1 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production of I Heart Radios, 2 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:13,880 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:17,079 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 4 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:19,279 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works and I Heart Radio and I love 5 00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:23,520 Speaker 1: all things tech and listener Robert Casey pinned me on 6 00:00:23,560 --> 00:00:26,640 Speaker 1: Twitter with a request that I do an episode about 7 00:00:26,720 --> 00:00:31,639 Speaker 1: touch screens and stylus is or STYLI Now. My original 8 00:00:31,720 --> 00:00:35,600 Speaker 1: co host, Chris Palette, and I covered this topic on 9 00:00:35,720 --> 00:00:39,680 Speaker 1: an ancient episode of tech Stuff that published all the 10 00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:45,360 Speaker 1: way back on October nineteen, two thousand nine, Holy Cow, 11 00:00:45,880 --> 00:00:49,159 Speaker 1: ten years ago. But I think it's past time to 12 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:53,000 Speaker 1: revisit this topic and give it the full modern day 13 00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:56,560 Speaker 1: tech stuff treatment. Now, there are a few interesting things 14 00:00:56,680 --> 00:00:59,319 Speaker 1: about touch screens in general that I'd like to get 15 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:03,360 Speaker 1: all the way. One is that it's pretty ubiquitous today. 16 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:06,400 Speaker 1: It's it's it's a user interface that you find everywhere 17 00:01:06,440 --> 00:01:11,200 Speaker 1: for everything from mobile or mobile devices to lots of 18 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:15,720 Speaker 1: different laptop and desktop displays. Now, granted, I've never owned 19 00:01:15,959 --> 00:01:19,800 Speaker 1: a laptop or desktop display that had touch screen technology 20 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:23,080 Speaker 1: incorporated in it, largely because I didn't see a lot 21 00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:25,760 Speaker 1: of use in that Based on how I tend to 22 00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:28,039 Speaker 1: interact with computers, Not to say that there's no use 23 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:30,360 Speaker 1: for it, just that the way I use computers, it 24 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:32,920 Speaker 1: wouldn't make sense for me. Usually I don't have the 25 00:01:32,959 --> 00:01:35,720 Speaker 1: display so close that reaching out and touching it would 26 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:38,720 Speaker 1: be terribly easy or comfortable, And most of what I 27 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:42,880 Speaker 1: use computers for requires lots of typing, which isn't great 28 00:01:42,959 --> 00:01:46,480 Speaker 1: on most touch screen implementations. I guess you could pare 29 00:01:46,520 --> 00:01:49,320 Speaker 1: it with voice recognition and get more use out of it, 30 00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:52,080 Speaker 1: But I am curious if any of you guys use 31 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:56,559 Speaker 1: computers with touch displays and what do you use them for? 32 00:01:56,800 --> 00:01:59,400 Speaker 1: As I'm sure there are plenty of use cases where 33 00:01:59,440 --> 00:02:03,400 Speaker 1: it is incredibly handy so to speak. Oh and there 34 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:07,000 Speaker 1: will probably be a lot of unintentional puns in this episode, 35 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:11,480 Speaker 1: and maybe a couple of intended ones will be but 36 00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:15,840 Speaker 1: a touch away, so to speak. Anyway, touch screens are everywhere, 37 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:19,680 Speaker 1: but their history is fairly recent. Another thing I find 38 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:22,040 Speaker 1: really interesting about them is that there are a lot 39 00:02:22,040 --> 00:02:24,680 Speaker 1: of different ways to go about it, and the end 40 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:27,960 Speaker 1: result aims to be the same, but there are several 41 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:32,120 Speaker 1: approaches to implementing touch screens, and each implementation has its 42 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:36,080 Speaker 1: advantages and disadvantages, so we'll cover those in this episode. 43 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:39,880 Speaker 1: And yet, one more thing I think is interesting is 44 00:02:39,919 --> 00:02:43,359 Speaker 1: really just how innovative touch screen devices have been. If 45 00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:46,600 Speaker 1: you look back at the science fiction films and TV 46 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:50,200 Speaker 1: series from the nineteen fifties and even into the nineteen sixties, 47 00:02:50,360 --> 00:02:54,320 Speaker 1: when touch screen technology was first being described, you'll rarely 48 00:02:54,360 --> 00:02:58,000 Speaker 1: see examples of that idea. Touch Screens were such a 49 00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:03,320 Speaker 1: leap forward that spec lative fiction writers weren't really imagining 50 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:06,880 Speaker 1: it as a user interface. That's why in series like 51 00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:10,960 Speaker 1: Star Trek, the original series, you'll see characters interacting with 52 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:16,000 Speaker 1: physical dials and knobs and levers that are the controls 53 00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:19,400 Speaker 1: of a twenty third century spaceship. You know, you look 54 00:03:19,400 --> 00:03:22,079 Speaker 1: at those controls today and you think, oh, that looks antiquated. 55 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:24,959 Speaker 1: Unlike a lot of technologies we've seen over the last 56 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:29,600 Speaker 1: several decades, touch screens weren't heavily predicted in fiction. And 57 00:03:29,639 --> 00:03:31,640 Speaker 1: I think I'll have to do an episode dedicated to 58 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:34,840 Speaker 1: tech that writers described years before it became a reality. 59 00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:37,600 Speaker 1: That's an interesting subject of its own, Like the types 60 00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:41,280 Speaker 1: of technology that science fiction writers predicted before it happened. 61 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:44,720 Speaker 1: You know, things like you know, geosynchronous satellites, but that's 62 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:49,120 Speaker 1: for another episode. Okay, so we're ready for our history lesson, 63 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:51,920 Speaker 1: which is you longtime listeners know is sort of a 64 00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:55,320 Speaker 1: requirement in every tech stuff episode. Before I dive in, 65 00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:58,040 Speaker 1: I want to give a shout out to Florence Ion's 66 00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:02,000 Speaker 1: article from Touch to Plays to the Surface, A brief 67 00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:05,840 Speaker 1: history of touch screen technology in Ours Technica. It's a 68 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:09,400 Speaker 1: fantastic summary of the evolution of the technology, and if 69 00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:12,080 Speaker 1: you want to learn more about the history of touch screens, 70 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:14,160 Speaker 1: I urge you to seek it out. It was not 71 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:17,559 Speaker 1: the only source I used when getting all the history stuff, 72 00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:21,680 Speaker 1: but it was a great resource. Also. I normally break 73 00:04:21,760 --> 00:04:24,760 Speaker 1: up the history and the description of how technology works 74 00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:28,479 Speaker 1: into different parts of episodes typically, but in this case, 75 00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:32,080 Speaker 1: I think it works better to describe how each version 76 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:35,120 Speaker 1: of the technology works as we get to them, and 77 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:37,400 Speaker 1: as a peak behind the curtain. I came to that 78 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:39,880 Speaker 1: decision after I was about a third of the way 79 00:04:39,960 --> 00:04:43,400 Speaker 1: done typing out all of my notes, so I actually 80 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:45,719 Speaker 1: went back and revised my notes quite a bit and 81 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:48,080 Speaker 1: rearranged things because I did not like the way the 82 00:04:48,120 --> 00:04:52,719 Speaker 1: episode flowed in its original form. So all that being said, 83 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:55,800 Speaker 1: where did the idea for the touch screen interface come 84 00:04:55,880 --> 00:04:59,599 Speaker 1: from well before there were touch screens that could interpret 85 00:04:59,680 --> 00:05:02,919 Speaker 1: the touch of a finger or stylus, there was the 86 00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:05,520 Speaker 1: light pen. The first light pen was part of a 87 00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:09,279 Speaker 1: system that IBM design called Whirlwind, which the company built 88 00:05:09,279 --> 00:05:12,919 Speaker 1: for Norad. But the way touch screens work is different 89 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:16,120 Speaker 1: from the way light pens work. With touch screens, the 90 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:19,800 Speaker 1: technology for detecting a point of contact is generally built 91 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:24,240 Speaker 1: into or behind or sometimes in front of the screen itself. 92 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:27,960 Speaker 1: With a light pen, the detector is actually in the 93 00:05:28,040 --> 00:05:31,560 Speaker 1: pen side of the interface, not on the screen side, 94 00:05:31,839 --> 00:05:34,760 Speaker 1: so the screen is a nert. It's the pen that's active. 95 00:05:35,279 --> 00:05:38,840 Speaker 1: Light pens have a photoelectric cell built into them, in 96 00:05:38,839 --> 00:05:43,440 Speaker 1: other words, a sensor that detects light, and typically light 97 00:05:43,480 --> 00:05:46,839 Speaker 1: pen is tethered to the computer system it's connected to. 98 00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:50,400 Speaker 1: It's actually physically connected with a cable. Holding a light 99 00:05:50,440 --> 00:05:53,120 Speaker 1: pen up to a screen would allow the light pen 100 00:05:53,240 --> 00:05:57,880 Speaker 1: to register when the monitors electron beams scanned across that point, 101 00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:01,080 Speaker 1: because monitors in those days were based off the old 102 00:06:01,160 --> 00:06:06,279 Speaker 1: cathode ray tube technology, which uses an electron gun that 103 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:10,599 Speaker 1: shoots a beam of electrons in row after row after row, 104 00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:14,200 Speaker 1: so it goes it scans across the screen and then 105 00:06:14,320 --> 00:06:17,880 Speaker 1: down the screen. So it goes one line across, then 106 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:21,279 Speaker 1: moves down the line, goes across, moves down the line, etcetera, etcetera. 107 00:06:21,960 --> 00:06:25,640 Speaker 1: And these electrons then hit against phost four points on 108 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:28,640 Speaker 1: the back side of the screen and it generates light. Now, 109 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:31,919 Speaker 1: because the light pins were tethered to the computer system, 110 00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:35,440 Speaker 1: the computer would pick up precisely where on the screen 111 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:38,360 Speaker 1: the light pin was sitting, and it did this by 112 00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:42,640 Speaker 1: cross referencing the time of contact with the position of 113 00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:46,080 Speaker 1: the electron beam at that moment. So the light pin 114 00:06:46,120 --> 00:06:50,360 Speaker 1: would detect this electron beam, and that message would be 115 00:06:50,400 --> 00:06:52,640 Speaker 1: sent to the computer, and the computer knew where the 116 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:56,160 Speaker 1: electron beam was at that precise instant, and that way 117 00:06:56,200 --> 00:06:58,760 Speaker 1: it knew where the point of contact was. Now, this 118 00:06:58,839 --> 00:07:01,960 Speaker 1: is largely an outlier of the touchscreen topic, but it's 119 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:04,720 Speaker 1: kind of a predecessor, so I thought it would include it. Now, 120 00:07:04,839 --> 00:07:07,960 Speaker 1: unlike a lot of other technologies, which tend to get 121 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:10,920 Speaker 1: pretty muddy when you start asking questions like where did 122 00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:14,480 Speaker 1: this idea come from? We can be reasonably certain that 123 00:07:14,760 --> 00:07:18,760 Speaker 1: Eric Arthur Johnson or E. A. Johnson proposed the first 124 00:07:18,880 --> 00:07:24,080 Speaker 1: technological solution to creating a touch screen computer interface. Johnson 125 00:07:24,120 --> 00:07:26,920 Speaker 1: was an engineer at what was at that point the 126 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:32,000 Speaker 1: Royal Radar Establishment, which was a research facility in Malvern, England, 127 00:07:32,320 --> 00:07:35,760 Speaker 1: and as the name suggests, this facility was chiefly focused 128 00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:39,560 Speaker 1: on developing new radar technologies, and it wasn't It was 129 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:43,000 Speaker 1: operating as a research organization that worked closely with British 130 00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:46,880 Speaker 1: Armed Forces. It would later become the Defense Evaluation and 131 00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:51,000 Speaker 1: Research Agency after merging with a few other organizations, and 132 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:54,880 Speaker 1: later still it would become part of a defense contractor 133 00:07:54,920 --> 00:07:59,880 Speaker 1: in England called Kinetic spelled with a que. Johnson was 134 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:04,720 Speaker 1: working on improving the user interface for air traffic control staff. 135 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:08,200 Speaker 1: He wrote an article and had the title touch Display 136 00:08:08,360 --> 00:08:12,480 Speaker 1: a novel input output device for computers. It was published 137 00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:16,760 Speaker 1: in the journal Electronics Letters on October uh in nineteen. 138 00:08:17,680 --> 00:08:20,640 Speaker 1: I said on October, I should say in October nine, 139 00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:24,080 Speaker 1: because I don't have the precise date of when in 140 00:08:24,120 --> 00:08:26,600 Speaker 1: October it came out. But in nineteen sixty seven he 141 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:30,760 Speaker 1: published a follow up piece titled touch Displays a Programmed 142 00:08:30,840 --> 00:08:34,880 Speaker 1: Man Machine Interface that further developed this concept and fleshed 143 00:08:34,920 --> 00:08:37,560 Speaker 1: it out, and he was describing what would become the 144 00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:42,079 Speaker 1: capacitive touch screen interface. And I also find this interesting 145 00:08:42,400 --> 00:08:45,840 Speaker 1: because for many years, it seemed the majority of consumer 146 00:08:45,880 --> 00:08:50,080 Speaker 1: products that had touch screens used an alternative to the 147 00:08:50,120 --> 00:08:54,480 Speaker 1: capacity of approach, known as resistive touch screens, and those 148 00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:57,679 Speaker 1: two technologies make up the majority of the touch screens 149 00:08:57,760 --> 00:09:01,440 Speaker 1: we tend to encounter. I'll explain the differences between them 150 00:09:01,559 --> 00:09:05,080 Speaker 1: when we get to each, but first before I get 151 00:09:05,120 --> 00:09:08,480 Speaker 1: into the differences, what our capacity of touch screens and 152 00:09:08,520 --> 00:09:12,560 Speaker 1: how do they register touch? Well, they only register a 153 00:09:12,640 --> 00:09:17,839 Speaker 1: touch if the substance touching the screen can hold an 154 00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:21,959 Speaker 1: electrical charge, So stuff like our skin. Our skin can 155 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:25,360 Speaker 1: hold an electrical charge. It's electrically conductive. So if you've 156 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:29,400 Speaker 1: ever used a touch screen while wearing gloves and nothing happened, 157 00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:33,560 Speaker 1: it's probably because the capacity of touch screen was not 158 00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:37,640 Speaker 1: able to detect any sort of electrical connection. The gloves 159 00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:42,480 Speaker 1: were acting like insulators. They inhibit electrical charge. That's why 160 00:09:42,520 --> 00:09:44,520 Speaker 1: there are companies out there that sell gloves that have 161 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:48,679 Speaker 1: conductive wire or conductive pads at the fingertips. And it's 162 00:09:48,720 --> 00:09:51,840 Speaker 1: also why you can't use something like an inert plastic 163 00:09:51,960 --> 00:09:55,560 Speaker 1: stylus on a capacity of screen. You can use a 164 00:09:55,640 --> 00:10:00,720 Speaker 1: stylus that has a conductive surface at the hip, that 165 00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:05,000 Speaker 1: would work. But if it's just a plastic stick, for example, 166 00:10:05,320 --> 00:10:08,439 Speaker 1: it wouldn't activate the screen. But you could use something 167 00:10:08,440 --> 00:10:11,920 Speaker 1: else like um, you know, like a hot dog, which 168 00:10:11,960 --> 00:10:14,120 Speaker 1: is I understand it used to be a thing in 169 00:10:14,160 --> 00:10:17,839 Speaker 1: South Korea. People would use hot dogs to activate their 170 00:10:17,840 --> 00:10:20,120 Speaker 1: capacitive touch screens when it was too cold for them 171 00:10:20,160 --> 00:10:23,360 Speaker 1: to not wear gloves, which tells me you could probably 172 00:10:23,400 --> 00:10:27,200 Speaker 1: make a killing in soul by selling screen cleaners dedicated 173 00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:32,320 Speaker 1: to eradicating weener grease from your screens. But how do 174 00:10:32,559 --> 00:10:36,240 Speaker 1: the capacity of screens actually detect touch. There's a couple 175 00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:39,360 Speaker 1: of different approaches, but the general idea is to create 176 00:10:39,360 --> 00:10:43,240 Speaker 1: a surface that holds an electrical charge, and in many 177 00:10:43,320 --> 00:10:46,640 Speaker 1: implementations this is done with a grid of very fine 178 00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:51,000 Speaker 1: conductive wires running in rows and columns on an x 179 00:10:51,160 --> 00:10:55,360 Speaker 1: y grid. In other words, so like a net, sensors 180 00:10:55,559 --> 00:10:58,640 Speaker 1: pick up changes in this electrical charge when they happen. 181 00:10:58,920 --> 00:11:02,720 Speaker 1: So if an object act that conducts electricity makes contact 182 00:11:02,720 --> 00:11:06,360 Speaker 1: with the screen, so for example, your finger, there's a 183 00:11:06,480 --> 00:11:09,680 Speaker 1: change in that electrical charge. Technically the change is a 184 00:11:09,800 --> 00:11:13,800 Speaker 1: drop in voltage. So by detecting where that change happens 185 00:11:13,840 --> 00:11:17,880 Speaker 1: along those x y coordinates, A microprocessor can interpret the 186 00:11:17,920 --> 00:11:22,760 Speaker 1: touch and associate it with whatever command you wanted to execute. So, 187 00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:26,040 Speaker 1: in the example of activating an icon on a screen, 188 00:11:26,520 --> 00:11:31,120 Speaker 1: the icon represents the execution of a particular app or program. 189 00:11:31,160 --> 00:11:35,440 Speaker 1: When the microprocessor or touch sensor detects a contact at 190 00:11:35,480 --> 00:11:38,720 Speaker 1: the location of such an icon, it interprets that touch 191 00:11:38,920 --> 00:11:43,439 Speaker 1: to mean execute the program associated with the image at 192 00:11:43,520 --> 00:11:47,200 Speaker 1: these coordinates on the display, and then it will launch 193 00:11:47,240 --> 00:11:50,880 Speaker 1: the app. A similar thing happens with gesture controls like 194 00:11:50,960 --> 00:11:55,280 Speaker 1: swiping or pinching. Engineers and programmers have to build in 195 00:11:55,320 --> 00:11:58,680 Speaker 1: this capability so that the system can interpret the meaning 196 00:11:58,800 --> 00:12:02,760 Speaker 1: behind the gestures and thus produced the appropriate result, But 197 00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:06,280 Speaker 1: the actual detection of a touch all comes down to 198 00:12:06,400 --> 00:12:10,640 Speaker 1: that change and voltage. Early capacity of screens could really 199 00:12:10,679 --> 00:12:14,360 Speaker 1: only detect one point of contact, so if you tried 200 00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:17,680 Speaker 1: touching the screen with more than one finger, typically the 201 00:12:17,720 --> 00:12:21,800 Speaker 1: screen would only register that first touch. This is because 202 00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:26,160 Speaker 1: the sensing technology was limited. Early sensors would estimate the 203 00:12:26,280 --> 00:12:31,079 Speaker 1: point of contact. It wasn't incredibly precise. It was precise 204 00:12:31,200 --> 00:12:35,080 Speaker 1: enough for general use, but you couldn't really get fine 205 00:12:35,160 --> 00:12:39,480 Speaker 1: tuning with it. Later implementations would incorporate better sensors, and 206 00:12:39,480 --> 00:12:42,800 Speaker 1: eventually you'd find capacity of screens in which each row 207 00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:47,000 Speaker 1: or column of wires had its own associated sensors, which 208 00:12:47,040 --> 00:12:49,960 Speaker 1: increased their accuracy, and it opened up the possibility of 209 00:12:49,960 --> 00:12:54,160 Speaker 1: a capacity of screen with multi touch capability. Johnson would 210 00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:57,520 Speaker 1: receive a U S patent for his invention in nineteen 211 00:12:57,679 --> 00:13:02,040 Speaker 1: sixty nine. So if you'd like an engineer's explanation of 212 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:05,200 Speaker 1: the basic technology behind these capacity of touch screens, you 213 00:13:05,360 --> 00:13:08,840 Speaker 1: two can search for u S Patent three million, four 214 00:13:08,920 --> 00:13:13,320 Speaker 1: hundred eighty two thousand, two hundred forty one. The patent 215 00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:17,200 Speaker 1: includes circuit diagrams and a flow chart that are helpful 216 00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:20,240 Speaker 1: to understand how it works as well. The capacity of 217 00:13:20,280 --> 00:13:24,040 Speaker 1: screen was a great innovation, but it saw little adoption 218 00:13:24,320 --> 00:13:28,160 Speaker 1: over the following few years. An alternative approach would get 219 00:13:28,160 --> 00:13:31,199 Speaker 1: a bit more traction. In the short term. You could 220 00:13:31,240 --> 00:13:35,240 Speaker 1: say the tech world couldn't resist it. I'll explain more 221 00:13:35,640 --> 00:13:47,440 Speaker 1: after this break in nineteen seventy, Dr George Samuel Hurst 222 00:13:47,600 --> 00:13:51,320 Speaker 1: invented the first resistive touch screen. In the late nineteen 223 00:13:51,320 --> 00:13:53,880 Speaker 1: forties through the nineteen fifties, he had worked at the 224 00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:57,520 Speaker 1: oak Ridge National Laboratory and R and D facility that 225 00:13:57,640 --> 00:14:00,559 Speaker 1: is funded by the U. S Department of Energy. Herst 226 00:14:00,600 --> 00:14:03,720 Speaker 1: has been working in the field of atomic physics, developing 227 00:14:03,760 --> 00:14:08,600 Speaker 1: stuff like radiation detectors at nuclear testing sites. In nineteen 228 00:14:08,720 --> 00:14:12,440 Speaker 1: sixty six, he accepted a job as professor of physics 229 00:14:12,480 --> 00:14:15,760 Speaker 1: at the University of Kentucky. While in that role, he 230 00:14:15,800 --> 00:14:19,720 Speaker 1: continued doing research into atomic physics, but his team was 231 00:14:19,800 --> 00:14:23,120 Speaker 1: running into some obstacles, particularly in the use of a 232 00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:27,640 Speaker 1: vander graphic accelerator, which is an electro static generator that 233 00:14:27,760 --> 00:14:31,640 Speaker 1: can be used as a particle accelerator. To quote the Minerals, 234 00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:36,600 Speaker 1: Metals and Materials Society, which has a PDF about these devices, quote, 235 00:14:37,120 --> 00:14:40,520 Speaker 1: a high potential difference is built up and maintained on 236 00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:44,920 Speaker 1: a smooth conducting surface by the continuous transfer of positive 237 00:14:44,920 --> 00:14:48,840 Speaker 1: static charges from a moving belt to the surface. When 238 00:14:48,960 --> 00:14:52,720 Speaker 1: used as a particle accelerator, and ion source is located 239 00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:56,960 Speaker 1: inside the high voltage terminal. Ions are accelerated from the 240 00:14:57,000 --> 00:15:00,440 Speaker 1: source to the target by the electric voltage between the 241 00:15:00,520 --> 00:15:06,040 Speaker 1: high voltage supply and ground. Now that sounds complicated, but 242 00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:10,840 Speaker 1: it's essentially a vandergraph generator and you've probably seen one 243 00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:13,440 Speaker 1: of these, maybe non in person, but probably at least 244 00:15:13,480 --> 00:15:16,880 Speaker 1: in a picture or video. They typically look like silver 245 00:15:17,160 --> 00:15:21,360 Speaker 1: orbs that can give off a spectacular spark when they operate. 246 00:15:21,400 --> 00:15:25,000 Speaker 1: There's typically a large silver orb on a pedestal, and 247 00:15:25,040 --> 00:15:28,440 Speaker 1: then there's a smaller silver orb that's located a certain 248 00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:31,480 Speaker 1: distance away from the large one, and when you turn 249 00:15:31,520 --> 00:15:36,440 Speaker 1: it on, inside that pedestal, there is a belt that's 250 00:15:36,520 --> 00:15:39,200 Speaker 1: running in a loop, and the belt is essentially building 251 00:15:39,280 --> 00:15:44,640 Speaker 1: up a positive charge inside that large silver orb, and 252 00:15:44,680 --> 00:15:48,120 Speaker 1: when the the voltage difference is enough between the large 253 00:15:48,120 --> 00:15:51,720 Speaker 1: silver orb and the small silver orb, it will create 254 00:15:51,760 --> 00:15:55,560 Speaker 1: a spark between the two. It can be really really spectacular. 255 00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:57,480 Speaker 1: Now I'll have to do a full episode on those 256 00:15:57,520 --> 00:15:59,840 Speaker 1: in the future. Let's get back to touch screens. So 257 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:02,280 Speaker 1: Hearst was working with others on his team to come 258 00:16:02,360 --> 00:16:06,200 Speaker 1: up with what they called an electrically conductive paper in 259 00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:09,440 Speaker 1: order to work with these vander Graph accelerators and to 260 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:14,360 Speaker 1: make their notes more um efficient. The paper would be 261 00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:17,720 Speaker 1: able to pinpoint contact, and when mapped to an x 262 00:16:17,840 --> 00:16:21,200 Speaker 1: Y coordinate system, could be used to specify a particular 263 00:16:21,240 --> 00:16:26,400 Speaker 1: location of contact. So Herst thought, wait a minute, this 264 00:16:26,440 --> 00:16:29,080 Speaker 1: could be used as an interface for computers, not just 265 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:32,400 Speaker 1: for registering a specific point in space for the purposes 266 00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:35,400 Speaker 1: of research. So Heirst returned to work for the oak 267 00:16:35,480 --> 00:16:39,520 Speaker 1: Ridge National Laboratory in ninety and he refined his idea. 268 00:16:39,720 --> 00:16:42,720 Speaker 1: He worked with nine other Eggheads to create the first 269 00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:48,680 Speaker 1: resistive touch screen. Okay, so, a resistive touch screen has 270 00:16:48,760 --> 00:16:52,320 Speaker 1: a couple of layers, one of which is conductive and 271 00:16:52,360 --> 00:16:55,560 Speaker 1: the other of which is resistive, meaning it resists the 272 00:16:55,600 --> 00:16:58,920 Speaker 1: flow of electrons through the material, and separating those two 273 00:16:59,040 --> 00:17:03,720 Speaker 1: layers are small spacers. Spacers are essentially little blocks of 274 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:07,000 Speaker 1: non conductive material. They act as as support structure. They 275 00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:10,040 Speaker 1: keep the two layers from being in contact with one another, 276 00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:13,480 Speaker 1: and there's also usually a scratch resistant layer on top 277 00:17:13,600 --> 00:17:17,320 Speaker 1: of the surface that faces the user. Because using a 278 00:17:17,359 --> 00:17:20,960 Speaker 1: resistive screen touch screen means that you're actually having to 279 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:23,800 Speaker 1: apply pressure on the touch screen. You're not just touching it, 280 00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:28,200 Speaker 1: you're actually pressing it. So when you press a resistive screen, 281 00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:31,919 Speaker 1: you apply that little bit of pressure. The conductive and 282 00:17:31,960 --> 00:17:36,760 Speaker 1: resistive layers move closer together, they're flexible, and eventually they 283 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:40,320 Speaker 1: touch each other. Now both layers have an electrical current 284 00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:44,080 Speaker 1: running through them, and when they make contact, the electrical 285 00:17:44,119 --> 00:17:49,080 Speaker 1: field changes, and sensors and a microprocessor detect and analyze 286 00:17:49,119 --> 00:17:51,879 Speaker 1: that point of contact and register it so that the 287 00:17:51,920 --> 00:17:54,880 Speaker 1: device does whatever it is you wanted to do, from 288 00:17:54,880 --> 00:17:59,080 Speaker 1: allowing you to make a digital signature to executing a command. Now, 289 00:17:59,160 --> 00:18:03,080 Speaker 1: unlike a capac poet of screen, resistive screens don't require 290 00:18:03,119 --> 00:18:06,800 Speaker 1: the point of contact to come from an electrically conductive material. 291 00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:10,679 Speaker 1: A resistive screen doesn't care if the thing touching the 292 00:18:10,720 --> 00:18:13,679 Speaker 1: screen is your finger, or it's a hot dog wiener, 293 00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:18,399 Speaker 1: or a plastic stylus or a rock or whatever it 294 00:18:18,560 --> 00:18:22,399 Speaker 1: is that's applying the pressure. All the electrical activity is 295 00:18:22,440 --> 00:18:26,320 Speaker 1: contained within those layers that make up the outer part 296 00:18:26,359 --> 00:18:29,159 Speaker 1: of the screen. So you can operate a device with 297 00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:33,200 Speaker 1: a resistive touch screen even if you're wearing non conductive gloves. 298 00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:36,200 Speaker 1: And if the screen were to get a little wet, 299 00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:38,680 Speaker 1: you never want your electronics to really get wet. But 300 00:18:38,720 --> 00:18:40,800 Speaker 1: let's say a little water gets on it, it wouldn't 301 00:18:40,800 --> 00:18:44,359 Speaker 1: affect the performance. That's different from a capacitive screen. If 302 00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:46,919 Speaker 1: you've ever had a smartphone get a little bit of 303 00:18:46,920 --> 00:18:48,920 Speaker 1: water on it. Let's say it's a very light rain 304 00:18:49,119 --> 00:18:50,919 Speaker 1: and you're trying to use your smartphone, you might have 305 00:18:50,960 --> 00:18:54,280 Speaker 1: encountered some problems with it. Well. Capacitive touch screens don't 306 00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:56,400 Speaker 1: work so well when they get a little water on them. 307 00:18:56,800 --> 00:19:01,639 Speaker 1: It messes with this ability to detect the actual point 308 00:19:01,680 --> 00:19:07,240 Speaker 1: of contact with a conductive surface. So resistive screens don't 309 00:19:07,280 --> 00:19:09,760 Speaker 1: have that issue, although you still shouldn't really operate them 310 00:19:09,760 --> 00:19:13,040 Speaker 1: in the rain. Now that being said, resistive touch screens 311 00:19:13,240 --> 00:19:16,400 Speaker 1: tend to be harder to read and to see what's 312 00:19:16,440 --> 00:19:19,240 Speaker 1: on the screen. They require more layers than a capacity 313 00:19:19,240 --> 00:19:21,880 Speaker 1: of screen does, and they tend to reflect a lot 314 00:19:21,880 --> 00:19:25,800 Speaker 1: more ambient light than capacitive screens. Plus, while they are 315 00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:30,359 Speaker 1: pretty hardy, they do rely on detecting pressure, and depending 316 00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:32,480 Speaker 1: on how hard people are pushing while they're trying to 317 00:19:32,560 --> 00:19:36,080 Speaker 1: use these things, it can cause some wear and tear 318 00:19:36,240 --> 00:19:39,560 Speaker 1: on the device. If the spacers that separate those two 319 00:19:39,680 --> 00:19:42,600 Speaker 1: screens get damaged, then the screen can end up having 320 00:19:42,760 --> 00:19:46,440 Speaker 1: points of contact before you've even touched it, which sends 321 00:19:46,560 --> 00:19:49,479 Speaker 1: erroneous signals to the microprocess or it doesn't actually know 322 00:19:49,560 --> 00:19:53,720 Speaker 1: where you're trying to touch it because it's getting conflicting information. Also, 323 00:19:54,160 --> 00:19:57,400 Speaker 1: they were limited to detecting a single point of contact 324 00:19:57,600 --> 00:20:01,119 Speaker 1: which eliminated the possibility for a multi touch Still, because 325 00:20:01,119 --> 00:20:03,600 Speaker 1: they could stand up to a lot of punishment and 326 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:06,240 Speaker 1: they could work in different environments, they found a lot 327 00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:11,400 Speaker 1: of applications in different technologies, particularly in stuff like military tech. Now, 328 00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:15,240 Speaker 1: just one year after Hurst's resistive touch screen approach made 329 00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:20,560 Speaker 1: the news, the University of Illinois introduced the PLATO for system. 330 00:20:20,560 --> 00:20:26,840 Speaker 1: PLATO stands for Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations. One 331 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:30,040 Speaker 1: of the components of this system was an orange plasma 332 00:20:30,119 --> 00:20:36,040 Speaker 1: display with touch screen capability, But unlike the previous inventions, 333 00:20:36,440 --> 00:20:41,240 Speaker 1: this approach relied upon an infrared touch panel. All right, well, then, 334 00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:45,080 Speaker 1: how does an infrared touch panel work. Well, imagine that 335 00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:47,399 Speaker 1: you have an array of l e ED s that 336 00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:51,160 Speaker 1: emit light in the infrared spectrum, so they're like tiny 337 00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:56,080 Speaker 1: little infrared flashlights. Infrared is outside the visible spectrum of light. 338 00:20:56,160 --> 00:20:58,280 Speaker 1: So to us it would seem as if an LED 339 00:20:58,440 --> 00:21:01,000 Speaker 1: light was off because we can't see that light. But 340 00:21:01,080 --> 00:21:04,280 Speaker 1: in fact, it would be beaming this infrared light across 341 00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:07,760 Speaker 1: the surface of a screen, and on the other side 342 00:21:07,840 --> 00:21:10,480 Speaker 1: of the beam would be a photo cell. So, in 343 00:21:10,520 --> 00:21:12,919 Speaker 1: other words, a light sensor, and it's a sensor at 344 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:17,240 Speaker 1: tuned specifically to detecting that frequency of infrared light that 345 00:21:17,359 --> 00:21:21,359 Speaker 1: it was paired with. So if you could see these lights, 346 00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:24,680 Speaker 1: it would look like a laser grid, kind of like 347 00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:28,719 Speaker 1: admission impossible or Tom Cruise is coming down from the ceiling. 348 00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:33,320 Speaker 1: It's pretty awesome scene. But that's what infrared touch screen 349 00:21:33,359 --> 00:21:36,159 Speaker 1: would look like if you could see those infrared beams. Now, 350 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:39,160 Speaker 1: if the beam remains unbroken, then it's clear there's no 351 00:21:39,200 --> 00:21:42,359 Speaker 1: contact with the screen. If the sensors keep on picking 352 00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:45,359 Speaker 1: up the light, they just say, all right, nothing's touching. 353 00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:50,120 Speaker 1: But if something that blocks the light that's between the 354 00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:52,520 Speaker 1: l e ED that's emitting the light and the photo cell, 355 00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:56,359 Speaker 1: that interruption would indicate that something has touched the screen. 356 00:21:56,960 --> 00:21:59,119 Speaker 1: And by arranging the l e d s and the 357 00:21:59,160 --> 00:22:02,800 Speaker 1: photo cells and having them paired up in columns and 358 00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:06,480 Speaker 1: in rows as a grid system, then you have a 359 00:22:06,520 --> 00:22:09,320 Speaker 1: whole net of those invisible beams. Touching a point on 360 00:22:09,359 --> 00:22:13,200 Speaker 1: the screen would interrupt both horizontal and vertical beams along 361 00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:18,080 Speaker 1: the surface, So a microprocessor could detect which photo cells 362 00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:21,840 Speaker 1: had registered the interruption and then plot the point where 363 00:22:21,880 --> 00:22:25,480 Speaker 1: that happened. So it's very similar to plotting a point 364 00:22:25,560 --> 00:22:29,200 Speaker 1: on a grid in math class. Like the resist of screens, 365 00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:33,040 Speaker 1: this approach had the benefit of working with any light 366 00:22:33,080 --> 00:22:36,040 Speaker 1: blocking material. It did not have to be electrically conductive, 367 00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:39,359 Speaker 1: so a plastic stylus works just as well as a 368 00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:42,879 Speaker 1: finger if the technology is implemented properly. Also, there's no 369 00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:46,680 Speaker 1: need to work in thin metallic wires in the screen itself, 370 00:22:46,720 --> 00:22:50,200 Speaker 1: because the screen is not what's detecting the touch. It's 371 00:22:50,280 --> 00:22:54,000 Speaker 1: this laser grid essentially not really lasers, but this led 372 00:22:54,160 --> 00:22:58,480 Speaker 1: grid with the photo cells, so the screen wouldn't have 373 00:22:58,520 --> 00:23:01,600 Speaker 1: any wires in it. It would be brighter and provide 374 00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:05,399 Speaker 1: more clarity than early capacity and resist of versions could. 375 00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:09,400 Speaker 1: That was a big advantage. The infrared approach would see 376 00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:13,000 Speaker 1: use in the nineteen eighties in the HP one fifty. 377 00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:16,040 Speaker 1: That was a computer system from well then Hewlett Packard 378 00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:21,000 Speaker 1: before they became just HP and it costs the princely 379 00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:25,760 Speaker 1: sum of two thousand, seven hundred ninety five dollars in 380 00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:29,320 Speaker 1: ninety three, but if we have adjust that for inflation, 381 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:33,120 Speaker 1: that means in today's money it would cost about seven thousand, 382 00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:37,040 Speaker 1: two hundred dollars. Yikes. The HP one fifty version, or 383 00:23:37,119 --> 00:23:39,880 Speaker 1: portly had some issues that that made it less practical. 384 00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:43,560 Speaker 1: So I imagine that, uh, the fact that it wasn't 385 00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:46,359 Speaker 1: working perfectly and that the price tag was so high 386 00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:48,560 Speaker 1: meant it didn't get a whole lot of traction in 387 00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:52,080 Speaker 1: the market. Later on, devices like the Sony E reader 388 00:23:52,240 --> 00:23:56,040 Speaker 1: would actually adopt this technology. Now around the same time 389 00:23:56,080 --> 00:23:58,920 Speaker 1: that the infrared system debuted in the mid nineteen seventies, 390 00:23:59,320 --> 00:24:03,879 Speaker 1: g why Zapp Finel and Chris Herold of the Architecture 391 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:05,879 Speaker 1: Machine Group at M I T. And I know I 392 00:24:05,960 --> 00:24:09,480 Speaker 1: butchered their names. I apologize anyway, they created a touch 393 00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:13,680 Speaker 1: screen interface that could detect not just touch but also pressure. 394 00:24:14,119 --> 00:24:16,920 Speaker 1: I mean it wasn't like a resistive screen in that sense. 395 00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:20,160 Speaker 1: It could actually detect how much pressure you were applying 396 00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:23,119 Speaker 1: to the screen. In fact, the system could detect up 397 00:24:23,119 --> 00:24:27,560 Speaker 1: to eight different signals from a single touch point, including torque, 398 00:24:28,040 --> 00:24:30,080 Speaker 1: which meant you could push your finger on the screen 399 00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:33,320 Speaker 1: and you add some pressure to it and then twist 400 00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:36,760 Speaker 1: your finger, and the interface could detect that you were 401 00:24:36,760 --> 00:24:41,800 Speaker 1: making this twisting motion, and you could have that imagined 402 00:24:41,840 --> 00:24:45,720 Speaker 1: as some sort of effect in a program. What kind 403 00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:49,240 Speaker 1: of effect would depend entirely on the programming, so there's 404 00:24:49,240 --> 00:24:52,320 Speaker 1: no specific application, but it could be used for all 405 00:24:52,359 --> 00:24:54,720 Speaker 1: sorts of different stuff. So they published their work in 406 00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:59,119 Speaker 1: nine with the title one point Touch Input of Vector 407 00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:03,399 Speaker 1: Information from Computer Displays, and it was published in the 408 00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:06,560 Speaker 1: Computer Graphics Periodical, So if you want to read up 409 00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:10,600 Speaker 1: on that, you can. There's also illustrations of how it worked. 410 00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:13,479 Speaker 1: There's also a YouTube video of a demonstration as a 411 00:25:13,600 --> 00:25:17,680 Speaker 1: very early demonstration of this nineteen seventies era technology. But 412 00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:21,160 Speaker 1: it's pretty fascinating to see at work. And we're not 413 00:25:21,280 --> 00:25:24,240 Speaker 1: done with the different ways to achieve touch screen functionality. 414 00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:27,959 Speaker 1: There's still some more to chat about. Engineer Nimish Meta 415 00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:31,960 Speaker 1: developed a solution for the first multi touch system in 416 00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:37,040 Speaker 1: nineteen two decades before the iPhone. Now it's important to 417 00:25:37,080 --> 00:25:40,399 Speaker 1: note that this was not so much a touch screen 418 00:25:40,920 --> 00:25:44,880 Speaker 1: as it was a control interface like a touch pad, 419 00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:47,440 Speaker 1: not a touch screen, so think like a keyboard and 420 00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:50,639 Speaker 1: mouse or something along those lines. And it consisted of 421 00:25:50,680 --> 00:25:54,400 Speaker 1: a pane of glass with a translucent layer of plastic 422 00:25:54,600 --> 00:25:57,879 Speaker 1: on that glass, giving it sort of a frosted appearance. 423 00:25:58,240 --> 00:26:01,639 Speaker 1: There was a camera mounted below or behind the glass pane, 424 00:26:02,119 --> 00:26:05,359 Speaker 1: and that would detect points of contact. Essentially, it was 425 00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:08,840 Speaker 1: looking for dark spots to appear on that surface. That 426 00:26:08,840 --> 00:26:12,240 Speaker 1: would indicate that a finger was there blocking the light. 427 00:26:12,760 --> 00:26:15,399 Speaker 1: This isn't that different from what Microsoft would use on 428 00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:17,920 Speaker 1: the surface tables a couple of decades later. I'll chat 429 00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:21,040 Speaker 1: about that in a second. So in this case, the 430 00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:25,480 Speaker 1: camera would detect these dark spots and through software, the 431 00:26:25,520 --> 00:26:28,399 Speaker 1: system would be able to interpret where those points of 432 00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:31,439 Speaker 1: contact were in relation to what was being displayed on 433 00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:34,879 Speaker 1: a screen. One benefit of this approach was that you 434 00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:38,280 Speaker 1: weren't actually making contact with the same surface you were 435 00:26:38,320 --> 00:26:41,960 Speaker 1: looking at, so you weren't smearing your grubby hands all 436 00:26:41,960 --> 00:26:44,280 Speaker 1: over the same surface you were trying to read. But 437 00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:47,320 Speaker 1: then again, you could argue the whole purpose of creating 438 00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:51,200 Speaker 1: a touch screen interface is to remove the barrier between 439 00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:53,920 Speaker 1: humans and the machines they're working on and make the 440 00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:57,640 Speaker 1: experience more intuitive. We have to learn how to use 441 00:26:57,680 --> 00:27:00,880 Speaker 1: things like a computer mouse or a keyboard. It's not 442 00:27:01,080 --> 00:27:04,679 Speaker 1: hard to learn, but it does mean manipulating something along 443 00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:08,000 Speaker 1: one surface while looking at another. So, for example, with 444 00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:11,080 Speaker 1: a traditional computer, you would use a keyboard and a 445 00:27:11,119 --> 00:27:14,280 Speaker 1: mouse on a plane that's at a ninety degree angle 446 00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:16,840 Speaker 1: with the display you're looking at right. So if you 447 00:27:16,840 --> 00:27:20,640 Speaker 1: think of horizontal and vertical. Your hands are manipulating objects 448 00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:24,560 Speaker 1: on a horizontal plane while you're looking at the reactions 449 00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:27,640 Speaker 1: on a vertical plane. So manipulating the mouse to move 450 00:27:27,640 --> 00:27:30,520 Speaker 1: a cursor requires your brain to translate the motion along 451 00:27:30,600 --> 00:27:34,280 Speaker 1: one axis of movement to a display that's on a 452 00:27:34,320 --> 00:27:37,080 Speaker 1: different axis. Now, once we learn how to do this, 453 00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:40,320 Speaker 1: and admittedly it does not take very long, it becomes 454 00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:43,000 Speaker 1: second nature, so it's not a big deal. But a 455 00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:46,520 Speaker 1: touch screen removes that necessity entirely because the thing you're 456 00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:50,160 Speaker 1: looking at and the thing you're manipulating is the same surface. 457 00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:57,000 Speaker 1: Ine Myron Krueger introduced another input method that wasn't strictly 458 00:27:57,119 --> 00:28:00,440 Speaker 1: a touch screen, but is similar enough to merit in collusion. 459 00:28:00,520 --> 00:28:04,600 Speaker 1: In this episode, Krueger's system could track a user's hands. 460 00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:08,320 Speaker 1: It was a vision based system, meaning it employed cameras 461 00:28:08,359 --> 00:28:11,440 Speaker 1: to detect and track hand motion and poses, so I 462 00:28:11,480 --> 00:28:14,960 Speaker 1: could detect multiple hands so impaired with the proper software, 463 00:28:15,119 --> 00:28:18,080 Speaker 1: it could translate the actions of those multiple hands into 464 00:28:18,119 --> 00:28:21,040 Speaker 1: commands for a program. But in this case, the system 465 00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:24,840 Speaker 1: would respond to what is called dwell time. Hand gestures 466 00:28:24,960 --> 00:28:28,880 Speaker 1: or poses would correspond to specific commands, and a user 467 00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:31,879 Speaker 1: would have to hold his or her hands within view 468 00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:34,600 Speaker 1: of this system long enough for it to register that 469 00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:38,520 Speaker 1: it was in fact a signal to do something. Well, 470 00:28:38,560 --> 00:28:41,840 Speaker 1: this wasn't directly related to touch screen technology, it is 471 00:28:41,880 --> 00:28:47,360 Speaker 1: important in the history of gestural interaction, which does intertwined 472 00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:50,040 Speaker 1: with touch screen technology quite a bit. A lot of 473 00:28:50,040 --> 00:28:53,640 Speaker 1: our interactions with touch screens depend upon not just points 474 00:28:53,680 --> 00:28:58,560 Speaker 1: of contact, but specific gestures swiping, pinching, that kind of thing, 475 00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:02,440 Speaker 1: and I figured should at least touch on Krueger's work. 476 00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:06,360 Speaker 1: Krueger wrote several books on technology that are pretty fascinating. 477 00:29:06,360 --> 00:29:08,480 Speaker 1: I feel I should probably dedicate a full episode to 478 00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:11,600 Speaker 1: him at some point, and we're not finished yet, so 479 00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:14,720 Speaker 1: when we come back, I'll talk more about multi touch 480 00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:18,360 Speaker 1: systems that actually did rely on making contact with a screen. 481 00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:28,800 Speaker 1: But first let's take another quick break. So the first 482 00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:32,600 Speaker 1: screen to feature multi touch isn't the surface. It's not 483 00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:36,160 Speaker 1: the iPhone, though you wouldn't necessarily know that based upon 484 00:29:36,240 --> 00:29:40,720 Speaker 1: the marketing around those devices. A Bell Labs researcher named 485 00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:48,720 Speaker 1: Bob Boy created the first multi touch capacitive screen in Actually, 486 00:29:48,920 --> 00:29:51,440 Speaker 1: to be fair, it really was an array of capacitive 487 00:29:51,520 --> 00:29:55,480 Speaker 1: touch sensors that were mounted on a transparent film that 488 00:29:55,520 --> 00:29:58,280 Speaker 1: could be added as an overlay on top of a 489 00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:01,680 Speaker 1: CRT monitor, So monitor itself wouldn't have the touch screen 490 00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:03,840 Speaker 1: built into it. It would actually be a peripheral you 491 00:30:03,840 --> 00:30:07,440 Speaker 1: could add to the monitor. This prototype never emerged out 492 00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:11,080 Speaker 1: of the lab for broader application, but it was able 493 00:30:11,120 --> 00:30:15,080 Speaker 1: to register the touch of multiple points of contact, and 494 00:30:15,120 --> 00:30:19,160 Speaker 1: thus you could create applications that would allow for that 495 00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:22,480 Speaker 1: and to you know, create new commands for how this 496 00:30:22,560 --> 00:30:25,640 Speaker 1: could work. And there are a couple of other approaches 497 00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:28,959 Speaker 1: to multi touch. One demonstrated by Jeff Hahn in two 498 00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:32,440 Speaker 1: thousand and six, used a rear projection system, a sheet 499 00:30:32,480 --> 00:30:37,440 Speaker 1: of acrylic and an LED that created frustrated total internal 500 00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:41,240 Speaker 1: reflection or f t i R, which sounds to me 501 00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:44,480 Speaker 1: like meditating a self discovery only to find out you're 502 00:30:44,480 --> 00:30:47,560 Speaker 1: actually a total jerk. But that's not what it actually means. 503 00:30:47,800 --> 00:30:52,080 Speaker 1: So to get into the nitty gritty of the technology 504 00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:55,560 Speaker 1: is more than a little bit complicated, but I'll give 505 00:30:55,600 --> 00:30:59,280 Speaker 1: it a shot from a very high level. So imagine 506 00:30:59,280 --> 00:31:04,400 Speaker 1: you have a sheet of really clear material like acrylic. Okay, 507 00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:06,720 Speaker 1: so you've got a sheet of acrylic. Now imagine that 508 00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:09,880 Speaker 1: we're looking at this sheet of acrylic from a side 509 00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:14,480 Speaker 1: edge right, so the top surface is uh is and 510 00:31:14,560 --> 00:31:17,560 Speaker 1: the bottom surface are facing you know, up and down. 511 00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:20,240 Speaker 1: From our perspective, we're just looking at it from the side, 512 00:31:21,080 --> 00:31:24,200 Speaker 1: and you've got a bunch of infrared LEDs mounted on 513 00:31:24,360 --> 00:31:28,680 Speaker 1: either end of this acrylic sheet. Below the acrylic sheet 514 00:31:29,120 --> 00:31:35,280 Speaker 1: and facing upwards is an infrared camera. So the control 515 00:31:35,360 --> 00:31:38,120 Speaker 1: surface in this case would be above the sheet from 516 00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:41,760 Speaker 1: your perspective. The camera is below the sheet from your perspective. 517 00:31:42,040 --> 00:31:46,000 Speaker 1: So total internal reflection gives you a hint at what's 518 00:31:46,040 --> 00:31:48,800 Speaker 1: actually at play here. Those L E D s are 519 00:31:48,840 --> 00:31:53,320 Speaker 1: beaming light, infrared light into the edge of the acrylic 520 00:31:53,440 --> 00:31:57,200 Speaker 1: at a specific angle it's called the critical angle, which 521 00:31:57,200 --> 00:32:01,560 Speaker 1: results in the beam reflecting perfectly within the acrylics. So 522 00:32:02,240 --> 00:32:05,800 Speaker 1: imagine that on one side you have the beam UH 523 00:32:06,520 --> 00:32:09,440 Speaker 1: position in such a way that it's angled downward from 524 00:32:09,440 --> 00:32:13,720 Speaker 1: your perspective. The beam goes down, hits the inner bottom 525 00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:17,480 Speaker 1: edge of the acrylic, bounces up with no refraction. It's 526 00:32:17,560 --> 00:32:21,640 Speaker 1: it's a perfect reflection, and then encounters the upper edge 527 00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:26,160 Speaker 1: from your perspective, bounces off that again perfectly reflected, and 528 00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:31,600 Speaker 1: does so all through the entire length of this acrylic sheet. Now, 529 00:32:31,600 --> 00:32:33,280 Speaker 1: if you could see the beams of infrared light, you 530 00:32:33,320 --> 00:32:35,880 Speaker 1: would see how they were criss crossing around inside this 531 00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:38,920 Speaker 1: acrylic bouncing off those inner surfaces of either face of 532 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:43,360 Speaker 1: the sheet. And it happens because physics. I mean, it 533 00:32:43,400 --> 00:32:45,600 Speaker 1: gets more complicated than that. But if I were to 534 00:32:45,680 --> 00:32:47,840 Speaker 1: jump into it, I would have to talk about Snell's 535 00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:52,600 Speaker 1: law and the refractive index, and honestly, it would get 536 00:32:52,760 --> 00:32:55,640 Speaker 1: super complex and it would be hard to describe without 537 00:32:55,720 --> 00:32:57,520 Speaker 1: the use of visual aids. So I'm just gonna take 538 00:32:57,520 --> 00:32:59,440 Speaker 1: a shortcut in this case and just say it works 539 00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:02,880 Speaker 1: because of physics. Anyway. The result is you have these 540 00:33:02,920 --> 00:33:07,000 Speaker 1: perfectly reflective beams of infrared light bouncing around inside this 541 00:33:07,040 --> 00:33:10,719 Speaker 1: acrylic sheet. But if you were to touch the surface 542 00:33:10,760 --> 00:33:14,080 Speaker 1: of the sheet on the active side, the top side, 543 00:33:14,600 --> 00:33:20,040 Speaker 1: you frustrate this total internal reflection. Some of that light 544 00:33:20,520 --> 00:33:23,720 Speaker 1: that was being reflected inside the acrylic sheet at the 545 00:33:23,760 --> 00:33:27,560 Speaker 1: point of contact can pass from the surface to your finger, 546 00:33:27,960 --> 00:33:31,320 Speaker 1: so reflection is no longer total. And the infrared count 547 00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:35,400 Speaker 1: camera that's mounted beneath the sheets, pointed up at it 548 00:33:35,440 --> 00:33:39,600 Speaker 1: will detect that change in the reflectivity at the point 549 00:33:39,600 --> 00:33:43,200 Speaker 1: of contact, registering it as a touch, and this system 550 00:33:43,240 --> 00:33:46,120 Speaker 1: can detect multiple points of contact on the same surface, 551 00:33:46,160 --> 00:33:50,040 Speaker 1: so it is a multi touch approach. In two thousand seven, 552 00:33:50,400 --> 00:33:54,240 Speaker 1: Microsoft showed off a table sized computer system that it 553 00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:57,960 Speaker 1: called the Surface. Since then, Microsoft has used the name 554 00:33:58,040 --> 00:34:01,240 Speaker 1: Surface for some of its other product us, largely the 555 00:34:01,280 --> 00:34:05,840 Speaker 1: tablet style computers. But the early version of the Surface 556 00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:10,520 Speaker 1: was much much larger, and it was a collaborative workspace 557 00:34:10,800 --> 00:34:15,319 Speaker 1: where multiple people could stand around this interactive table, the 558 00:34:15,400 --> 00:34:18,399 Speaker 1: top of which was a computer display, and it could 559 00:34:18,400 --> 00:34:21,960 Speaker 1: detect multiple points of contact on that computer display. You 560 00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:25,680 Speaker 1: could manipulate virtual objects, you could play games, you could 561 00:34:25,719 --> 00:34:28,600 Speaker 1: do a lot of different stuff. The Surface worked using 562 00:34:28,680 --> 00:34:32,000 Speaker 1: some of the methods I've already mentioned in this episode. 563 00:34:32,080 --> 00:34:35,600 Speaker 1: Inside the table was a projector, and the projector was 564 00:34:35,640 --> 00:34:39,520 Speaker 1: projecting the images that you would see on the actual surface, 565 00:34:39,920 --> 00:34:42,960 Speaker 1: So what you were looking at was really a projection 566 00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:46,359 Speaker 1: being shot against the backside of the screen you were 567 00:34:46,400 --> 00:34:49,239 Speaker 1: looking at. So, in other words, the Surfaces screen was 568 00:34:49,320 --> 00:34:52,600 Speaker 1: what we would call a rear projection screen, very much 569 00:34:52,640 --> 00:34:57,160 Speaker 1: like rear projection televisions. Also inside the Surface were cameras 570 00:34:57,160 --> 00:34:59,839 Speaker 1: that could detect the points of contact on the opp 571 00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:02,480 Speaker 1: outside of the screen on your side. In other words, 572 00:35:02,880 --> 00:35:06,279 Speaker 1: Microsoft also designed a program that could recognize patterns that 573 00:35:06,320 --> 00:35:09,680 Speaker 1: were printed on special stickers. Then they could put those 574 00:35:09,680 --> 00:35:13,360 Speaker 1: stickers onto solid objects. So if you place one of 575 00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:18,120 Speaker 1: those small objects on the surface, the camera underneath would 576 00:35:18,160 --> 00:35:21,160 Speaker 1: be able to recognize the pattern on that sticker and 577 00:35:21,200 --> 00:35:25,520 Speaker 1: then execute an associated command, which could be anything. But 578 00:35:25,680 --> 00:35:28,960 Speaker 1: one version of this one version I saw was that 579 00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:32,440 Speaker 1: you could have sort of a synthesizer application, one that 580 00:35:32,480 --> 00:35:37,560 Speaker 1: could play pre rendered styles of music, and each sticker 581 00:35:37,640 --> 00:35:41,360 Speaker 1: would represent maybe a specific tone or a sound pattern 582 00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:45,880 Speaker 1: or a sound effect, and by arranging a series of 583 00:35:45,920 --> 00:35:49,560 Speaker 1: these objects on the surface, you could build a sound 584 00:35:50,040 --> 00:35:53,719 Speaker 1: So you could create a series of sounds, like in 585 00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:57,799 Speaker 1: a particular rhythm. By manipulating these objects and changing the 586 00:35:57,840 --> 00:36:00,920 Speaker 1: location on the surface might do things like change the 587 00:36:00,920 --> 00:36:04,400 Speaker 1: pitch or the volume of each sound. So you would 588 00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:07,920 Speaker 1: have this interactive kind of music surface to work with. 589 00:36:08,200 --> 00:36:10,759 Speaker 1: And that's just one example of what you could do 590 00:36:10,920 --> 00:36:14,800 Speaker 1: with this type of technology. There were lots of potential applications. 591 00:36:15,760 --> 00:36:19,040 Speaker 1: Microsoft would actually bring that version of the Surface to 592 00:36:19,200 --> 00:36:21,880 Speaker 1: c E. S. Two thousand eight, but the company was 593 00:36:21,880 --> 00:36:26,960 Speaker 1: also quick to say that the technology wasn't actually consumer tech. Rather, 594 00:36:27,200 --> 00:36:30,040 Speaker 1: this was technology that businesses would be able to purchase 595 00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:33,120 Speaker 1: for their own purposes. So you might have it in 596 00:36:33,160 --> 00:36:37,399 Speaker 1: a retail establishment, you might have it in an entertainment establishment. 597 00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:41,160 Speaker 1: One of the versions I heard about was being used 598 00:36:41,200 --> 00:36:44,520 Speaker 1: in a Las Vegas bar where you could play games 599 00:36:44,680 --> 00:36:47,160 Speaker 1: on the table, or you could use your table to 600 00:36:47,239 --> 00:36:51,520 Speaker 1: send messages to other people around the bar on their tables, 601 00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:53,960 Speaker 1: which kind of skeeths me out a little bit. But 602 00:36:53,960 --> 00:36:56,319 Speaker 1: then again, I'm not a bar person, so maybe I'm 603 00:36:56,360 --> 00:36:58,759 Speaker 1: just the wrong kind of guy to look into that 604 00:36:58,800 --> 00:37:01,279 Speaker 1: sort of thing. It just seems like another way to 605 00:37:01,320 --> 00:37:04,440 Speaker 1: kind of harass people without them, you know, wanting it. 606 00:37:05,200 --> 00:37:07,920 Speaker 1: Who am I to say? The same year that Microsoft 607 00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:12,480 Speaker 1: first demonstrated the surface, Apple introduced the iPhone, and again, 608 00:37:12,480 --> 00:37:16,080 Speaker 1: while Apple didn't invent capacitive touch or even capacity of 609 00:37:16,120 --> 00:37:20,520 Speaker 1: multi touch, heck, even the gestures associated with gestural interaction 610 00:37:20,560 --> 00:37:23,880 Speaker 1: on the iPhone were already described by other people in 611 00:37:23,920 --> 00:37:27,279 Speaker 1: other systems, but the packaging of all of those features 612 00:37:27,320 --> 00:37:32,160 Speaker 1: in a sleek smartphone form factor wowed the crowds. The 613 00:37:32,200 --> 00:37:36,480 Speaker 1: iPhone brought touchscreen technology into the spotlight for lots of people, 614 00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:39,680 Speaker 1: when earlier it had been a type of user interface 615 00:37:40,040 --> 00:37:45,000 Speaker 1: that really only applied to electronics in niche applications and implementations. 616 00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:48,200 Speaker 1: The iPhone was not the first consumer gadget to rely 617 00:37:48,280 --> 00:37:50,880 Speaker 1: on touch screen interactions, but I think it's safe to 618 00:37:50,920 --> 00:37:54,560 Speaker 1: say that Apple got it so right that it changed 619 00:37:54,719 --> 00:37:57,799 Speaker 1: the game for everyone, and it became the go to 620 00:37:58,320 --> 00:38:03,839 Speaker 1: interface for mobile handheld electronics. Other than the methods I've 621 00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:07,160 Speaker 1: already covered, there are a couple of more rare forms 622 00:38:07,200 --> 00:38:11,080 Speaker 1: of touch screens out there. One is the surface acoustic 623 00:38:11,200 --> 00:38:15,480 Speaker 1: wave touch screen. Now, as that name implies, this version 624 00:38:15,480 --> 00:38:19,319 Speaker 1: of a touch screen relies on sound, specifically sounds that 625 00:38:19,360 --> 00:38:22,680 Speaker 1: are in the ultrasonic frequencies. Those are at such a 626 00:38:22,719 --> 00:38:25,759 Speaker 1: high frequency range that they are imperceptible to us, we 627 00:38:25,840 --> 00:38:30,040 Speaker 1: cannot hear them. Ultrasonic speakers would be along the edge 628 00:38:30,160 --> 00:38:33,360 Speaker 1: of the screen that would emit these high pitched sound waves, 629 00:38:33,600 --> 00:38:36,440 Speaker 1: and those sound waves reflect back and forth across the surface, 630 00:38:36,640 --> 00:38:40,160 Speaker 1: kind of like waves go across the water, and when 631 00:38:40,200 --> 00:38:43,000 Speaker 1: something would come into contact with the screen, it would 632 00:38:43,040 --> 00:38:46,120 Speaker 1: disrupt the path of those waves. And again it would 633 00:38:46,160 --> 00:38:50,040 Speaker 1: be a lot like if something large were to get 634 00:38:50,080 --> 00:38:54,600 Speaker 1: into a a wavy pool of water. Now, with water, 635 00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:59,520 Speaker 1: the waves are are really big, particularly compared to ultrasonic frequencies, 636 00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:01,759 Speaker 1: and that kind of makes it a little hard to 637 00:39:01,800 --> 00:39:06,520 Speaker 1: see what the effects are in this interrupted path system. 638 00:39:06,520 --> 00:39:09,239 Speaker 1: But it's much easier to see the change with ultrasonic 639 00:39:09,239 --> 00:39:12,200 Speaker 1: waves because they are so tiny, and sensors detect the 640 00:39:12,239 --> 00:39:15,840 Speaker 1: point of interruption to determine where you touched the screen. So, 641 00:39:15,880 --> 00:39:19,440 Speaker 1: in other words, they detect where are the waves no 642 00:39:19,600 --> 00:39:23,480 Speaker 1: longer able to travel unimpeded, and that is clearly the 643 00:39:23,480 --> 00:39:27,960 Speaker 1: point of contact. They're also touch screens called near field 644 00:39:28,080 --> 00:39:31,719 Speaker 1: imaging touch screens. These screens have technology that monitors the 645 00:39:31,719 --> 00:39:35,880 Speaker 1: electromagnetic field on the glass screen, and when something comes 646 00:39:35,920 --> 00:39:40,040 Speaker 1: close to the screens surface, it interferes with that electromagnetic field, 647 00:39:40,320 --> 00:39:43,080 Speaker 1: and the system detects that and interprets it as a touch. 648 00:39:43,400 --> 00:39:46,359 Speaker 1: These sorts of screens can also be pretty rugged, and 649 00:39:46,440 --> 00:39:49,279 Speaker 1: so they are frequently used for stuff like industrial or 650 00:39:49,280 --> 00:39:53,440 Speaker 1: military applications. And there we are. That's the history and 651 00:39:53,520 --> 00:39:57,920 Speaker 1: operation of touch screens. Uh. It's pretty complicated because, like 652 00:39:58,200 --> 00:40:00,960 Speaker 1: many other technologies, there were a lot of people taking 653 00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:05,360 Speaker 1: many different approaches, all in an effort to achieve similar goals, 654 00:40:05,440 --> 00:40:08,000 Speaker 1: and some of what I've described has also been used 655 00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:11,160 Speaker 1: in other types of interfaces that don't involve a touch 656 00:40:11,200 --> 00:40:14,080 Speaker 1: screen at all, such as the gesture controls used in 657 00:40:14,120 --> 00:40:18,279 Speaker 1: systems like the Microsoft Connect peripheral for Xbox systems. Now, 658 00:40:18,320 --> 00:40:20,680 Speaker 1: I think it's safe to say that the Connect was 659 00:40:20,800 --> 00:40:24,120 Speaker 1: largely a failed experiment. But I don't think it was 660 00:40:24,160 --> 00:40:27,040 Speaker 1: because it didn't work, because for the most part it 661 00:40:27,080 --> 00:40:30,279 Speaker 1: did work. Now, there were some rather egregious exceptions to 662 00:40:30,320 --> 00:40:33,520 Speaker 1: that rule, but for the most part it worked. Rather, 663 00:40:33,600 --> 00:40:36,720 Speaker 1: I think it failed because the system never evolved beyond 664 00:40:36,880 --> 00:40:41,200 Speaker 1: a gimmick or oddity in the eyes of most owners. Uh. 665 00:40:41,400 --> 00:40:43,480 Speaker 1: You could argue a large reason for that was just 666 00:40:43,600 --> 00:40:48,120 Speaker 1: a lack of very compelling content in the library of 667 00:40:48,640 --> 00:40:52,960 Speaker 1: games and applications that supported Connect interactivity. Still, the Connect 668 00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:55,879 Speaker 1: relied on a lot of work that was being done 669 00:40:55,920 --> 00:40:58,840 Speaker 1: in the field of touch screen user interfaces and just 670 00:40:59,040 --> 00:41:02,640 Speaker 1: your controls, So while it's not a direct application of 671 00:41:02,680 --> 00:41:07,440 Speaker 1: the technology, it is definitely related to it. Likewise, there 672 00:41:07,480 --> 00:41:10,840 Speaker 1: have been several systems for everything from virtual environments to 673 00:41:11,239 --> 00:41:16,200 Speaker 1: art installations that have used similar technologies to some touchscreen implementations. 674 00:41:16,600 --> 00:41:19,400 Speaker 1: Most of these have been visually or optically based, so 675 00:41:19,440 --> 00:41:23,279 Speaker 1: in other words, they use cameras to track the gestures, motions, 676 00:41:23,360 --> 00:41:26,680 Speaker 1: and poses of people within a physical space in order 677 00:41:26,719 --> 00:41:29,239 Speaker 1: to create some sort of effect. You may have been 678 00:41:29,400 --> 00:41:33,960 Speaker 1: one of these installations or or applications where your movements 679 00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:37,120 Speaker 1: through the space are reflected in some way. Maybe it's 680 00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:40,520 Speaker 1: a video effect, maybe it's sound. But a lot of 681 00:41:40,560 --> 00:41:45,319 Speaker 1: that also has related technologies to the ones that went 682 00:41:45,360 --> 00:41:49,880 Speaker 1: into developing touch screens. Now, considering the ubiquity of mobile devices, 683 00:41:50,120 --> 00:41:52,880 Speaker 1: I expect will continue to see advancements in touch screen 684 00:41:52,880 --> 00:41:56,319 Speaker 1: technology over the years. It may involve new approaches to 685 00:41:56,360 --> 00:42:00,319 Speaker 1: achieving the results, or it may involve refined implementation of 686 00:42:00,360 --> 00:42:04,560 Speaker 1: existing approaches to improve the overall experience. And I'm not 687 00:42:04,600 --> 00:42:08,759 Speaker 1: sure if it will translate to all our electronics. I 688 00:42:08,800 --> 00:42:11,480 Speaker 1: think there are some implementations where touch screens make a 689 00:42:11,480 --> 00:42:14,320 Speaker 1: lot of sense, and in others maybe not so much. 690 00:42:14,840 --> 00:42:17,360 Speaker 1: Like I'm still curious if people with desktop or laptop 691 00:42:17,400 --> 00:42:21,759 Speaker 1: displays that include touch sensitivity really use that feature all 692 00:42:21,800 --> 00:42:25,520 Speaker 1: that often. I mean, maybe they do. I'm only basing 693 00:42:25,560 --> 00:42:29,040 Speaker 1: this off my own anecdotal evidence, which obviously is limited 694 00:42:29,080 --> 00:42:32,279 Speaker 1: and therefore largely worthless. But it's hard for me to 695 00:42:32,320 --> 00:42:37,560 Speaker 1: imagine using a touch screen laptop or our desktop display regularly. 696 00:42:38,360 --> 00:42:41,560 Speaker 1: In fact, when i use my Microsoft Surface tablet as 697 00:42:41,600 --> 00:42:44,840 Speaker 1: a laptop, because I've got all the connected keyboard I 698 00:42:44,840 --> 00:42:47,080 Speaker 1: can use with it. When I'm using it, like in 699 00:42:47,120 --> 00:42:50,000 Speaker 1: that form factor, I totally forget that the screen actually 700 00:42:50,000 --> 00:42:52,760 Speaker 1: has touch capability, that I could reach out and touch 701 00:42:52,840 --> 00:42:56,560 Speaker 1: things on the screen instead of using the mouse pad. Uh. 702 00:42:56,960 --> 00:43:00,879 Speaker 1: But also I have to admit, as Tori will tell 703 00:43:00,960 --> 00:43:05,759 Speaker 1: you without a moment's hesitation, I'm old, and so it's 704 00:43:05,920 --> 00:43:08,880 Speaker 1: entirely possible that I'm the odd man out here. I 705 00:43:08,920 --> 00:43:11,800 Speaker 1: do think it's true that even when an interface works, 706 00:43:11,840 --> 00:43:15,840 Speaker 1: and it works well, it's not necessarily the best interface 707 00:43:15,920 --> 00:43:19,080 Speaker 1: for everything. So if I'm not the odd one out 708 00:43:19,360 --> 00:43:23,120 Speaker 1: and most people find touch screens unnecessary for laptops or desktops, 709 00:43:23,600 --> 00:43:26,600 Speaker 1: maybe we won't seem as many of those types of 710 00:43:26,640 --> 00:43:30,120 Speaker 1: devices with that feature included in the future. Kind of 711 00:43:30,160 --> 00:43:35,200 Speaker 1: like how televisions for a while all had three D capability, 712 00:43:35,320 --> 00:43:37,719 Speaker 1: and then people said, I don't want three D. I 713 00:43:37,760 --> 00:43:42,200 Speaker 1: don't care for it. It's too irritating. And now if 714 00:43:42,239 --> 00:43:44,680 Speaker 1: it is a feature, it's rarely one of the main 715 00:43:44,800 --> 00:43:48,560 Speaker 1: ones mentioned on the box. For those televisions we might 716 00:43:48,600 --> 00:43:50,640 Speaker 1: see the same thing with the touch screen text for 717 00:43:50,960 --> 00:43:54,040 Speaker 1: certain types of electronics, but for things like mobile devices, 718 00:43:54,239 --> 00:43:57,160 Speaker 1: it totally makes sense, and I expect we will continue 719 00:43:57,160 --> 00:44:01,520 Speaker 1: to see uh it used there and improve in that implementation. 720 00:44:02,160 --> 00:44:04,960 Speaker 1: And that wraps up this discussion about touch screens. Obviously 721 00:44:05,000 --> 00:44:07,320 Speaker 1: I could have gone into a lot more detail about 722 00:44:07,360 --> 00:44:09,600 Speaker 1: each of those, but that would have required a whole 723 00:44:09,600 --> 00:44:13,040 Speaker 1: mini series on it, and honestly, I'm not sure that 724 00:44:13,480 --> 00:44:16,760 Speaker 1: that I could do all of that without losing my mind. 725 00:44:17,400 --> 00:44:20,120 Speaker 1: So we're gonna wrap up this episode. If you guys 726 00:44:20,160 --> 00:44:23,560 Speaker 1: have suggestions for future episodes, you can write me the 727 00:44:23,640 --> 00:44:26,759 Speaker 1: email addresses tech Stuff at how stuff works dot com. 728 00:44:26,840 --> 00:44:30,319 Speaker 1: You can drop by the website that's tech stuff podcast 729 00:44:30,480 --> 00:44:33,200 Speaker 1: dot com. There you're gonna find an archive of all 730 00:44:33,239 --> 00:44:36,600 Speaker 1: of our shows, including the two thousand nine episode where 731 00:44:36,640 --> 00:44:38,839 Speaker 1: I first talked about touch screens with my co host 732 00:44:38,960 --> 00:44:41,960 Speaker 1: Chris Palette, as well every other episode of tech Stuff. 733 00:44:42,000 --> 00:44:44,839 Speaker 1: You'll also find links to our social media presence and 734 00:44:44,960 --> 00:44:47,480 Speaker 1: a link to our online store, where every purchase you 735 00:44:47,560 --> 00:44:50,440 Speaker 1: make goes to help the show, and we greatly appreciate it, 736 00:44:50,800 --> 00:44:59,319 Speaker 1: and I will talk to you again really soon. Text 737 00:44:59,320 --> 00:45:01,959 Speaker 1: Stuff is a action of i heart Radio's How Stuff Works. 738 00:45:02,200 --> 00:45:05,000 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i 739 00:45:05,120 --> 00:45:08,359 Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 740 00:45:08,400 --> 00:45:09,320 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.