to be your finger. It could be a stylist, right, 123 00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:28,480 Speaker 1: it could be anything, because it could be a dog. Yes, 124 00:07:28,760 --> 00:07:33,320 Speaker 1: it could be a rock, it could be some play doh. Um, 125 00:07:33,360 --> 00:07:35,480 Speaker 1: it really doesn't matter because as long as it is 126 00:07:35,520 --> 00:07:38,680 Speaker 1: able to make that pressure against the screen, that's going 127 00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:43,360 Speaker 1: to count as a an input. Now, capacity of screens 128 00:07:43,400 --> 00:07:47,880 Speaker 1: are different. Now they actually have a layer that stores 129 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:52,480 Speaker 1: an electrical charge in them. That would be the capacitance layer. Yes, 130 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:56,040 Speaker 1: Thus the name kind of makes sense now, doesn't it amazing, 131 00:07:56,120 --> 00:07:59,200 Speaker 1: isn't it. I mean the capacitive layer is uh, you know, 132 00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:03,040 Speaker 1: storing a like Tron's right, So it's storing these electrons 133 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:05,200 Speaker 1: right there on the screen. When your finger comes in 134 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:09,760 Speaker 1: contact with the screen, this actually ends up transferring the 135 00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:13,080 Speaker 1: charge to you. So technically you are kind of getting 136 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:16,800 Speaker 1: a very mild shock. I find that revolting. Do you 137 00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:19,760 Speaker 1: do you get a charge out of it? We can 138 00:08:19,800 --> 00:08:21,760 Speaker 1: do this all day, palass oh, I know, and and 139 00:08:21,880 --> 00:08:27,800 Speaker 1: our listeners are depart like lightning was especially a shocking 140 00:08:27,880 --> 00:08:31,520 Speaker 1: kind of experience as long as you stay current. But 141 00:08:31,600 --> 00:08:35,319 Speaker 1: you know, I could tell that my iPod Touch has 142 00:08:35,360 --> 00:08:42,239 Speaker 1: a capacity screen because I'm stopping because you know, sitting 143 00:08:42,400 --> 00:08:45,200 Speaker 1: out and waiting for the bus or the train to 144 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:48,400 Speaker 1: bring me to work here in the morning in the wintertime, 145 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:52,440 Speaker 1: and having gloves on. You can't change you know, the 146 00:08:52,520 --> 00:08:57,280 Speaker 1: volume on your iPod because you know, my bears get 147 00:08:57,320 --> 00:08:59,959 Speaker 1: you know, the gloves won't because they start for the chart. 148 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:02,079 Speaker 1: If they don't, they don't, they won't pick up the 149 00:09:02,160 --> 00:09:07,440 Speaker 1: charge like your skin would if you are But otherwise, 150 00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:09,800 Speaker 1: if you if you are outside on a really cold, 151 00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:12,720 Speaker 1: dry day, you might have problems getting a capacity of 152 00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:16,320 Speaker 1: screen to work at all. Uh. Capacity screens work best 153 00:09:16,360 --> 00:09:18,440 Speaker 1: when there's at least a little bit of humidity to 154 00:09:18,520 --> 00:09:23,000 Speaker 1: help conduct that electricity. Right. Yeah, but if it were 155 00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:26,560 Speaker 1: really called dry day, you might find that your touch 156 00:09:26,600 --> 00:09:28,960 Speaker 1: screen is not very responsive. It's not necessarily because your 157 00:09:28,960 --> 00:09:31,959 Speaker 1: phone is cold. It may be because you don't have 158 00:09:32,120 --> 00:09:35,720 Speaker 1: the moisture on your finger that helps create that that 159 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:40,280 Speaker 1: electrical connection. And um, we'll see. That's good because I 160 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:42,800 Speaker 1: like licking my iPod, So that explains why it always 161 00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:45,480 Speaker 1: works pretty well. Also explains why I have the swine flu. 162 00:09:46,480 --> 00:09:51,839 Speaker 1: So anyway, the capacity of screens actually do support multi 163 00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:55,840 Speaker 1: touch if you create the right hardware and software around it. 164 00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:59,160 Speaker 1: They don't automatically. It's not like magically supports it. You 165 00:09:59,200 --> 00:10:01,880 Speaker 1: have to build the system around it. Um. And of course, 166 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:03,880 Speaker 1: if you were to build the system around it, you 167 00:10:03,920 --> 00:10:09,839 Speaker 1: could very possibly engender the wrath of Apple because they 168 00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:15,559 Speaker 1: patented it. They patented multi touch for for mobile devices. 169 00:10:15,920 --> 00:10:19,880 Speaker 1: That was really smart of them. It's also incredibly mean 170 00:10:20,400 --> 00:10:25,360 Speaker 1: because the Android operating system actually supports multi touch, but 171 00:10:25,480 --> 00:10:29,320 Speaker 1: it is not um enabled in any Android device that 172 00:10:29,480 --> 00:10:35,199 Speaker 1: I know of. Specifically, I assumes the patent I should have. Yeah, 173 00:10:35,200 --> 00:10:37,440 Speaker 1: I should assume it's because of this patent, and if 174 00:10:37,960 --> 00:10:40,640 Speaker 1: if the phones were to support multi touch, then it 175 00:10:40,679 --> 00:10:43,560 Speaker 1: could very well be Even if it's not directly in 176 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:47,200 Speaker 1: violation of the patent, I'm sure that an argument could 177 00:10:47,200 --> 00:10:49,480 Speaker 1: be made and then you've got a costly legal battle. 178 00:10:49,920 --> 00:10:51,880 Speaker 1: So that would be why the iPhone is this great 179 00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:55,880 Speaker 1: multi touch device and most other devices don't support multi 180 00:10:55,920 --> 00:10:59,120 Speaker 1: touch in the same way. Um, some of you may 181 00:10:59,160 --> 00:11:01,840 Speaker 1: be yelling, hey, what the Microsoft surface. We'll get to that. 182 00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:05,760 Speaker 1: It's a it's a totally different animal. But the capacitive system, 183 00:11:05,880 --> 00:11:09,040 Speaker 1: so you know, like I said, it's it's it detects 184 00:11:09,040 --> 00:11:13,319 Speaker 1: this electrical uh connection, and that it's in a way 185 00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:15,400 Speaker 1: does the same sort of thing as the resistive screen 186 00:11:15,400 --> 00:11:18,000 Speaker 1: in the sense that it finds out you know, it 187 00:11:18,040 --> 00:11:21,560 Speaker 1: says where the connection happens on the screen, it maps 188 00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:25,240 Speaker 1: that to a specific command, and then the processor executes 189 00:11:25,280 --> 00:11:28,920 Speaker 1: that command. So the big difference between the two systems 190 00:11:29,200 --> 00:11:33,280 Speaker 1: is how it how the electrical connection is made. Yeah, 191 00:11:33,320 --> 00:11:36,679 Speaker 1: basically the one Once the the circuit or you know, 192 00:11:37,280 --> 00:11:41,520 Speaker 1: is completed and an electrical connection is made, the computer 193 00:11:41,640 --> 00:11:43,680 Speaker 1: on the other end figures out where it is and 194 00:11:43,880 --> 00:11:45,800 Speaker 1: what it's supposed to be doing at that point, right, 195 00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:48,160 Speaker 1: and and again with capacity of screens, you would have 196 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:51,120 Speaker 1: to use something like a finger or you know, your 197 00:11:51,120 --> 00:11:55,600 Speaker 1: nose or you know, something that could create could accept 198 00:11:55,600 --> 00:11:58,199 Speaker 1: this charge from the screen. You couldn't use something that 199 00:11:58,320 --> 00:12:03,520 Speaker 1: was passive like a stylus or the rock four mentioned rock. Right, 200 00:12:03,600 --> 00:12:05,720 Speaker 1: you could possibly use a dog, depending on what part 201 00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:09,559 Speaker 1: of the dog was touching the screen. Yeah, yeah, you know, 202 00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:16,200 Speaker 1: or nose or something. But well yeah, well some of 203 00:12:16,280 --> 00:12:19,760 Speaker 1: us can leave a lot of finger smudges already, so um. 204 00:12:19,920 --> 00:12:22,559 Speaker 1: But yeah, if you wanted to use a stylist with 205 00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:24,360 Speaker 1: a capasity screen, you would have to have a stylist 206 00:12:24,440 --> 00:12:27,640 Speaker 1: had an active point on it that could accept that charge, 207 00:12:27,720 --> 00:12:31,760 Speaker 1: otherwise you wouldn't get anything out of it. So that 208 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:36,000 Speaker 1: actually makes me wonder what the Microsoft Courier tablet, the 209 00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:39,120 Speaker 1: prototype that we we We've seen a video that was 210 00:12:39,160 --> 00:12:42,680 Speaker 1: more or less an animation of this prototype tablet that 211 00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:45,200 Speaker 1: Microsoft is coming out with. It's got two screens and 212 00:12:45,240 --> 00:12:48,480 Speaker 1: it has a touch screen interface, and it shows people 213 00:12:48,600 --> 00:12:52,480 Speaker 1: flicking through with their wealth. It shows an animation of 214 00:12:52,520 --> 00:12:56,040 Speaker 1: a finger flicking through pages UM and it also shows 215 00:12:56,040 --> 00:12:59,120 Speaker 1: an animation of like a stylist writing on a page. 216 00:12:59,600 --> 00:13:03,079 Speaker 1: So I kind of wonder what kind of touchscreen technology 217 00:13:03,120 --> 00:13:05,040 Speaker 1: it's playing on using if if they're using going to 218 00:13:05,120 --> 00:13:08,080 Speaker 1: use resistive or they're going to use capacitive UM. There 219 00:13:08,200 --> 00:13:11,640 Speaker 1: is another choice, but you don't see it that often 220 00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:18,040 Speaker 1: in in smaller devices. Is the surface acoustic waves system. Yeah. 221 00:13:18,120 --> 00:13:19,640 Speaker 1: Now this is something that you would see in and 222 00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:21,920 Speaker 1: more often in things like a t M S and 223 00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:26,080 Speaker 1: bigger displays. But what this uses is a couple of 224 00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:29,760 Speaker 1: transducers and they are placed along the X and y 225 00:13:29,800 --> 00:13:34,280 Speaker 1: axes of the glass plate of the monitor, and whenever 226 00:13:34,800 --> 00:13:37,880 Speaker 1: it sends an electrical signal, one transducer sends it to 227 00:13:37,920 --> 00:13:41,000 Speaker 1: another transducer, and there are reflectors on there to kind 228 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:43,760 Speaker 1: of reflect the signal from one to the other. When 229 00:13:43,840 --> 00:13:48,160 Speaker 1: something makes contact with the screen, it disturbs that electrical wave, 230 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:54,040 Speaker 1: and by measuring the disturbance, the touchscreen knows where it 231 00:13:54,160 --> 00:13:57,760 Speaker 1: was touched that. When I say knows, of course, we're 232 00:13:57,760 --> 00:14:03,000 Speaker 1: talking about a processor that that that the screen. Yeah, 233 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:06,280 Speaker 1: the screen itself does not know. Um, it's not magic, 234 00:14:06,320 --> 00:14:09,320 Speaker 1: and it doesn't it's not sentient. It's once touch screens 235 00:14:09,360 --> 00:14:12,680 Speaker 1: become sentient, sexual harassment lawsuits will go through the roof 236 00:14:14,440 --> 00:14:18,920 Speaker 1: because of inappropriate touch screen interface. Let's we'll see if 237 00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:24,320 Speaker 1: that stays in the right. At any rate, the surface 238 00:14:24,360 --> 00:14:28,280 Speaker 1: acoustic wave system UH is not often Now, for one thing, 239 00:14:29,240 --> 00:14:31,040 Speaker 1: the equipment that you need in order to make this 240 00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:36,040 Speaker 1: thing work is kind of um big. It wouldn't really 241 00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:41,480 Speaker 1: be easy to miniaturize this into a mobile format, right, 242 00:14:41,520 --> 00:14:44,000 Speaker 1: So you wouldn't want to try and use this kind 243 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:47,640 Speaker 1: of technology in your in your general mobile device because 244 00:14:47,640 --> 00:14:50,880 Speaker 1: it would make it too fat, too heavy. Um. And 245 00:14:50,920 --> 00:14:55,040 Speaker 1: of course we all want sleek and stylish. Well, I mean, 246 00:14:55,160 --> 00:14:58,040 Speaker 1: you know, the iPod pretty much proves that the sleek 247 00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:01,240 Speaker 1: and stylish approaches is really popular. I mean, it's a 248 00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:04,320 Speaker 1: good product anyway, but I think that the style is 249 00:15:04,360 --> 00:15:08,520 Speaker 1: definitely a large contributing factor to the popularity of the 250 00:15:08,560 --> 00:15:14,160 Speaker 1: iPod line. So at any rate, uh, capacity of resistive, 251 00:15:14,280 --> 00:15:15,960 Speaker 1: that's the two that you're going to see the most 252 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:19,880 Speaker 1: often in your in your average mobile devices. Um, the 253 00:15:19,960 --> 00:15:24,840 Speaker 1: iPhone uses a capacity of screen, and like we said before, 254 00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:28,440 Speaker 1: it actually can detect multi touch. So that means that 255 00:15:28,520 --> 00:15:33,080 Speaker 1: you can use gestures instead of just touching. Two give 256 00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:37,480 Speaker 1: commands things like pinching, you know, like if you pinch. No, not, 257 00:15:37,640 --> 00:15:40,600 Speaker 1: I'm not actually pinching, Pillette. I want to make that clear. 258 00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:45,120 Speaker 1: I've already made one sexual harassment. I am not. I 259 00:15:45,160 --> 00:15:48,640 Speaker 1: am not even within pinching range of palette. Um, he 260 00:15:48,680 --> 00:15:52,560 Speaker 1: has barricaded himself in the corner and he's perfectly safe. 261 00:15:52,920 --> 00:15:56,600 Speaker 1: I got my blanky. Yes, he does have his blankie. No. 262 00:15:56,760 --> 00:15:59,560 Speaker 1: But but you know, like like when you wanna when 263 00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:04,120 Speaker 1: you want to squish or enlarge a photo doing various 264 00:16:04,120 --> 00:16:08,480 Speaker 1: pinching motions, or if you're panning or whatever, these are gestures. Okay, 265 00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:11,480 Speaker 1: But so these are commands that your phone should or 266 00:16:11,960 --> 00:16:14,200 Speaker 1: m P three player or whatever should be able to 267 00:16:14,240 --> 00:16:18,280 Speaker 1: recognize as a very general command as opposed to open 268 00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:20,400 Speaker 1: up this application I want to use it. It's more 269 00:16:20,440 --> 00:16:24,480 Speaker 1: of a you know, I'm I'm manipulating something, rotating a picture, 270 00:16:24,720 --> 00:16:28,240 Speaker 1: or you know, scrolling from one screen screen to another, 271 00:16:29,080 --> 00:16:32,960 Speaker 1: that kind of thing. And UM. I mean, regular touch 272 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:36,080 Speaker 1: screens can identify some gestures as well. It's just multi 273 00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:43,280 Speaker 1: touch can identify more complex gestures. Uh. So that's pretty 274 00:16:43,400 --> 00:16:47,360 Speaker 1: much the the basis there. I mean, the the both 275 00:16:47,560 --> 00:16:49,880 Speaker 1: kinds of display are both kind of touch screens are 276 00:16:50,080 --> 00:16:54,440 Speaker 1: fairly accurate if they're done well. The execution has to 277 00:16:54,480 --> 00:17:00,160 Speaker 1: be there. But there's nothing about either u I Their 278 00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:04,679 Speaker 1: technology that makes one far more accurate than the other. UM. 279 00:17:04,720 --> 00:17:09,399 Speaker 1: They're both challenging to do well. But if you do uh, 280 00:17:09,520 --> 00:17:12,600 Speaker 1: you know, if you do the good work, then either 281 00:17:12,640 --> 00:17:16,720 Speaker 1: one should be more than accurate enough for the average user. UM. 282 00:17:16,800 --> 00:17:22,240 Speaker 1: The resistive screens are much cheaper than capacitive screens. UM 283 00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:28,399 Speaker 1: capacity seems to have the probably more support among the 284 00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:33,280 Speaker 1: technology savvy crowd. They seem to like the capacity screens more, 285 00:17:33,920 --> 00:17:37,280 Speaker 1: probably because of things like the old resistive screens were 286 00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:41,920 Speaker 1: harder to it's harder to see the images they were scratched. 287 00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:44,760 Speaker 1: They weren't scratch proof that they could get scratched pretty 288 00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:47,159 Speaker 1: easily because the screens had to be soft enough for 289 00:17:47,160 --> 00:17:51,000 Speaker 1: you to press them in a little bit. UM. But 290 00:17:52,240 --> 00:17:55,919 Speaker 1: if you're concerned with manufacturing a device that's going to 291 00:17:56,040 --> 00:18:00,680 Speaker 1: be an inexpensive one for your customers than the resistive 292 00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:03,440 Speaker 1: screen is a more attractive approach because it's less expensive 293 00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:06,880 Speaker 1: for those components. If you're doing a premium product, capacitive 294 00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:09,040 Speaker 1: it is probably the way to go. Yeah, well, it 295 00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:12,280 Speaker 1: seems like, you know, over the past few years, with 296 00:18:12,359 --> 00:18:17,359 Speaker 1: the ubiquitous nous of these devices, it's you know, it's 297 00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:22,000 Speaker 1: harder to find the implementation done poorly. He thinks that 298 00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:24,760 Speaker 1: more and more people are getting it right, which is 299 00:18:24,800 --> 00:18:29,119 Speaker 1: what's making you know, applications for these devices more and 300 00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:32,800 Speaker 1: more common. And a lot of the problems with touch 301 00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:36,439 Speaker 1: screens have more to do with the underlying operating system 302 00:18:36,480 --> 00:18:40,360 Speaker 1: than the technology of the screens themselves. So like older 303 00:18:40,760 --> 00:18:44,399 Speaker 1: operating systems for smartphones are tend to tend to have 304 00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:46,480 Speaker 1: a little more trouble with touch screens than the more 305 00:18:46,520 --> 00:18:49,560 Speaker 1: recent ones. You might have an older phone that's running 306 00:18:49,760 --> 00:18:53,680 Speaker 1: an older version of Windows Mobile, for example, that UH 307 00:18:54,240 --> 00:18:58,040 Speaker 1: is not as responsive as newer versions. UM. I think 308 00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:03,560 Speaker 1: Microsoft philosophy right now is from now on going forward, 309 00:19:03,680 --> 00:19:08,760 Speaker 1: smartphones running running Windows Mobile will have resistive screens. Smartphones 310 00:19:08,800 --> 00:19:11,800 Speaker 1: that will run the Windows Mobile or the Windows seven 311 00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:16,679 Speaker 1: modified modified UH operate system for mobile devices will have 312 00:19:16,800 --> 00:19:20,720 Speaker 1: multi touch and will be capacitive screens. So that's kind 313 00:19:20,720 --> 00:19:24,400 Speaker 1: of interesting that they've actually developed two different strategies that 314 00:19:24,600 --> 00:19:27,960 Speaker 1: and each one focuses on a specific technology. Well, it 315 00:19:28,040 --> 00:19:30,120 Speaker 1: makes sense that they would try to keep the cost 316 00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:33,199 Speaker 1: down by using a resistive screen in a you know, 317 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:37,040 Speaker 1: more consumer device and higher end screens. Yeah, it's it's 318 00:19:37,040 --> 00:19:40,000 Speaker 1: actually a pretty clever approach. I think it'll be interesting 319 00:19:40,040 --> 00:19:41,960 Speaker 1: to see how that plays out. The only thing I 320 00:19:41,960 --> 00:19:44,040 Speaker 1: could think of that might cost them more money down 321 00:19:44,080 --> 00:19:47,240 Speaker 1: the road is by having the complexity of having another 322 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:49,520 Speaker 1: system and another device, and it's another thing they have 323 00:19:49,600 --> 00:19:52,400 Speaker 1: to tool up for and another thing they have to support. Yeah. Well, 324 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:56,040 Speaker 1: they've also got issues with their their Windows Mobile store, 325 00:19:56,320 --> 00:19:59,440 Speaker 1: and there there are a lot of things that the issues, 326 00:20:00,040 --> 00:20:02,760 Speaker 1: a lot of things Microsoft look at. Yeah, never any 327 00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:05,040 Speaker 1: issues with technology. I was going to mention also that 328 00:20:05,400 --> 00:20:09,520 Speaker 1: Research in Motion also known as risk Yes, the the 329 00:20:09,560 --> 00:20:12,959 Speaker 1: company behind BlackBerry. They filed a patent in January two 330 00:20:12,960 --> 00:20:17,760 Speaker 1: thousand eight for a hybrid resistive capacitive screen would have 331 00:20:17,840 --> 00:20:21,160 Speaker 1: both resistive and capacitive layers. I tried reading this patent 332 00:20:21,240 --> 00:20:23,240 Speaker 1: to figure out how it would work for this podcast, 333 00:20:23,640 --> 00:20:25,560 Speaker 1: and I think I would need another three or four 334 00:20:25,640 --> 00:20:28,760 Speaker 1: days to really get through it to understand it. Um. 335 00:20:28,880 --> 00:20:31,840 Speaker 1: I can't even pretend to go into the science behind 336 00:20:31,880 --> 00:20:34,600 Speaker 1: it because part of it is written in Martian. Well, 337 00:20:34,640 --> 00:20:37,879 Speaker 1: it's written in patent ease and okay, so it's a 338 00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:41,679 Speaker 1: level of difficulty above Martia. It's slightly more difficult than 339 00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:44,040 Speaker 1: Martian UM. And then I said, we were going to 340 00:20:44,080 --> 00:20:48,000 Speaker 1: talk about the Microsoft Surface very quickly. So the surface, 341 00:20:48,280 --> 00:20:52,000 Speaker 1: it doesn't use a capacitive resistive It does not. It 342 00:20:52,119 --> 00:20:54,040 Speaker 1: is if you don't know what it is. It is 343 00:20:54,119 --> 00:20:57,239 Speaker 1: a table like device. It has a monitor on the 344 00:20:57,240 --> 00:21:00,080 Speaker 1: top of it, so you would sit down at one 345 00:21:00,119 --> 00:21:03,680 Speaker 1: of these things, and it has a big screen that 346 00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:07,080 Speaker 1: you can touch and manipulate things on the screen. You 347 00:21:07,119 --> 00:21:10,080 Speaker 1: can have images there, you can play games, and it 348 00:21:10,119 --> 00:21:13,720 Speaker 1: can detect dozens of different touch points, so it's not 349 00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:15,919 Speaker 1: just you know, two finger touching. You could have a 350 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:18,240 Speaker 1: game where five people are sitting around this table and 351 00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:20,480 Speaker 1: are playing a little pinball game or whatever, and each 352 00:21:20,480 --> 00:21:23,919 Speaker 1: one's controlling a set of flippers, you know, or tons 353 00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:27,560 Speaker 1: of other different implications. It does not use capacity or 354 00:21:27,640 --> 00:21:33,479 Speaker 1: resistive touch screens. Instead, it uses cameras and an image 355 00:21:33,520 --> 00:21:37,800 Speaker 1: recognition UH software that is in the infrared spectrum. So 356 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:42,320 Speaker 1: these cameras are pointing up from inside the device. They're 357 00:21:42,359 --> 00:21:46,040 Speaker 1: pointing up at the screen, the screen surface, and they 358 00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:49,520 Speaker 1: detect the points of contact and then send that information 359 00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:53,280 Speaker 1: to the processor, which then you know, translates into a command. 360 00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:57,320 Speaker 1: The neat thing about this is you can use multiple 361 00:21:57,400 --> 00:22:02,439 Speaker 1: objects on the surface and and automatically transmit commands. So 362 00:22:02,520 --> 00:22:06,119 Speaker 1: let's say that you have a an MP three player 363 00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:10,640 Speaker 1: that can wirelessly sink with a computing device. So let's 364 00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:14,560 Speaker 1: say you've got a Microsoft Zoom and you lay this 365 00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:19,199 Speaker 1: down on the surface, the surface, the surface of the surface. Yes, 366 00:22:19,240 --> 00:22:21,000 Speaker 1: you could lay it on the screen of the surface, 367 00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:24,560 Speaker 1: and you could sink your device with the surface automatically 368 00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:26,680 Speaker 1: just by laying it on the screen, because it would 369 00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:29,600 Speaker 1: detect the shape and size of that Say, hey, you 370 00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:33,200 Speaker 1: know what that is. That's a zoom uh, and it 371 00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:35,639 Speaker 1: just automatically has the command that when that device is 372 00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:38,920 Speaker 1: placed on there, it'll sink. Yeah. So there are a 373 00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:44,879 Speaker 1: lot of interesting swine flu interesting um applications for this device. 374 00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:48,600 Speaker 1: So anyway, that was one thing I wanted to bring 375 00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:51,119 Speaker 1: up because technically that's not even if you think of 376 00:22:51,119 --> 00:22:54,439 Speaker 1: it as a touch screens. It's not really a touch screen. 377 00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:57,360 Speaker 1: It's really all because the camera. You had a similar 378 00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:00,320 Speaker 1: device you wanted to mention briefly, right, Well, yeah, because uh, 379 00:23:00,480 --> 00:23:02,879 Speaker 1: you know, as we were talking before hand, I started 380 00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:07,640 Speaker 1: thinking about other devices like that UM and uh one 381 00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:10,720 Speaker 1: of the ones that our friends that stuff from the 382 00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:15,000 Speaker 1: B side uh recorded And actually John Fuller wrote about 383 00:23:15,040 --> 00:23:19,520 Speaker 1: the React table, which uses a series of acrylic shapes 384 00:23:20,119 --> 00:23:25,240 Speaker 1: on a Microsoft surface like surface UM to control music. 385 00:23:25,680 --> 00:23:28,800 Speaker 1: And I started thinking about how that worked, and you said, basically, 386 00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:32,119 Speaker 1: it's the same, you know, a similar situation of cameras 387 00:23:32,160 --> 00:23:35,240 Speaker 1: underneath the table. And I remember from editing that that yes, 388 00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:38,440 Speaker 1: it's got UM, it's got a screen on which the 389 00:23:38,480 --> 00:23:42,440 Speaker 1: shapes said, and it's you know, the cameras tracking where 390 00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:45,160 Speaker 1: those those different pieces are. And it says, okay, well 391 00:23:45,160 --> 00:23:47,439 Speaker 1: this is a this is a circle. I know, you 392 00:23:47,480 --> 00:23:50,159 Speaker 1: know when his circle it controls the beat is you know, 393 00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:53,840 Speaker 1: the square does this. So that's uh yeah, So depending 394 00:23:53,880 --> 00:23:58,320 Speaker 1: on the position of those and the position and configuration 395 00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:02,560 Speaker 1: right those different objects, it'll create a different set of 396 00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:05,800 Speaker 1: sounds and you can rotate things in it, you know 397 00:24:05,520 --> 00:24:09,600 Speaker 1: it because it's the shape and the position of the 398 00:24:09,680 --> 00:24:12,320 Speaker 1: uh implement that it has to do a certain thing. Yeah, 399 00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:15,360 Speaker 1: I've seen similar applications which would do things like even 400 00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:20,160 Speaker 1: incorporate stuff like colors, so you might have a one 401 00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:22,359 Speaker 1: circle that's blue and one circle that's red, and it 402 00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:25,320 Speaker 1: actually translates to two different commands, so you can have 403 00:24:25,400 --> 00:24:28,000 Speaker 1: multiple circles on the same sort of surface and and 404 00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:30,320 Speaker 1: it would Yeah. Again, mostly it's it tends to be 405 00:24:30,359 --> 00:24:33,920 Speaker 1: things for like music performance art. I think Byork toured 406 00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:37,720 Speaker 1: with one of these, so, um, the thing is, my 407 00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:40,400 Speaker 1: question is if you, you know, have an instrument that's 408 00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:42,560 Speaker 1: using you know, reds and yellows, can it help you 409 00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:47,000 Speaker 1: play the blues? Let's move on. I'm glad that we 410 00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:50,840 Speaker 1: have exhausted touch screen, or at least I'm exhausted. But 411 00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:55,720 Speaker 1: then again, I've got puns aren't helping, I'm sure. Let's 412 00:24:55,720 --> 00:25:03,800 Speaker 1: move on to a little listener mail. This listener mail 413 00:25:03,840 --> 00:25:09,560 Speaker 1: comes from Chase, and Chase is an Oregonian living in Osaka, Japan. 414 00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:14,320 Speaker 1: He's also very verbose. Chase, I loved your email, and 415 00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:16,679 Speaker 1: I responded to Chase already, so I'm gonna have to 416 00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:20,880 Speaker 1: sort of summarize Chase's email here um, but he said 417 00:25:20,880 --> 00:25:23,639 Speaker 1: they had an He has an iPod Touch and he 418 00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:28,520 Speaker 1: got an application called Anti Young Free, which emits a 419 00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:31,280 Speaker 1: sound that only young people or people who took very 420 00:25:31,280 --> 00:25:34,600 Speaker 1: good care of their ears can hear. Because I work 421 00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:36,440 Speaker 1: in a high school, so I decided to test it 422 00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:38,600 Speaker 1: out on the class of fifteen to sixteen year old 423 00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:41,760 Speaker 1: I got them all to stand up and then push 424 00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:43,720 Speaker 1: the button to turn the sound on and told everyone 425 00:25:43,760 --> 00:25:46,200 Speaker 1: to sit down and they could hear something. To my surprise, 426 00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:49,960 Speaker 1: eight of the forty students remain standing and mystified. According 427 00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:52,960 Speaker 1: to the descriptions for this app, people who people should 428 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:54,840 Speaker 1: be able to hear it until they are around twenty 429 00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:56,840 Speaker 1: to thirty years old. I'm twenty five years old and 430 00:25:56,840 --> 00:25:58,640 Speaker 1: cannot hear it, but my wife, who was twenty four 431 00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:01,800 Speaker 1: freaked out when I turned the sound on. That aside, 432 00:26:01,840 --> 00:26:04,120 Speaker 1: I also discovered a number of other absolute things like 433 00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:07,800 Speaker 1: repel mosquitoes or act as dog whistles. And you wanted 434 00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:09,800 Speaker 1: to know, one, how does it work? And two is 435 00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:12,800 Speaker 1: it doing any damage to his speakers? Let's take the 436 00:26:12,840 --> 00:26:16,200 Speaker 1: second one. First, most speakers can emit sounds that are 437 00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:20,680 Speaker 1: well beyond the range of human hearing, and so they're 438 00:26:20,680 --> 00:26:24,959 Speaker 1: perfectly capable of doing this. Nothing bad is going to happen, um, 439 00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:27,520 Speaker 1: you know, on its own, because that's what speakers do. 440 00:26:27,600 --> 00:26:30,359 Speaker 1: They're capable of emitting these sounds. It's not not like 441 00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:34,160 Speaker 1: it's suddenly ripping itself apart. But the first part about 442 00:26:34,160 --> 00:26:36,119 Speaker 1: how does it work? Well, humans can hear in a 443 00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:40,919 Speaker 1: range of of sound frequencies that it's between about twenty 444 00:26:40,960 --> 00:26:43,800 Speaker 1: hurts and twenty thousand hurts, give or take a few thousands. 445 00:26:44,280 --> 00:26:48,560 Speaker 1: All depends on who you ask, really, but whether you're 446 00:26:48,560 --> 00:26:50,720 Speaker 1: male or female. And of course, as we get older, 447 00:26:50,760 --> 00:26:54,200 Speaker 1: we start to lose the capability of hearing that complete range, 448 00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:59,560 Speaker 1: and in general we lose the upper ranges first. And 449 00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:04,200 Speaker 1: so if you are in your late twenties, early thirties, 450 00:27:04,560 --> 00:27:07,440 Speaker 1: you may only be able to hear up to fourteen 451 00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:11,400 Speaker 1: thousand hurts or sixteen thousand hurts or sixteen killer hurts 452 00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:15,440 Speaker 1: if you prefer. But um so, anything above that frequency 453 00:27:15,480 --> 00:27:18,240 Speaker 1: you just you don't, you don't hear it. But younger 454 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:20,919 Speaker 1: people could still hear that. And in general, human beings 455 00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:26,520 Speaker 1: don't like high pitched noises. They tend to irritate us um, 456 00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:29,640 Speaker 1: which is you know why Chris likes to drown me out, 457 00:27:29,680 --> 00:27:34,960 Speaker 1: I guess at any rate. So that's how that really works, 458 00:27:35,040 --> 00:27:37,720 Speaker 1: is that as we age, we just naturally begin to 459 00:27:37,800 --> 00:27:40,199 Speaker 1: lose that ability, and some of us lose it more 460 00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:43,320 Speaker 1: slowly than others. So you may find someone who's thirty 461 00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:45,199 Speaker 1: two who can hear the same thing that a sixteen 462 00:27:45,240 --> 00:27:46,960 Speaker 1: year old can hear, or you may find you know 463 00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:49,159 Speaker 1: a fourteen year old kid who can't hear anything at 464 00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:53,040 Speaker 1: all from that particular range. Um, it's very subjective. There 465 00:27:53,040 --> 00:27:55,760 Speaker 1: are no hardened past rules, but in general, if you're 466 00:27:55,760 --> 00:27:59,040 Speaker 1: talking about big numbers, that's kind of how it works. 467 00:27:59,080 --> 00:28:00,959 Speaker 1: So thanks for writing in Chase. If any of you 468 00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:05,360 Speaker 1: have any questions, concerns, criticisms, suggestions per episodes, you can 469 00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:08,360 Speaker 1: write us tech Stuff at how stuff works dot com. 470 00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:11,800 Speaker 1: Remember we have a live show every Tuesday at one 471 00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:14,399 Speaker 1: pm Eastern. You can find that if you go to 472 00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:18,320 Speaker 1: the blogs over at how stufforks dot com and Crispy 473 00:28:18,320 --> 00:28:20,680 Speaker 1: and I will talk to you again. Hopefully I will 474 00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:26,720 Speaker 1: be talking without a raspy voice really soon. For moral 475 00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:29,280 Speaker 1: thiss and thousands of other topics, does it how stuff 476 00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:31,520 Speaker 1: works dot com and be sure to check out the 477 00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:34,920 Speaker 1: new tech stuff blog now on the house Stuff Works homepage, 478 00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:41,800 Speaker 1: brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 479 00:28:42,120 --> 00:28:43,320 Speaker 1: It's ready, are you