Touch-feedback screens unveiled

Most onscreen keyboards have no tactile feedback, so one needs to look at the screen and virtual keyboard to make sure of the correct input. However, this might soon change, thanks to haptic technology, a mechanism that allows the screen to 'touch' one back, writes CNET.

One of the major developers of this technology, the Immersion Corporation, has unveiled a product that powers touch-feedback effects in touch-screen computers, the TouchSense 2500.

The company claims this product enables drop-in integrated circuit solutions to drive haptic effects that bring the user experience in touch-based devices to a new level by restoring the 'mechanical' feel to otherwise static screens.

US scientists say new technologies may bypass barriers to the miniaturisation of computer memory, vital to the consumer electronics revolution, states UPI.com.

The limits of physics had loomed as a possible slowdown in the pace of miniaturisation that has allowed the ability to pack ever more power into ever-smaller devices such as laptops, smart phones and digital cameras, The New York Times reported.

But new technologies could overcome that barrier, say Rice University scientists, who have succeeded in building reliable small digital switches, essential to computer memory, which could be made at a significantly smaller scale than is possible using conventional methods.

Peter Bentley invented the iStethoscope application, which monitors heartbeat through sensors in the phone as just a bit of fun, says the Telegraph.

But it took off and now 500 apps are being downloaded everyday after a free version was introduced last week. "Everybody is very excited about the potential of the adoption of mobile phone technology into the medical workplace, and rightly so," said Bentley.

“In the future it could be possible for people to conduct their own ultrasounds or monitor blood pressure through smartphones.”