Skinput

This past week I gave a presentation on Skinput. This new technology allows your body to be turned into a touchscreen interface. Skinput uses an armband to project a display screen and it tracks the vibrations in your arm. It was developed by Microsoft and researchers at Carnegie Mellon University. The Skinput uses a series of sensors to track where a user taps on his or her arm. They are hoping for the next generation of Skinput to be a wristwatch, however neither the armband nor the wristwatch are currently consumer products. This technology is just now being developed. I find this technology to be very interesting because it may give us the opportunity to sync all of our electronic devices into a touchscreen on our arm. One researcher even played Guitar Hero using the armband and playing on his arm. The only potential problem I could see with Skinput is with the combining of all of a person's electronic devices into one armband, it would be very easy to steal a person's identity by stealing their armband or wristwatch. Besides this concern, I could see this being very useful and prominent in the future. http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/04/19/microsoft.skinput/index.html