1 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:12,639 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 2 00:00:12,680 --> 00:00:16,320 Speaker 1: and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 3 00:00:16,360 --> 00:00:19,040 Speaker 1: I'm an executive producer with iHeartRadio. And how the tech 4 00:00:19,120 --> 00:00:23,520 Speaker 1: are you. Let's talk a bit about touch screens. So 5 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:27,240 Speaker 1: in the grand scheme of things, they're a fairly recent invention. 6 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:31,160 Speaker 1: If you look back at the original Star Trek series, 7 00:00:31,560 --> 00:00:35,040 Speaker 1: you can see that they are a recent invention because 8 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:38,800 Speaker 1: they didn't think about touch screens when they were designing 9 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:42,240 Speaker 1: the sets for Star Trek. The Enterprise, which is the 10 00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:47,239 Speaker 1: flagship of the Federation, used physical buttons and switches, not 11 00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:50,280 Speaker 1: touch screens. Now, that should not come as a surprise. 12 00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:54,520 Speaker 1: The set designers were taking their inspiration from electronic devices 13 00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:57,960 Speaker 1: and mainframe computers of the time and then just saying, 14 00:00:57,960 --> 00:01:02,080 Speaker 1: how can we make that look more futury? And you 15 00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:04,280 Speaker 1: can't blame them for failing to predict that in the 16 00:01:04,319 --> 00:01:08,319 Speaker 1: future people would interact with technologies through other means, including 17 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:11,760 Speaker 1: voice and touch. By the time we get up to 18 00:01:11,800 --> 00:01:15,479 Speaker 1: Star Trek the next generation, things had changed quite a bit. 19 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:18,680 Speaker 1: The controls on the new Enterprise were these sort of 20 00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:22,480 Speaker 1: touch sensitive panels. They had control surfaces that were built 21 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:26,160 Speaker 1: directly into walls and consoles in such a way that 22 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:28,120 Speaker 1: I bet it was someone's full time gig on the 23 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:30,360 Speaker 1: set to just wipe down the surfaces to get rid 24 00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:34,640 Speaker 1: of all the smudges. They also had voice commands built 25 00:01:34,640 --> 00:01:36,920 Speaker 1: into their computer system at that point, so that was 26 00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:40,880 Speaker 1: pretty cool too. They kind of had both of those 27 00:01:42,319 --> 00:01:46,640 Speaker 1: blossoming technologies involved in Star Trek next generation. And there 28 00:01:46,680 --> 00:01:49,800 Speaker 1: are actually several different methods that you could follow to 29 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:53,840 Speaker 1: create a touch screen or touch surface. So for example, 30 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:59,600 Speaker 1: you could have a rear projection screen and you're projecting 31 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:02,920 Speaker 1: image is from behind the screen onto the screen, and 32 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:06,960 Speaker 1: also behind the screen, you could have a bunch of 33 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:11,320 Speaker 1: near infrared cameras, and these near infrared cameras could detect 34 00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:16,280 Speaker 1: when a fingertip or some object makes contact with the 35 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:21,280 Speaker 1: surface that's on the other side and then map that 36 00:02:21,800 --> 00:02:26,560 Speaker 1: to a program that creates the appropriate response. The original 37 00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:31,320 Speaker 1: Microsoft surface, which later would be called the Pixel Sense, 38 00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:36,240 Speaker 1: had something like this and used multiple near infrared cameras 39 00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:39,840 Speaker 1: I think five of them behind the screen to detect 40 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:43,960 Speaker 1: and track objects that make contact with the screen. If 41 00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:46,120 Speaker 1: you don't recall, the pixel Sense had sort of a 42 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:50,880 Speaker 1: table form factor. It was quite a large display, bigger 43 00:02:50,919 --> 00:02:53,440 Speaker 1: than what you would have with like a tablet. But 44 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:56,560 Speaker 1: I wanted to talk about the differences between the two 45 00:02:57,080 --> 00:03:02,360 Speaker 1: most common touchscreen technologies that consumers typically encounter. So first 46 00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:06,320 Speaker 1: up is actually capacitive touch. This is really the type 47 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:10,160 Speaker 1: of screen you're most likely to encounter these days. Most 48 00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:14,720 Speaker 1: touch screen technology falls back on this, and capacitive touch 49 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:18,799 Speaker 1: predates the other technology that we'll talk about by about 50 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:22,880 Speaker 1: five years or so. So back in nineteen sixty five, 51 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:27,560 Speaker 1: there was a British engineer named E. A. Johnson who 52 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:32,600 Speaker 1: developed capasitive touch technologies while working for the Royal Radar Establishment. 53 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:35,280 Speaker 1: He wrote up his work in a paper he titled 54 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:40,760 Speaker 1: Touch Displays a Programmed Man Machine Interface in nineteen sixty seven. 55 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:46,680 Speaker 1: A capacitive screen consists of several layers, So we're going 56 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:50,160 Speaker 1: to work from the bottom up, and by up, I 57 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:52,360 Speaker 1: mean like at the top layer will be the surface 58 00:03:52,360 --> 00:03:56,320 Speaker 1: that you would interact with. So at the base you 59 00:03:56,360 --> 00:03:59,800 Speaker 1: have your actual display, right, this is what is generating 60 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:03,280 Speaker 1: the image that you're going to see through the other layers. 61 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:05,520 Speaker 1: So all the layers on top of this need to 62 00:04:05,520 --> 00:04:08,000 Speaker 1: be transparent, because otherwise you wouldn't be able to see 63 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:10,840 Speaker 1: the stuff that's on the display, and you've kind of 64 00:04:10,880 --> 00:04:14,760 Speaker 1: eliminated the purposes of having a touchscreen device. Now, typically 65 00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:18,400 Speaker 1: you would have a thin glass substrate that would be 66 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:21,719 Speaker 1: on top of the display, and then the next layer 67 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:25,480 Speaker 1: up would be a conductive layer. So this is a 68 00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:30,000 Speaker 1: layer that creates an electrostatic field across it. On top 69 00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:35,960 Speaker 1: of that layer is a thin transparent layer, and this 70 00:04:36,040 --> 00:04:41,120 Speaker 1: is the layer that you could actually touch. So if 71 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:46,839 Speaker 1: something conductive makes contact with this top layer, then some 72 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:50,760 Speaker 1: of the electrostatic charge on the layer beneath the top 73 00:04:50,839 --> 00:04:54,159 Speaker 1: layer will transfer to that conductive material. So let's just 74 00:04:54,160 --> 00:04:57,800 Speaker 1: say it's your finger. Make it easy. So you touch 75 00:04:57,839 --> 00:05:01,560 Speaker 1: your finger to the surface of a screen. Your finger 76 00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:06,479 Speaker 1: is conductive, and once you touch the screen, some of 77 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:11,599 Speaker 1: the charge on the surface underneath that top layer transfers 78 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:15,000 Speaker 1: to your finger, and the charge decreases at the point 79 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:18,520 Speaker 1: of contact. So you've got circuits that are built into 80 00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:21,640 Speaker 1: the edge of the screen, often at the corners, and 81 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:26,120 Speaker 1: they detect where precisely that charge decrease in the capacitive 82 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:30,560 Speaker 1: layer happens and registers this as a contact and then 83 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:33,120 Speaker 1: that translates into an action based on whatever it is 84 00:05:33,160 --> 00:05:36,120 Speaker 1: you're doing so. Like if you're playing a game and 85 00:05:36,160 --> 00:05:39,240 Speaker 1: you move your finger across the screen, it says, all right, well, 86 00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:42,360 Speaker 1: the point of contact started at this position, it ended 87 00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:45,360 Speaker 1: at that position, and that means we need to reflect 88 00:05:45,400 --> 00:05:48,760 Speaker 1: that in moving a character from one point to another 89 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:52,400 Speaker 1: or whatever it may be. Now, this is why if 90 00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:56,520 Speaker 1: you're wearing non conductive gloves, you can't interact with a 91 00:05:56,560 --> 00:06:00,360 Speaker 1: touch screen, a capacitive touch screen properly, unless you, you know, 92 00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:04,400 Speaker 1: carry around something like a hot dog around that would work. 93 00:06:04,839 --> 00:06:07,440 Speaker 1: I've actually seen people or pictures of people in Japan 94 00:06:07,520 --> 00:06:11,320 Speaker 1: doing that when the weather was really darn cold. Hot 95 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:15,560 Speaker 1: dog phone. But also like anything that hasity, a conductive 96 00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:19,720 Speaker 1: rather a conductive surface would work. It's just that if 97 00:06:19,720 --> 00:06:23,040 Speaker 1: you're wearing gloves that insulate you, then that doesn't work. 98 00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:27,560 Speaker 1: That's why some gloves come with a little conductive mesh 99 00:06:27,839 --> 00:06:29,960 Speaker 1: at the fingertips so that you can still interact with 100 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:34,599 Speaker 1: your capacitive touch screen devices while wearing the gloves. Now, 101 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:39,800 Speaker 1: the version that Johnson invented way back in nineteen sixty 102 00:06:39,880 --> 00:06:44,720 Speaker 1: five was understandably limited. It could only detect the presence 103 00:06:44,839 --> 00:06:47,159 Speaker 1: of a touch. It couldn't tell the difference between one 104 00:06:47,200 --> 00:06:50,800 Speaker 1: finger or two fingers or anything like that. I don't 105 00:06:50,839 --> 00:06:54,400 Speaker 1: think it could even detect where on the screen the 106 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:58,640 Speaker 1: touch happened, just that there was a touch. So in 107 00:06:58,680 --> 00:07:00,720 Speaker 1: other words, it was kind of an on off or 108 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:04,560 Speaker 1: binary system. Either something conductive was in contact with the 109 00:07:04,560 --> 00:07:08,320 Speaker 1: screen or it wasn't. But this served as the foundation 110 00:07:08,440 --> 00:07:11,680 Speaker 1: for the capacitive touch screens we used today. The problem 111 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:17,480 Speaker 1: is they were expensive, so while it was possible, it 112 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:23,000 Speaker 1: didn't really proliferate because the use cases were fairly limited, 113 00:07:23,520 --> 00:07:25,840 Speaker 1: and it didn't make any sense to try and incorporate 114 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:29,600 Speaker 1: that into consumer technology because whatever you made would be 115 00:07:29,680 --> 00:07:35,200 Speaker 1: way too expensive. The other common touch screen technology is 116 00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:39,840 Speaker 1: called resistive touch. In nineteen seventy, an inventor named G. 117 00:07:40,240 --> 00:07:42,680 Speaker 1: Samuel Hurst was trying to figure out a way to 118 00:07:42,800 --> 00:07:46,560 Speaker 1: more efficiently make use of a vandograph accelerator, and so 119 00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:51,240 Speaker 1: he came up with the idea of using electrically conductive paper. Essentially, 120 00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:56,520 Speaker 1: these papers would have like a grid along the X 121 00:07:56,560 --> 00:08:01,600 Speaker 1: and y axis of the paper, and you could detect 122 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:06,480 Speaker 1: a change in voltage along those grids, so you could 123 00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:09,720 Speaker 1: you could plot a specific point of contact by the 124 00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:13,640 Speaker 1: way a vandograph generator, you know, a vandograph accelerator is 125 00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:17,520 Speaker 1: what Hearst was referring to, but that's because a vandograph 126 00:08:17,640 --> 00:08:21,920 Speaker 1: generator was used as a very primitive particle accelerator back 127 00:08:21,920 --> 00:08:25,880 Speaker 1: in the day. It is an electrostatic generator. You've probably 128 00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:28,480 Speaker 1: at least seen pictures of these, if not actually seen 129 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:33,880 Speaker 1: one in use. So typically you're using a belt mounted 130 00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:38,200 Speaker 1: on some rollers that turn very quickly. This makes the 131 00:08:38,200 --> 00:08:42,880 Speaker 1: belt move very quickly, and the moving belt actually typically 132 00:08:42,920 --> 00:08:46,800 Speaker 1: makes contact with another surface, but it generates this electrostatic 133 00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:52,680 Speaker 1: charge and carries that charge to a hollow metal globe. 134 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:56,800 Speaker 1: The globe itself is also mounted on top of a 135 00:08:56,920 --> 00:08:59,720 Speaker 1: column that's made of some sort of insulator material, so 136 00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:03,520 Speaker 1: this isolates the metal globe. Right, You're building up this 137 00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:06,719 Speaker 1: electrostatic charge in the metal globe and there's nowhere for 138 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:11,400 Speaker 1: the charge to go because you've isolated the globe. And 139 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:16,600 Speaker 1: then you can bring something conductive in you know, general 140 00:09:16,640 --> 00:09:20,200 Speaker 1: proximity of the globe, and as you get close enough, 141 00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:26,640 Speaker 1: the difference in electric potentials will cause a spark to form. 142 00:09:27,160 --> 00:09:30,959 Speaker 1: Like you essentially create a circuit very very briefly, and 143 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:34,920 Speaker 1: then you get this zap of a spark and you've 144 00:09:34,960 --> 00:09:37,720 Speaker 1: probably seen, like I said, one of these, either in 145 00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:40,600 Speaker 1: video or maybe even in person. You're likely to find 146 00:09:40,640 --> 00:09:43,400 Speaker 1: it in like science classrooms to help demonstrate the principles 147 00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:46,600 Speaker 1: of electrostatics. But back in the day they were used 148 00:09:46,600 --> 00:09:51,560 Speaker 1: as particle accelerators in physics research. Yes, today it's a 149 00:09:51,640 --> 00:09:54,000 Speaker 1: toy and a science classroom, but back in the day, 150 00:09:54,440 --> 00:09:57,400 Speaker 1: it was a particle accelerator. Anyway, doctor Hurst used the 151 00:09:57,760 --> 00:10:01,480 Speaker 1: electrically conductive paper to plot charge on X and y axis, 152 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:04,000 Speaker 1: and only a bit later did he realize that what 153 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:08,960 Speaker 1: he was doing could potentially have other applications outside the lab. 154 00:10:09,640 --> 00:10:12,600 Speaker 1: I'll explain more, but first let's take a quick break. 155 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:25,040 Speaker 1: So doctor Hurst and his team figured that they might 156 00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:31,640 Speaker 1: actually have some applications for this conductive paper beyond the 157 00:10:31,679 --> 00:10:37,240 Speaker 1: plotting of charges using a vandograph accelerator. And he thought 158 00:10:37,280 --> 00:10:41,760 Speaker 1: that he could make this into a touchscreen interface. So 159 00:10:42,559 --> 00:10:46,440 Speaker 1: this would be a resistive touch screen. They actually have 160 00:10:46,520 --> 00:10:49,600 Speaker 1: more layers than capacitive touch screens. That also means they 161 00:10:49,640 --> 00:10:53,360 Speaker 1: block a little more light than capacitive touch screens do, 162 00:10:53,520 --> 00:10:57,800 Speaker 1: so resistive screens tend to be dimmer than capacitive ones. 163 00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:00,559 Speaker 1: So let's go through those layers again and again, we're 164 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:03,360 Speaker 1: going to start from the display side up to the 165 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:07,160 Speaker 1: surface where you would make contact with the screen. So 166 00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:09,560 Speaker 1: at the very base you've still got your display, just 167 00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:13,280 Speaker 1: like with capacitive. On top of the display, you've got 168 00:11:13,280 --> 00:11:18,400 Speaker 1: a glass substrate. Above that you have a transparent conductive layer, 169 00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:20,560 Speaker 1: so again similar to what you would have with the 170 00:11:20,559 --> 00:11:24,360 Speaker 1: capacitive screen. But next you would have a layer of 171 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:27,959 Speaker 1: what are called separator dots. So these are our little 172 00:11:27,960 --> 00:11:33,720 Speaker 1: supports that are non conductive. They are there to act 173 00:11:34,040 --> 00:11:39,920 Speaker 1: as a separator. They keep the first transparent conductive layer 174 00:11:40,240 --> 00:11:45,320 Speaker 1: separate from a second transparent conductive layer, so they're there 175 00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:50,240 Speaker 1: to keep space between those two layers. So again above 176 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:55,000 Speaker 1: these separator dots is that second transparent conductive layer, and 177 00:11:55,040 --> 00:11:58,559 Speaker 1: then on the very top you have a flexible transparent 178 00:11:58,679 --> 00:12:02,120 Speaker 1: film on top. This is where you would make contact 179 00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:06,800 Speaker 1: with the screen. So when you push down on the screen, 180 00:12:06,880 --> 00:12:10,840 Speaker 1: whether it's with a conductive surface or not, what you're 181 00:12:10,840 --> 00:12:16,800 Speaker 1: doing is you're deforming the top most transparent layer to 182 00:12:16,840 --> 00:12:20,360 Speaker 1: push down and come into contact with the next transparent 183 00:12:20,400 --> 00:12:25,880 Speaker 1: conductive layer. That creates a circuit. So as long as 184 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:29,000 Speaker 1: you're pushing down with enough force, you're creating the circuit 185 00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:34,080 Speaker 1: and it will detect that touch. So typically you've got 186 00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:38,679 Speaker 1: other circuits in the device that detect drops in voltage 187 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:42,160 Speaker 1: or changes in voltage, and that's how they can detect 188 00:12:42,480 --> 00:12:47,000 Speaker 1: the precise location where the touch happened. So again, doesn't 189 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:50,320 Speaker 1: matter if it's your finger, if you're wearing gloves, if 190 00:12:50,360 --> 00:12:55,160 Speaker 1: you're using a stylus, it doesn't really matter. What matters 191 00:12:55,200 --> 00:12:59,200 Speaker 1: is that that top transparent conductive layer comes into contact 192 00:12:59,200 --> 00:13:02,800 Speaker 1: with the bottom transparent conductive layer and creates a circuit. 193 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:07,440 Speaker 1: So the capacitive screen actually came first, but the resistive 194 00:13:07,480 --> 00:13:11,320 Speaker 1: screen was more popular. It got more popular, and it 195 00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:15,360 Speaker 1: did so faster than capacitive. So why is that, Well, 196 00:13:16,400 --> 00:13:19,920 Speaker 1: mostly it comes down to cost. Also, like the fact 197 00:13:19,920 --> 00:13:22,640 Speaker 1: that you didn't have to have a conductive material to 198 00:13:22,800 --> 00:13:25,520 Speaker 1: work with it meant that you could actually use it 199 00:13:25,559 --> 00:13:28,199 Speaker 1: for lots of other stuff, including stuff where you might 200 00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:30,600 Speaker 1: have to do something like wear gloves, but you could 201 00:13:30,679 --> 00:13:34,840 Speaker 1: use a stylus like That's a useful part of that 202 00:13:34,880 --> 00:13:37,360 Speaker 1: technology is the fact that you can still work with 203 00:13:37,400 --> 00:13:40,600 Speaker 1: it even if you aren't able to, you know, use 204 00:13:40,640 --> 00:13:43,920 Speaker 1: your fingers directly on the screen. But it was much 205 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:47,040 Speaker 1: cheaper and that was really the big thing, so capacitive 206 00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:49,800 Speaker 1: sort of took a back seat for a while, and 207 00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:52,680 Speaker 1: it would require a lot more innovation in the space 208 00:13:52,760 --> 00:13:56,960 Speaker 1: to make capacitive screens more attractive than resistive screens. However, 209 00:13:57,080 --> 00:14:00,040 Speaker 1: these days, most consumer devices you're going to come in 210 00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:05,520 Speaker 1: to contact with use capacitive touch screens, largely because, I mean, 211 00:14:05,520 --> 00:14:08,560 Speaker 1: they're still more expensive than resistive touch screens, but they 212 00:14:08,600 --> 00:14:13,760 Speaker 1: can display brighter images, so that's definitely a positive. They 213 00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:15,920 Speaker 1: tend to be more durable as well as you can 214 00:14:15,960 --> 00:14:19,040 Speaker 1: imagine if you've got a resistive touch screen, which is 215 00:14:19,560 --> 00:14:22,720 Speaker 1: it works based upon you pushing the screen hard enough 216 00:14:22,760 --> 00:14:25,520 Speaker 1: to make contact between two layers. I mean, you don't 217 00:14:25,520 --> 00:14:27,680 Speaker 1: have to push super hard, but it does have to 218 00:14:27,680 --> 00:14:32,840 Speaker 1: be enough pressure so that the system detects there's a 219 00:14:32,880 --> 00:14:37,480 Speaker 1: touch there. Well, as you might imagine, this eventually deforms 220 00:14:38,200 --> 00:14:42,960 Speaker 1: the upper transparent conductive layer, and that you can eventually 221 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:46,400 Speaker 1: get to points where it's already close to or making 222 00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:48,840 Speaker 1: contact with the lower layer. Just kind of like having 223 00:14:48,840 --> 00:14:52,600 Speaker 1: a short circuit, right, and it makes it more difficult 224 00:14:53,120 --> 00:14:58,480 Speaker 1: to have an accurate experience. Using resistive touch screens. Doesn't 225 00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:02,800 Speaker 1: happen overnight, but over time it does happen, So that's 226 00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:06,760 Speaker 1: one of the other benefits capacitive touch screens have over resistive. 227 00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:11,360 Speaker 1: It's also easier to use capacitive touch screens for multi 228 00:15:11,400 --> 00:15:15,600 Speaker 1: touch functions in general, not that you couldn't do it 229 00:15:15,640 --> 00:15:18,400 Speaker 1: with resistive touch screens, but it's just it's easier when 230 00:15:18,440 --> 00:15:22,560 Speaker 1: you're not focusing on using pressure to make that point 231 00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:26,440 Speaker 1: of contact. You will still find resistive touch screens, however, 232 00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:30,040 Speaker 1: in devices that are aimed at lower price points, So 233 00:15:30,360 --> 00:15:33,200 Speaker 1: if you're looking at like a budget tablet, there are 234 00:15:33,200 --> 00:15:36,680 Speaker 1: a lot of industrial uses for resistive touch screens to 235 00:15:36,760 --> 00:15:40,080 Speaker 1: this day. And keep in mind, as I said at 236 00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:42,680 Speaker 1: the beginning of this episode, there are other types of 237 00:15:42,720 --> 00:15:47,160 Speaker 1: touch screen technologies besides these two. There's some that use acoustics, 238 00:15:47,320 --> 00:15:51,160 Speaker 1: there's some that use infrared lasers. Like I said with 239 00:15:51,240 --> 00:15:53,560 Speaker 1: the surface, there are the kinds that use you know, 240 00:15:54,200 --> 00:15:57,720 Speaker 1: cameras that are mounted behind the screen itself. It's not 241 00:15:57,880 --> 00:16:00,520 Speaker 1: like these two are the only two. There are lots 242 00:16:00,520 --> 00:16:02,840 Speaker 1: of other technologies. It's just those two are the ones 243 00:16:02,880 --> 00:16:06,880 Speaker 1: you're most likely to come into contact with, both figuratively 244 00:16:07,160 --> 00:16:12,120 Speaker 1: and literally. So I hope that this was interesting and informative. 245 00:16:13,080 --> 00:16:16,520 Speaker 1: A little tech Stuff Tidbits episode, and I'm trying to 246 00:16:16,720 --> 00:16:19,400 Speaker 1: do more of these because it's fun to do these 247 00:16:19,440 --> 00:16:22,600 Speaker 1: short ones. It's just a challenge because you know, I'm 248 00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:24,920 Speaker 1: a chatty Kathy. This episode probably could have been eight 249 00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:27,520 Speaker 1: minutes long and instead of going twice as long. So 250 00:16:28,400 --> 00:16:31,560 Speaker 1: but hey, I like your company, hope you like mine, 251 00:16:32,200 --> 00:16:34,720 Speaker 1: And if you have any suggestions for little things that 252 00:16:34,760 --> 00:16:37,800 Speaker 1: you would like explained in the tech space, even if 253 00:16:37,800 --> 00:16:40,040 Speaker 1: it's something like, hey, can you give a quick rundown 254 00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:43,240 Speaker 1: on logic gates and what those do or something along 255 00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:45,960 Speaker 1: those lines, let me know and I'll look into it. 256 00:16:46,440 --> 00:16:49,480 Speaker 1: And I hope you are all well, and I'll talk 257 00:16:49,520 --> 00:16:59,760 Speaker 1: to you again really soon. Tech Stuff is an iHeartRadio production. 258 00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:05,080 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 259 00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:07,200 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.