1 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:09,039 Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:12,640 Speaker 2: Hey there, and. 3 00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:16,120 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm 4 00:00:16,160 --> 00:00:20,160 Speaker 1: an executive producer with iHeart Podcasts and how the tech 5 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:23,640 Speaker 1: are you? So I'm still on vacation and that means 6 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:25,760 Speaker 1: that we're going to listen to an episode that originally 7 00:00:25,760 --> 00:00:29,240 Speaker 1: published on May thirty first, twenty twenty three. It is 8 00:00:29,320 --> 00:00:33,720 Speaker 1: titled Getting in Touch with touch Screens. So, yeah, we 9 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:36,960 Speaker 1: talk all about the touch screen technology and the two 10 00:00:37,520 --> 00:00:41,040 Speaker 1: well there's more than two, but the two major ways 11 00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:43,960 Speaker 1: touch screen technology tends to work. 12 00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:44,920 Speaker 2: Enjoy. 13 00:00:48,440 --> 00:00:52,000 Speaker 1: Let's talk a bit about touch screens. So, in the 14 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:56,200 Speaker 1: grand scheme of things, they're a fairly recent invention. If 15 00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:59,720 Speaker 1: you look back at the original Star Trek series, you 16 00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:04,120 Speaker 1: can see that they are a recent invention because they 17 00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:08,160 Speaker 1: didn't think about touch screens when they were designing the sets. 18 00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:08,560 Speaker 2: For Star Trek. 19 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:13,360 Speaker 1: The Enterprise, which is the flagship of the Federation, used 20 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:17,400 Speaker 1: physical buttons and switches, not touch screens. Now that should 21 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:20,240 Speaker 1: not come as a surprise. The set designers were taking 22 00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:24,480 Speaker 1: their inspiration from electronic devices and mainframe computers of the 23 00:01:24,600 --> 00:01:27,080 Speaker 1: time and then just saying how can we make that 24 00:01:27,160 --> 00:01:31,720 Speaker 1: look more futury, and you can't blame them for failing 25 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:33,840 Speaker 1: to predict that in the future people would interact with 26 00:01:33,880 --> 00:01:39,280 Speaker 1: technologies through other means, including voice and touch. By the 27 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:41,320 Speaker 1: time we get up to Star Trek the next Generation, 28 00:01:42,360 --> 00:01:43,400 Speaker 1: things had changed. 29 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:43,679 Speaker 2: Quite a bit. 30 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:46,880 Speaker 1: The controls on the New Enterprise were these sort of 31 00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:50,680 Speaker 1: touch sensitive panels. They had control surfaces that were built 32 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:54,360 Speaker 1: directly into walls and consoles in such a way that 33 00:01:54,400 --> 00:01:56,320 Speaker 1: I bet it was someone's full time gig on the 34 00:01:56,400 --> 00:01:58,560 Speaker 1: set to just wipe down the surfaces to get rid 35 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:02,840 Speaker 1: of all the smudges. They also had voice commands built 36 00:02:02,880 --> 00:02:05,120 Speaker 1: into their computer system at that point, so that was 37 00:02:05,480 --> 00:02:09,080 Speaker 1: pretty cool too. They kind of had both of those 38 00:02:10,520 --> 00:02:14,880 Speaker 1: blossoming technologies involved in Star Trek Next Generation. And there 39 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:18,000 Speaker 1: are actually several different methods that you could follow to 40 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:22,040 Speaker 1: create a touch screen or touch surface. So, for example, 41 00:02:22,919 --> 00:02:27,840 Speaker 1: you could have a rear projection screen and you're projecting 42 00:02:27,919 --> 00:02:31,480 Speaker 1: images from behind the screen onto the screen. And also 43 00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:35,800 Speaker 1: behind the screen, you could have a bunch of near 44 00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:40,080 Speaker 1: infrared cameras, and these near infrared cameras could detect when 45 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:45,079 Speaker 1: a fingertip or some object makes contact with the surface 46 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:50,080 Speaker 1: that's on the other side and then map that to 47 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:56,200 Speaker 1: a program that creates the appropriate response. The original Microsoft Surface, 48 00:02:56,360 --> 00:03:00,680 Speaker 1: which later would be called the Pixel Sense, had something 49 00:03:00,760 --> 00:03:04,760 Speaker 1: like this and used multiple near infrared cameras I think 50 00:03:04,919 --> 00:03:08,480 Speaker 1: five of them behind the screen to detect and track 51 00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:12,760 Speaker 1: objects that make contact with the screen. If you don't recall, 52 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:16,080 Speaker 1: the pixel Sense had sort of a table form factor. 53 00:03:16,760 --> 00:03:19,480 Speaker 1: It was quite a large display, bigger than what you 54 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:20,760 Speaker 1: would have with like a tablet. 55 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:22,799 Speaker 2: But I wanted to. 56 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:26,480 Speaker 1: Talk about the differences between the two most common touch 57 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:31,200 Speaker 1: screen technologies that consumers typically encounter. So first up is 58 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 1: actually capacitive touch. This is really the type of screen 59 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:38,840 Speaker 1: you're most likely to encounter these days. Most touch screen 60 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:43,760 Speaker 1: technology falls back on this, and capacitive touch predates the 61 00:03:43,880 --> 00:03:47,680 Speaker 1: other technology that we'll talk about by about five years 62 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:51,480 Speaker 1: or so. So back in nineteen sixty five, there was 63 00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:56,720 Speaker 1: a British engineer named E. A. Johnson who developed capasitive 64 00:03:56,760 --> 00:04:01,400 Speaker 1: touch technologies while working for the Royal Radar Establishment. He 65 00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:03,920 Speaker 1: wrote up his work in a paper he titled Touch 66 00:04:04,040 --> 00:04:08,960 Speaker 1: Displays a Programmed Man Machine Interface in nineteen sixty seven. 67 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:15,080 Speaker 1: A capacitive screen consists of several layers, so we're gonna 68 00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:18,560 Speaker 1: work from the bottom up, and by up, I mean 69 00:04:18,640 --> 00:04:20,680 Speaker 1: like at the top layer will be the surface that 70 00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:24,640 Speaker 1: you would interact with. So at the base you have 71 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:28,200 Speaker 1: your actual display. Right, this is what is generating the 72 00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:32,000 Speaker 1: image that you're gonna see through the other layers. So 73 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:33,800 Speaker 1: all the layers on top of this need to be 74 00:04:33,839 --> 00:04:36,240 Speaker 1: transparent because otherwise you wouldn't be able to see the 75 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:39,640 Speaker 1: stuff that's on the display, and you've kind of eliminated 76 00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:43,359 Speaker 1: the purposes of having a touchscreen device. Now. Typically you 77 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:46,760 Speaker 1: would have a thin glass substrate that would be on 78 00:04:46,839 --> 00:04:50,279 Speaker 1: top of the display, and then the next layer up 79 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:54,039 Speaker 1: would be a conductive layer. So this is a layer 80 00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:58,360 Speaker 1: that creates an electrostatic field across it. On top of 81 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:04,159 Speaker 1: that layer is a a thin transparent layer, and this 82 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:09,320 Speaker 1: is the layer that you could actually touch. So if 83 00:05:09,360 --> 00:05:15,039 Speaker 1: something conductive makes contact with this top layer, then some 84 00:05:15,279 --> 00:05:19,000 Speaker 1: of the electrostatic charge on the layer beneath the top 85 00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:21,839 Speaker 1: layer will transfer to that conductive material. 86 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:23,839 Speaker 2: So let's just say it's your finger. Make it easy. 87 00:05:24,360 --> 00:05:28,760 Speaker 1: So you touch your finger to the surface of a screen. 88 00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:33,440 Speaker 1: Your finger is conductive, and once you touch the screen, 89 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:38,600 Speaker 1: some of the charge on the surface underneath that top 90 00:05:38,640 --> 00:05:42,880 Speaker 1: layer transfers to your finger, and the charge decreases at 91 00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:46,240 Speaker 1: the point of contact. So you've got circuits that are 92 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:49,400 Speaker 1: built into the edge of the screen, often at the corners, 93 00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:53,760 Speaker 1: and they detect where precisely that charge decrease in the 94 00:05:53,760 --> 00:05:58,560 Speaker 1: capacitive layer happens and registers this as a contact and 95 00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:01,200 Speaker 1: then that translates into an action based on whatever it 96 00:06:01,240 --> 00:06:01,839 Speaker 1: is you're doing. 97 00:06:02,360 --> 00:06:03,720 Speaker 2: So like if you're playing a. 98 00:06:03,640 --> 00:06:06,600 Speaker 1: Game and you move your finger across the screen, it says, 99 00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:10,039 Speaker 1: all right, well, the point of contact started at this position, 100 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:12,880 Speaker 1: it ended at that position, and that means we need 101 00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:16,440 Speaker 1: to reflect that in moving a character from one point 102 00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:19,400 Speaker 1: to another or whatever it may be. Now, this is 103 00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:24,440 Speaker 1: why if you're wearing non conductive gloves, you can't interact 104 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:28,040 Speaker 1: with a touch screen, a capacitive touch screen properly unless 105 00:06:28,080 --> 00:06:32,080 Speaker 1: you carry around something like a hot dog around that 106 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:35,120 Speaker 1: would work. I've actually seen people or pictures of people 107 00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:37,640 Speaker 1: in Japan doing that when the weather was really darn cold. 108 00:06:38,320 --> 00:06:40,719 Speaker 2: Hm hot dog phone. 109 00:06:40,839 --> 00:06:44,280 Speaker 1: But also like anything that has a conductive rather a 110 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:48,360 Speaker 1: conductive surface would work. It's just that if you're wearing 111 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:51,640 Speaker 1: gloves that insulate you, then that doesn't work. That's why 112 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:56,279 Speaker 1: some gloves come with a little conductive mesh at the 113 00:06:56,279 --> 00:06:59,040 Speaker 1: fingertips so that you can still interact with your capacitive 114 00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:03,880 Speaker 1: touch screen device is while wearing the gloves. Now, the 115 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:08,320 Speaker 1: version that Johnson invented way back in nineteen sixty five 116 00:07:08,480 --> 00:07:13,120 Speaker 1: was understandably limited. It could only detect the presence of 117 00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:15,760 Speaker 1: a touch. It couldn't tell the difference between one finger 118 00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:19,160 Speaker 1: or two fingers or anything like that. I don't think 119 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:23,400 Speaker 1: it could even detect where on the screen the touch happened, 120 00:07:23,600 --> 00:07:27,240 Speaker 1: just that there was a touch. So, in other words, 121 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:29,920 Speaker 1: it was kind of an on off or binary system. 122 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:33,840 Speaker 1: Either something conductive was in contact with the screen or 123 00:07:33,880 --> 00:07:36,840 Speaker 1: it wasn't. But this served as the foundation for the 124 00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:40,960 Speaker 1: capacitive touch screens we use today. The problem is they 125 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:46,680 Speaker 1: were expensive, so while it was possible, it didn't really 126 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:52,160 Speaker 1: proliferate because the use cases were fairly limited, and it 127 00:07:52,200 --> 00:07:54,480 Speaker 1: didn't make any sense to try and incorporate that into 128 00:07:54,520 --> 00:07:58,960 Speaker 1: consumer technology because whatever you made would be way too expensive. 129 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:04,800 Speaker 1: The other common touch screen technology is called resistive touch. 130 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:09,720 Speaker 1: In nineteen seventy, an inventor named G. Samuel Hurst was 131 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:11,960 Speaker 1: trying to figure out a way to more efficiently make 132 00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:15,480 Speaker 1: use of a vandograph accelerator, and so he came up 133 00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:18,640 Speaker 1: with the idea of using electrically conductive paper. 134 00:08:19,080 --> 00:08:20,680 Speaker 2: Essentially, these papers. 135 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:24,720 Speaker 1: Would have like a grid along the you know, X 136 00:08:24,760 --> 00:08:29,760 Speaker 1: and y axis of the paper, and you could detect 137 00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:34,680 Speaker 1: a change in voltage along those grids, so you could 138 00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:38,160 Speaker 1: you could plot a specific point of contact. By the way, 139 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:41,960 Speaker 1: a vandograph generator, you know, a vandograph accelerator is what 140 00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:46,320 Speaker 1: Hearst was referring to. But that's because a vandograph generator 141 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:50,200 Speaker 1: was used as a very primitive particle accelerator back in 142 00:08:50,240 --> 00:08:54,480 Speaker 1: the day. It is an electrostatic generator. You've probably at 143 00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:56,920 Speaker 1: least seen pictures of these, if not actually seen one 144 00:08:57,040 --> 00:09:02,360 Speaker 1: in use. So typically you're using a belt mounted on 145 00:09:02,600 --> 00:09:06,720 Speaker 1: some rollers that turn very quickly. This makes the belt 146 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:11,360 Speaker 1: move very quickly, and the moving belt actually typically makes 147 00:09:11,400 --> 00:09:15,400 Speaker 1: contact with another surface, but it generates this electrostatic charge 148 00:09:15,840 --> 00:09:21,360 Speaker 1: and carries that charge to a hollow metal globe. The 149 00:09:21,360 --> 00:09:25,679 Speaker 1: globe itself is also mounted on top of a column 150 00:09:25,760 --> 00:09:28,080 Speaker 1: that's made of some sort of insulator material, so this 151 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:32,640 Speaker 1: isolates the metal globe. Right, You're building up this electrostatic 152 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:35,080 Speaker 1: charge in the metal globe and there's nowhere for the 153 00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:39,800 Speaker 1: charge to go because you've isolated the globe, and then 154 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:45,400 Speaker 1: you can bring something conductive in you know, general proximity 155 00:09:45,440 --> 00:09:49,360 Speaker 1: of the globe, and as you get close enough, the 156 00:09:49,400 --> 00:09:54,839 Speaker 1: difference in electric potentials will cause a spark to form. 157 00:09:55,360 --> 00:09:59,160 Speaker 1: Like you essentially create a circuit very very briefly, and 158 00:09:59,200 --> 00:10:03,120 Speaker 1: then you get this zap of a spark. And you've 159 00:10:03,160 --> 00:10:05,920 Speaker 1: probably seen, like I said, one of these, either in 160 00:10:06,040 --> 00:10:08,800 Speaker 1: video or maybe even in person. You're likely to find 161 00:10:08,840 --> 00:10:12,479 Speaker 1: it in science classrooms to help demonstrate the principles of electrostatics. 162 00:10:12,920 --> 00:10:15,560 Speaker 1: But back in the day they were used as particle 163 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:20,160 Speaker 1: accelerators in physics research. Yes, today it's a toy and 164 00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:22,839 Speaker 1: a science classroom, but back in the day it was 165 00:10:22,880 --> 00:10:26,960 Speaker 1: a particle accelerator. Anyway, Doctor Hurst used the electrically conductive 166 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:30,280 Speaker 1: paper to plot charges on X and y axis, and 167 00:10:30,360 --> 00:10:32,400 Speaker 1: only a bit later did he realize that what he 168 00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:37,160 Speaker 1: was doing could potentially have other applications outside the lab. 169 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:40,800 Speaker 1: I'll explain more, but first let's take a quick break. 170 00:10:50,280 --> 00:10:53,240 Speaker 1: So doctor Hurst and his team figured that they might 171 00:10:53,320 --> 00:10:59,040 Speaker 1: actually have some applications for this conductive paper beyond the 172 00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:05,440 Speaker 1: lot of charges. Using a vandograph accelerator, and he thought 173 00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:09,400 Speaker 1: that he could make this into a touch screen interface, 174 00:11:09,840 --> 00:11:14,480 Speaker 1: so this would be a resistive touch screen. They actually 175 00:11:14,559 --> 00:11:17,640 Speaker 1: have more layers than capacitive touch screens. That also means 176 00:11:17,640 --> 00:11:21,560 Speaker 1: they block a little more light than capacitive touchscreens do, 177 00:11:21,720 --> 00:11:26,000 Speaker 1: so resistive screens tend to be dimmer than capacitive ones. 178 00:11:26,559 --> 00:11:28,760 Speaker 1: So let's go through those layers again, and again we're 179 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:31,559 Speaker 1: going to start from the display side up to the 180 00:11:31,640 --> 00:11:35,360 Speaker 1: surface where you would make contact with the screen. So 181 00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:37,760 Speaker 1: at the very base you've still got your display, just 182 00:11:37,800 --> 00:11:41,480 Speaker 1: like with capacitive. On top of the display, you've got 183 00:11:41,480 --> 00:11:46,600 Speaker 1: a glass substrate. Above that, you have a transparent conductive layer, 184 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:48,719 Speaker 1: so again similar to what you would have with the 185 00:11:48,760 --> 00:11:52,560 Speaker 1: capacitive screen. But next you would have a layer of 186 00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:56,160 Speaker 1: what are called separator dots. So these are our little 187 00:11:56,160 --> 00:11:58,199 Speaker 1: supports that are non conductive. 188 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:03,079 Speaker 2: They are there to act as a separator. 189 00:12:03,360 --> 00:12:09,640 Speaker 1: They keep the first transparent conductive layer separate from a 190 00:12:09,880 --> 00:12:15,080 Speaker 1: second transparent conductive layer, so they're there to keep space 191 00:12:15,120 --> 00:12:20,040 Speaker 1: between those two layers. So again above these separator dots 192 00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:23,559 Speaker 1: is that second transparent conductive layer. And then on the 193 00:12:23,640 --> 00:12:28,200 Speaker 1: very top you have a flexible transparent film on top. 194 00:12:28,559 --> 00:12:30,960 Speaker 1: This is where you would make contact with the screen. 195 00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:36,000 Speaker 1: So when you push down on the screen, whether it's 196 00:12:36,040 --> 00:12:39,400 Speaker 1: with a conductive surface or not, what you're doing is 197 00:12:39,440 --> 00:12:45,679 Speaker 1: you're deforming the top most transparent layer to push down 198 00:12:45,720 --> 00:12:49,400 Speaker 1: and come into contact with the next transparent conductive layer. 199 00:12:49,840 --> 00:12:54,720 Speaker 1: That creates a circuit. So as long as you're pushing 200 00:12:54,760 --> 00:12:58,000 Speaker 1: down with enough force, you're creating the circuit and it 201 00:12:58,040 --> 00:13:04,240 Speaker 1: will detect that. So typically you've got other circuits in 202 00:13:04,280 --> 00:13:07,959 Speaker 1: the device that detect drops in voltage or changes in voltage, 203 00:13:08,200 --> 00:13:12,439 Speaker 1: and that's how they can detect the precise location where 204 00:13:12,480 --> 00:13:16,080 Speaker 1: the touch happened. So again doesn't matter if it's your finger, 205 00:13:16,559 --> 00:13:21,000 Speaker 1: if you're wearing gloves, if you're using a stylus, it 206 00:13:21,040 --> 00:13:25,199 Speaker 1: doesn't really matter. What matters is that that top transparent 207 00:13:25,520 --> 00:13:29,400 Speaker 1: conductive layer comes into contact with the bottom transparent conductive 208 00:13:29,480 --> 00:13:33,600 Speaker 1: layer and creates a circuit. So the capacitive screen actually 209 00:13:33,600 --> 00:13:38,160 Speaker 1: came first, but the resistive screen was more popular. It 210 00:13:38,240 --> 00:13:41,360 Speaker 1: got more popular, and it did so faster than capacitive. 211 00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:47,240 Speaker 1: So why is that, Well, mostly it comes down to cost. Also, 212 00:13:47,480 --> 00:13:49,160 Speaker 1: like the fact that you didn't have to have a 213 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:52,680 Speaker 1: conductive material to work with it meant that you could 214 00:13:52,679 --> 00:13:55,880 Speaker 1: actually use it for lots of other stuff, including stuff 215 00:13:55,920 --> 00:13:58,040 Speaker 1: where you might have to do something like wear gloves, 216 00:13:58,400 --> 00:14:02,040 Speaker 1: but you could use a stylus like That's a useful 217 00:14:02,600 --> 00:14:04,439 Speaker 1: part of that technology is the fact that you can 218 00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:07,280 Speaker 1: still work with it even if you aren't able to, 219 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:11,440 Speaker 1: you know, use your fingers directly on the screen. But 220 00:14:11,480 --> 00:14:13,920 Speaker 1: it was much cheaper, and that was really the big thing. 221 00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:17,720 Speaker 1: So capacitive sort of took a back seat for a while, 222 00:14:17,840 --> 00:14:20,520 Speaker 1: and it would require a lot more innovation in the 223 00:14:20,560 --> 00:14:25,160 Speaker 1: space to make capacitive screens more attractive than resistive screens. However, 224 00:14:25,280 --> 00:14:28,400 Speaker 1: these days, most consumer devices you're going to come into 225 00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:33,680 Speaker 1: contact with use capacitive touch screens, largely because I mean, 226 00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:36,760 Speaker 1: they're still more expensive than resistive touch screens, but they 227 00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:41,120 Speaker 1: can display brighter images, so that's that's definitely a positive. 228 00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:42,520 Speaker 2: They tend to. 229 00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:45,120 Speaker 1: Be more durable as well as you can imagine if 230 00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:48,200 Speaker 1: you've got a resistive touch screen, which is it works 231 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:51,240 Speaker 1: based upon you pushing the screen hard enough to make 232 00:14:51,280 --> 00:14:53,880 Speaker 1: contact between two layers. I mean, you don't have to 233 00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:56,600 Speaker 1: push super hard, but it does have to be enough 234 00:14:56,640 --> 00:15:02,320 Speaker 1: pressure so that the some detects. There's a touch there well. 235 00:15:02,560 --> 00:15:08,600 Speaker 1: As you might imagine, this eventually deforms the upper transparent 236 00:15:08,640 --> 00:15:11,840 Speaker 1: conductive layer, and that you can eventually get to points 237 00:15:11,880 --> 00:15:15,280 Speaker 1: where it's already close to or making contact with the 238 00:15:15,320 --> 00:15:18,280 Speaker 1: lower layer. Just kind of like having a short circuit, right, 239 00:15:19,360 --> 00:15:24,200 Speaker 1: and it makes it more difficult to have an accurate experience. 240 00:15:24,280 --> 00:15:28,520 Speaker 1: Using resistive touch screens doesn't happen overnight, but over time 241 00:15:28,560 --> 00:15:32,560 Speaker 1: it does happen. So that's one of the other benefits 242 00:15:32,560 --> 00:15:37,640 Speaker 1: capacitive touch screens have over resistive. It's also easier to 243 00:15:37,760 --> 00:15:41,160 Speaker 1: use capacitive touch screens for multi touch functions in general, 244 00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:45,120 Speaker 1: not that you couldn't do it with resistive touch screens, 245 00:15:45,160 --> 00:15:47,680 Speaker 1: but it's just it's easier when you're not focusing on 246 00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:52,720 Speaker 1: using pressure to make that point of contact. You will 247 00:15:52,760 --> 00:15:55,800 Speaker 1: still find resistive touch screens, however, in devices that are 248 00:15:55,800 --> 00:15:59,440 Speaker 1: aimed at lower price points, So if you're looking at 249 00:15:59,480 --> 00:16:02,440 Speaker 1: like a Budge tablet, there are a lot of industrial 250 00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:06,280 Speaker 1: uses for resistive touch screens to this day. And keep 251 00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:09,720 Speaker 1: in mind, as I said at the beginning of this episode, 252 00:16:09,840 --> 00:16:13,240 Speaker 1: there are other types of touch screen technologies besides these two. 253 00:16:13,280 --> 00:16:17,120 Speaker 1: There's some that use acoustics, there're some that use infra 254 00:16:17,160 --> 00:16:20,600 Speaker 1: red lasers. Like I said, with the surface, there are 255 00:16:20,640 --> 00:16:23,680 Speaker 1: the kinds that use you know, cameras that are mounted 256 00:16:23,720 --> 00:16:27,080 Speaker 1: behind the screen itself. It's not like these two are 257 00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:29,920 Speaker 1: the only two. There are lots of other technologies. It's 258 00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:32,040 Speaker 1: just those two are the ones you're most likely to 259 00:16:32,040 --> 00:16:37,280 Speaker 1: come into contact with, both figuratively and literally. So I 260 00:16:37,320 --> 00:16:41,880 Speaker 1: hope that this was interesting and informative, a little text 261 00:16:41,920 --> 00:16:45,400 Speaker 1: off tidbits episode, and I'm trying to do more of 262 00:16:45,440 --> 00:16:48,840 Speaker 1: these because it's fun to do these short ones. It's 263 00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:51,640 Speaker 1: just a challenge because you know, I'm a chatty kathy. 264 00:16:51,800 --> 00:16:53,720 Speaker 1: This episode probably could have been eight minutes long and 265 00:16:53,720 --> 00:16:57,560 Speaker 1: instead of going twice as long. So but hey, I 266 00:16:57,680 --> 00:17:01,040 Speaker 1: like your company, hope you like mine, And if you 267 00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:03,400 Speaker 1: have any suggestions for little things that you would like 268 00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:06,080 Speaker 1: explained in the tech space, even. 269 00:17:05,880 --> 00:17:08,720 Speaker 2: If it's something like, hey, can you give a quick rundown. 270 00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:11,440 Speaker 1: On logic gates and what those do or something along 271 00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:14,119 Speaker 1: those lines, let me know and I'll look into it. 272 00:17:14,640 --> 00:17:17,720 Speaker 1: And I hope you are all well and I'll talk 273 00:17:17,720 --> 00:17:27,960 Speaker 1: to you again really soon. Tech Stuff is an iHeartRadio production. 274 00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:33,280 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, 275 00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:35,399 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.