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POPSTouch Screen Back in 1998/99, myself and a co-worker were brainstorming on computing ideas. We came up with an idea for a computer screen that would act like a kiosk of sorts, for the elderly. Realizing that there was a need to keep in touch and up to date with technology, it 'felt right' to bring something like touch screen for the elderly or those that could not type, into age (pun intended). Our idea was to set up these kiosk style monitors in senior assisted/non-assisted homes; on campus clubhouses, etc so anyone could send email and play a few games. Easy stuff that would not be intimidating or difficult to learn. Idea blown away when presented to our employer as not 'marketable enough.' About 3 weeks ago, I walked into Sam's Club; the computer section. A round table was set up with HP Touchscreen monitors. Curios, I walked over to inspect and could not get close enough except to watch. Persons much older than myself standing around the table, playing games by touching the scre
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POPSMicrosoft gets cleverer with multitouch screen keyboard
Oh, those smart rascals at Microsoft are on a roll. I love their Courier tablet concept, and now they may have found the way to make on-screen multitouch keyboards actually work great–even for touch typists like me. The problem with screen keyboards is that you actually have to look at the screen to hit the keys correctly. With real keyboards, touch typists have a physical reference to position their hands. That’s why they type blind. With a flat screen keyboard, however, you lose the physical reference frame. The patent for this screen keyboard, however, uses multitouch technology to automatically align the keys to the position of the hand. Since the keys are always in the same relative position to your fingers, you will always have a physical point of reference: Your own hand. That way, you can blindingly hammer your keys against the screen, knowing that your fingers will always hit the keys they are aiming for. The patent also details the way this virtual keyboard would ap