A Touching Technical Revolution

The mouse has been around in the computer industry for a lot longer than most people realize. It was invented in 1964 by Douglas Engalbart and for the past 43 years it has been the computer interface pointer tool of choice. Long live the computer mouse. The problem is...it's about to die. It's going to be replaced by something so simple, so easy to use, you've used it your entire life, even before you were born. It's something you always have with you. It's like an American Express Card, don't leave home without it.

It's your finger, or should I say fingers, or should I say hands. The touch interface is coming. There won't be a mouse. There won't be a stylus. There might not even be a keyboard. Just you and your screen. Now don't get me wrong, touch screens have been around for years. However, to date they have been single-touch interfaces (one finger). You see them used a lot in kiosks in the mall and the ATM machine down the street. Well, the technology being developed now is a multi-touch (MT) solution. Allowing you to use both your hands, all your fingers, and if the screen is big enough multiple people can use it at the same time.

In October, I had the opportunity to head out to New York and go to an invitation only technology forum. There, I was able to see and play with many different variations of MT technology. Many mainstream companies like 3M, Panasonic, Apple, etc. are clearly developing it. Students and large universities have created it in their labs. Of all the next generation technology being shown and demo'd at the forum, the MT demos were the most amazing and the most popular. Panasonic had us playing multi-user games where the system clearly knew which user was doing what no matter where you touched the screen, for proper scoring. Which when you think about it is very impressive.

A Touching Revolution is on it's way, and while it probably won't kill the mouse completely it is going to give it a severe limp. MT is going to be easier to use than anything you have used before, and it's going to be fun. I'm betting it will be here by the end of the year. Here's a few reasons why I think this is the year of the MT revolution:

1. Multi-Touch Interaction Research @ NYU
   - WATCH THE VIDEO!!!!
   
2. Jeff Han Demo'ing MT Tech
   - WARNING: Extremely cool, but some geek speak in it!!!!
   
3. Perceptive Pixel
   - Now that's a whiteboard I want in the office.
   
4. Apple's iPhone
   - Mainstream products are coming this June and it fits in your pocket.
   
5. Some interesting observations
   - It's probably in more than just the iPhone. It'll be in everything Apple does.
   
6. Multi-Touch Patents
   - The patents to back Apple up.
   

Got it? Good. Want it? Great. Now go MT yourself, or something.

-Colin