There can be little argument that one of things people seem to love when it comes to consumer gadgets is the touch screen. Whether this is because all the Star Trek movies and television shows had them or not, it really can’t be disputed that touch screen seems to convey a futuristic feeling that customers love.
People love touchscreens so much that even it seems that all sorts of new gadgets are coming out with touch screen interface such as Sony’s new eBook readers that will be out later this year. Sony had stuck to non-touch screen editions for most of their eReaders but they are now moving off of that. Touchscreens are so popular that even devices and programs that don’t have touch screens, are taking on the look of the touchscreen like Microsoft Windows 8.
One new touchscreen type of technology might be the coolest of them all, simply because it’s something most of us would have never thought of outside of our imagination. Designers at the Copenhagen Instituted of Interaction Design have formed a partnership with Toyota to come up with a tech they are calling “Windows of the World.” This particular device actually turns the back seat of a car into a see-through touch screen display that can do several cool little things.
The first function of this new touchscreen is that whoever is riding in the backseat can draw pictures with their fingers, much like they might want to when there is fog or frost on the window in the winter. For children, there is also the ability to learn how to read, or just learn more about their surroundings as they will be able to tap on various objects in the window and the technology will be able to actually pop up text telling them what it is. Passengers will also be able to zoom into or out of the items they are passing by, much the way you zoom in on an iPad, by pinching or spreading two fingers. Apparently the screen will also be able to tell you just how far away the objects you select on the screen is.
Perhaps the coolest part is that there is a function that will allow the objects that were drawn on the touchscreen to zip offscreen as fast as the background is going, making it appear as though the drawings were part of the scenery.
