Skinput Devices -Gnext Mobiles-Is The Research A Good Investment

[Ananya 0]

After touch screen mobiles we are going to witness the skinput mobile phones as the next generation mobiles.The technology of Skinput devices are a joint research work of Carnegie Mellon University and Microsoft.It works something as below:This device comes with an armband which provides a small projector.It is same as the projector which we use in general theonly difference here being that our own skin is being used as display.So our skin is being used as the GUI.Tapping of skin will produce ultra low frequency sounds.Computaional ability of the software embeded within this device can be imagined from the fact that it can recognize by the sound produced from the tapping that which skin area has been pressed and depending on that which menu has been selected by the user.Definitely this upcoming technology will enhance the mobility aspect of mobile phones and give it a new dimension.But a question arises in my mind to what extent this technology investment is necessary.An awsome computational ability is definitelythere in this device which makes it a product where we have to apply a lot of logic to get the work done.But if we focus onits functions, apart from mobility it isn't adding much features.so at end of the day after so brain hammering practicallyit isn't that fruitful.Definitely as part of research its nice to explore this as a next step forward in mobile technology.

[yordan 10]

Do not think in terms of what you learned and the new things you have to switch toward. Think in terms of what the very young children will learn and how easy it will be for them. Here we are talking about things which will be not be in use before ten or twenty years. Simply think how your parents would see the tactile tablets twenty years ago, at that moment we could simply not imagine having an ipad where you play games by means of pressing a very flat screen.Today a one-year baby plays touching his own skin, tomorrow he will not surprised if this a way for calling mom for kiss goodnight!

[Ahsaniqbalkmc 0]

Do not think in terms of what you learned and the new things you have to switch toward. Think in terms of what the very young children will learn and how easy it will be for them. Here we are talking about things which will be not be in use before ten or twenty years. Simply think how your parents would see the tactile tablets twenty years ago, at that moment we could simply not imagine having an ipad where you play games by means of pressing a very flat screen.Today a one-year baby plays touching his own skin, tomorrow he will not surprised if this a way for calling mom for kiss goodnight!

I agree completely with the logic presented by @yordan. I would further add that it is not necessary that every single research project (whether done on a small scale or a large scale) results in a finalized completely usable product. In fact, most of the research projects end in making thinks that are not usable at that time but almost all of them make some contribution to the making of a great technology. Consider the case of touchscreen smartphones. They didn't develop as a result of a single research project but instead there were numerous research projects most of which didn't result in very useful results.

So this research project for the development of skinput devices might not result in producing a very useful product but it is most likely that it would further the technology to development of a new unique gadget.

[manuleka 0]

I agree completely with the logic presented by @yordan. I would further add that it is not necessary that every single research project (whether done on a small scale or a large scale) results in a finalized completely usable product. In fact, most of the research projects end in making thinks that are not usable at that time but almost all of them make some contribution to the making of a great technology. Consider the case of touchscreen smartphones. They didn't develop as a result of a single research project but instead there were numerous research projects most of which didn't result in very useful results.
So this research project for the development of skinput devices might not result in producing a very useful product but it is most likely that it would further the technology to development of a new unique gadget.

great application though if it ends up with a product utilizing such technology/capability and features... i wouldn't mind using palm of my hand as a touch screen... or my hand/arm - would be so cool (from todays perspective) -