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JAPAN   |  Comment

Cat Stroking, Not Facebook Poking, Satisfies Needs For Real Interaction

Forget poking on Facebook or IMing people, shaking a hand or putting an arm on someone else's shoulder is where social interaction really begins. In Japan, this need for touch has extended to a focus on pets, including cafes for petting cats. Will emphasizing touch be a new trend in the U.S.?READ»

IPOD   |  Comment

Time For Apple To Kill The iPod

Yes, the game-changing device still accounts for about 7 percent of quarterly revenues. But Apple's money could be better spent elsewhere. Here's why and where. READ»

WINDOWS   |  Comment

Crazy Sexy Windows 8 Has Scorching Hot New Looks ... But It's What's Inside That Counts

Microsoft teased Windows 8 for tablets late last night, giving us a sexy peep at its UI. The tech world has since gone aflutter, despite big questions about Microsoft's approach. And the real innovation is behind the scenes: ARM chip support.READ»

A Tale of Two Touchscreen Smartphone Rumors: The iPhone 5 And HP's WebOS Clone

Two intriguing rumors have popped up at almost the same time: A number of photos of an assumed iPod Touch that has no physical home button, hinting at the iPhone 5, and a keypad-less HP device that could be the webOS clone of Apple's invention.READ»

Apple Pen Patents Suggest Apple Wants In on Wacom's Graphics Tablet Game

Steve Jobs dissed the use of styluses on phones and tablets years ago at the introduction of the iPhone. But patents suggest Apple's serious about adding sophisticated stylus skills to future iPads: It looks like it has plans to push its tablets into the graphics pad market.READ»

Apple Imagines 3-D Multitouch Everywhere

How about an intelligent multitouch grip on your golf club to tell you you're holding it well? Or a multitouch steering wheel to control your car radio? Or just a portable stretchy multitouch sheet to make, well, anything touchy? Apple's imagined (and patented) it all.READ»

Stop Smudging Your iPad: Elliptic Labs' Touch-Free Dock Is Coming [CES 2011]

Elliptic labs will show a prototype dock for iPads at CES that is a sci-fi dream come true.READ»

HAPTICS   |  Comment

A Steering Wheel That Steers You?

What if your steering wheel gave you feedback? Researchers in "haptics," or the science of the sense of touch, think it should.READ»

ROBOTICS   |  Comment

Nanowire Skin May Grant Robots a (Very Limited) Sense of Touch

Researchers at Cal Berkeley have come up with a new nanowire "skin" prototype that some are touting as either a future robotic skin or prosthetic. That might be overly optimistic, but it is a very promising technology.READ»

What's Hiding in Apple's Guitar: Touchscreen iPod Nano, and All Tomorrow's Rumors

Apple's September special event is tomorrow. Traditionally it's iPod refresh time, and iPod-esque rumors are a-swirlin'. But does Apple have something else hidden inside its guitar?READ»

3-D TV   |  Comment

3-D TV Gets Touchy UI, but Brits Not Interested in 3-D Tech at All

A new survey seems bad news for the burgeoning 3-D industry--only 2% of British consumers want to buy a 3-D TV. Will a Japanese invention of a "touchable" 3-D user interface help the technology's appeal?READ»

EBOOKS   |  Comment

Why Nobody Will Buy a Color E-Ink E-book Reader

E-Ink's CEO said that the company will be releasing both color and touchscreen e-ink displays for e-book readers within a year. It's too bad nobody will want one.READ»

Apple Explodes Exploding Nano Rumors: 2010 iPod Touch Is Blazing

Apple's making good on allegations its iPod Nanos from a few years back in Japan were a fire hazard. Simultaneously there's a rumor about the upcoming Touch refresh--one that'll set iPods on fire, in a totally good way. READ»

Multitouch Future: Stick-on Plastic Film Can Make 108-Inch Touchscreens

A Portuguese company has announced a stick-on transparent plastic film with multitouch technology embedded inside that can make 9-foot displays.READ»

APPLE   |  Comment

Infographic of the Day: Eight Years of Tablet Talk [UPDATED]

Before the launch of Apple's next big thing, we shared the milestones in the development of Apple's tablet. Post iPad announcement, we've updated the timeline to see who was right. READ»

CES 2010   |  Comment

What to Take Away From CES

Sometimes it takes a million square feet of gizmos to understand where humanity is headed. After all the pageantry and pixels, here's what the world learned about tech in 2010. There Is No Such Thing as a Netbook No one could ...READ»

Why Does Everything at CES Look Like an Android Phone?

The look and feel of electronics always coalesces into "standards": the beige PC, the pyramid-backed tube TV, the two-button mouse. At CES this year, we're seeing a new decade of visual language emerge--and it's all about touch. Sure, ...READ»

APPLE   |  Comment

New "iPhone Nano" Might Not Be an iPhone at All

Apple may be building a miniature iPhone, with a waterproof, ultra-durable capacitive touchscreen, iLounge is reporting. Or is it a giant iPod Nano? The new device, a leaked image of which appears above courtesy of iLounge, would ...READ»

PRINTER   |  Comment

Does Everything Need a Touch Screen?

Even coffee makers are making like the iPhone and getting all touch-friendly. Lest we end up in a world of fingerprints and head-colds, it's worth asking: does everything that plugs into the wall need a touch screen? The latest ...READ»