THE CANADIAN PRESS
Touch-screen technology is shown in this handout photo. The hands-on approach is making its way into more technology used by consumers, from laptops to mobile phones to gaming and multimedia devices.
Touch-screen technology looks to replace computer mouse
Experts say 'hands-on' devices coming down in price, should make big strides in next decade
THE CANADIAN PRESS Published Saturday January 26th, 2008
MONTREAL - The hands-on approach is making its way into more technology used by consumers, from laptops to mobile phones to gaming and multimedia devices.
With these devices getting smaller and sleeker, touching them with a finger is often much easier and way more comfortable than clicking a mouse or thumb-typing on a tiny keyboard.
Touch-screen technology is people friendly, said Mike Agerbo, host of the Get Connected TV and radio show.
"As humans, we do everything with touch and with our hands whether we're opening a door or sorting things out," Agerbo said from Vancouver.
"It's more of a natural way to actually interface with things."
Agerbo said he believes consumers want this kind of technology and it will become even more commonplace.
"I think the costs have dropped dramatically now for this new type of input, so I think we will see huge strides in this in the next few years."
Apple Inc. uses touch-screen technology on its IPod music players, IPhone and the IPod Touch multimedia player. Its new ultra-thin MacBook Air notebook also uses touch with an oversized trackpad that allows users to do things like zoom in on a text or go through photos.
Microsoft Corp. has introduced what it calls "surface" computing on a tabletop device that allows multitouch access to such things as music, photos and Internet. It will be first used in the entertainment and hotel and resort industries.
Other devices that use touch screen technology that employ either a finger or stylus pen include mobile phones, multimedia players, pocket organizers, tablet PCs, GPS locators, automated bank machines and gas pumps. The technology will soon be coming to grocery carts, too.
Touch screen technology can use digital cameras to detect touch and translate it into movement and commands.
It can also use acoustic waves, light beams or electrical wires where the touch of a finger breaks the frequency, allowing the device to correlate movement on the screen with navigation of a program.
Laptop users have long had the option of abandoning the use of a mouse in favour of finger use with trackpads, although many still seem to prefer the flexibility and accuracy of a conventional mouse.
But there still may come a day when the mouse finds itself clicked into oblivion.
David Martin, co-founder of Canadian company Smart Technologies, which makes touch-screen technology for classrooms and corporate meetings, said it's certainly possible.
"I would imagine that over the next 10 years that we will move more and more toward not having mice or not having keyboards, particularly in different circumstances," Martin said.
The trend to touch screens is "very natural," said Martin, the company's executive chairman.
"People reach out with their fingers and they are pointing at things and the natural extension of that is when they actually point at something to initiate an Internet connection. That's a very natural interface."
Calgary-based Smart Technologies has almost 1,100 employees and been involved in developing touch screen technology since the late 1980s. U.S. computer giant Intel Corp. has a minority share position in the privately held company and Smart Technologies' markets are overseas and the United States.
Replace Computer Mouse
