Touch-technology

Bluetooth keyboards are great when you need to type on a tablet, but a built-in trackpad would be useful. Rather than bulk out the form factor, Belarus-based Clevetura is launching a keyboard that turns the keying area into a touch-sensitive trackpad when the user isn't typing.

Inspired by a scene from a 2008 Batman movie, engineers from the University of Michigan (UM) have developed software that could bring touch sensitivity to all phones – and not just through their screens.

After a successful crowdfunding campaign, Touchjet started shipping its Android computer/projector to backers last month. Gizmag was sent one of the first units off the production line for review.

San Jose-based Synaptics is taking touch technology where it has never been before. Its SmartBar technology turns the keyboard's spacebar into a touch interface that is always within thumb's reach.

The Jane guitar from Switzerland's Pirmin Giger and Silvan Küng has a body made up of an aluminum frame and two veneer wood panels. The back plate is held in place by magnets and can be opened up using just a guitar pick. And its humbucker pickups are selected using touch sensors.

TouchPico is a pocket-friendly Android computer with a built-in DLP projector capable of turning any flat surface into a huge touchscreen display ... with a little help from an IR stylus.

The Touchmark Interface System replaces the volume/tone knobs and pickup selector switch on an electric guitar with touch control panels.

The Smack Attack steering cover plays drum sounds when drivers tap onboard sensors, providing rhythm accompaniment to music stored on an iPhone.

Technology start-up ROLI recently revealed the Seaboard GRAND, a piano-style keyboard that features flexible keys for adjusting each note in real-time.

Researchers at Stanford University have developed the first pressure-sensitive synthetic material that can heal itself when torn or cut, giving it potential for use in next-generation prosthetics or self-healing electronic devices.

Closed shutters keep Touchy's wearer in darkness until touched by a human hand, at which point the shutter opens, and prolonged contact results in the head-cam snapping a photo that's displayed on the screen at the back.

A Swept Frequency Capacitive Sensing (SFCS) touch sensitive technology called Touché not only detects if and where someone is touching it, but how they are touching it.