A couple of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, apparently tired of this whole touchscreen vs. button debate, have decided to just do away with the distinction entirely.

The video below explains the concept in depth, but here’s the gist: A hard acrylic chamber, perforated with fixed button shapes, is surrounded by latex on both sides. A pneumatic pump pressurises or depressurises the central chamber, either depressing or lifting the areas above the button holes. Display duties are carried out through rear projection, and (multi!)touch tracking is dealt with via finger-tracking cameras.

The effect is seamless. It’s still in experimental stages, but no single part of this technology is especially novel or expensive, so it’s semi-plausible that we could see something like this make it to market in the near future. Unfortunately, the bulky nature of this particular system precludes use in portable products, but it would work just fine in larger ones, like the in-dash computer seen in the video.

Size will inevitably come down, power needs will be addressed, and such a screen’s uses will widen. This generation may one day be asked, “Dad, was there really a time when touchscreens and buttons didn’t peacefully coexist? Really?” They’ll have to reluctantly answer, “Yes, son,” eyes turned toward the ground, “but would that we forget…” [Tech Review]

Using three different interactive Hulk-themed screen and sound effects, this button will allow you to unleash your anger and immediately hide whatever is currently on your computer screen. And if you’re having a superhero identity crisis, you can Power Up with the Iron Man button, or activate your Spidey-Senses with the Spiderman one, which contain the same features. Pricing is available upon request. [Product Page via Nerd Approved]

Enticing marketing copy seals the deal:

Nothing lifts the spirits like a good yodel, but most of us don’t have the skill to yodel on cue. That’s where the Emergency Yodel Button comes in. Keep this 4″ x 3″ x 5/8″ plastic device with you at all times and when the need arises, press the button to hear the sweet mellifluous warbling of an alpine yodel.

That’s certainly correct. I neither have the ability, nor the desire, to emit a skilled yodel on cue. Costs $US12.50 and your dignity. FYI: Goes well with this. [Archie McPhee via Red Ferret]

No black holes, no tearing of space-time fabric, no instant worm hole to the Gamma Quadrant. “There is a wry sense of humour that pervades the [LHC] scientists,” said Steve Nahn, one of the MIT researchers on duty at the LHC. In addition to the sign that warns users of a black hole creation, there’s another equally predictable sign on the side of the balcony overlooking the detector that reads “Please do not feed the Physicists.”

Can you imagine using a 22.5km ring to monitor particles that look like pucks to a hockey rink of an atom? And doing it while death threats from ignorant loonies the world over come pouring in? “There’s a fair amount of stress at times trying to make the detector go, so defusing it with humour is one way to maintain sanity,” Nahn said.

Note: We tried to get an actual image of the black hole button and the sign, but the LHC’s no photography policy got in our way, hence the artist’s rendering above.

And don’t worry—when the cops come, another press of the button will make the whole thing disappear as quickly as it started. If you want to build this system yourself, all you need is US$634 in parts and the instructions outlined in the following link. [plasma2002 via MAKE]