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Microsoft patents tactile touchscreens
Finally, some news about a patent that doesn’t concern Apple- Microsoft has just filed a patent for a touchscreen that uses technical tricks to convince users that they’re not just touching a flat screen. How is this achieved? Well, according to the patent, Microsoft will use pixel-sized shape-memory plastic cells that can be ordered to protrude from the surface on demand. So by just using lines of code, the texture of a screen can be changed instantly. This technology could be utilized to make touchscreen phones usable by the blind, and even to help regular people who still need some sort of tactile response when using a digital keypad. Different companies have tried coming up with something similar before and they were known as vibrotactile displays. They used voltages of different frequencies that trick our fingertips into experiencing different touch sensations but they had one major drawback- they were quite noisy. I guess that’s probably why they never really took off. Plus the idea of using voltages to create sensation sounds somewhat dangerous. What other uses can you think of for tactile touchscreens?
So yesterday was Apple’s WWDC and they revealed several new changes and introduced their iCloud services, Mac OS X Lion and more importantly revealed iOS 5 which brought about many changes that iOS users have been hoping for since the first iPhone.
Check out our thoughts on some of the key features after the break.
In breaking news it seems that there was an explosion at Foxconn’s Chengdu manufacturing plant where Apple’s iPad 2’s are being manufactured. According to reports:
“At around 19:00 in China, Foxconn Chengdu manufacture plant got an explosion, we are not sure actually what cause the explosion and how many casualties had resulted. At the scene, there are currently more than 10 fire engines, ambulances and 10 police cars had arrived on the scene.”
The explosion occurred in Building A5 which said to be where the iPad 2’s are being manufactured. Remember how we just talked about how the iPad 2 supply woes are being eased, well if this turns out to be serious it looks like the iPad 2’s supply woes are right back where they were. Although unclear on how much damage has been done to the iPad 2 supply, it seems to be rather series due to the amount of fire engines that have arrived on scene.
Reporters are being warned that there might be a second explosion and to stay away from the buildings. Our prayers go out to the 100 or so Foxconn workers who might have been trapped or injured during the explosion.
There is still a good two months to go before the Apple WWDC gets underway and until then we cannot help but speculate what the future holds in store for the iOS. Taking into consideration the latest patent filing from Apple, there is every chance that ‘Spaces’ might eventually make it to the iOS 5. Spaces is a part of the Mac OS X desktop operating system which enables users to have multiple virtual desktops open and users can switches between those desktops with a few gestures. Spaces could eventually make it to the iPad courtesy of the iOS 5 which is to be showcased at WWDC 2011. iOS does require something of this sort given the fact that its multitasking and notification system looks very ancient compared to its browser or the applications. One may argue that there is already a hidden multitouch gestures feature in the iOS open for developers and Apple may like to develop that feature furthermore. But, the argument in favor of Spaces is that the developers-only feature has is limitations when you need to run multiple applications on your iOS capable devices and this is where Spaces could be very useful.
Source: Link