Modder and frequent terminal user Matt was getting mighty tired of his piercing PC speaker going off with every typo, so he rigged up a nifty DIY haptics setup using a Microsoft keyboard and an old mobile phone vibrator triggered by the scroll lock LED. Unless you’re playing Oregon Trail in your elementary school’s computer lab 15 years ago, you probably haven’t heard your PC speaker in a long while, but if you’re frequently using the terminal (especially under Linux) for command line tasks, this is the mod for you. [CiboMahto via MAKE]
Among the rush of Apple patents relating to touchscreens over the last year came one on tactile feedback touchscreens, and Nokia seems to have been thinking along the same lines. Almost exactly the same lines, since Nokia’s Haptikos tech is a system of fluid-cells driven by piezoelectric actuators that push up through a flexible touchscreen. And that sounds a lot like Apple’s sub-surface, adjustable tactile “keys.” But apparently the Nokia tech is aimed at “variable and controllable user perceived surface roughness or friction coefficient” rather than buttons. Fascinating stuff, nevertheless. [Unwiredview]
The Boy Genius Report has a first look at Motorola’s answer to the “Touch Screen Wars,” called the Blaze. From the looks of the branding, this touchy-feely handset is coming to Verizon, complete with a special Verizon-only operating system. BGR says the touch screen is decent, and the mobile browser is “OK,” but nothing to write home about. Email and texting functionality are also lambasted by BGR, as is the crush-the-screen-to-make-it-work haptic touchscreen feedback. Specs include a 2 megapixel camera, EV-DO Rev. A support, GPS, and Bluetooth. They didn’t sound too keen on the Blaze, but they didn’t write it off completely. Thoughts? [Boy Genius Report]
Roboticist Steve Yohanan thinks there’s something missing from the design of many robots: the human touch. By omitting the touch sensation from robotic design, Steve thinks that scientists and engineers are missing out on an important machine-human interaction, capable of communicating emotions. So he’s designed and built Haptic Creature, a furry robotic research bunny with touch feedback as its only way of communicating.
Remember when it was cool to joke about how the vibrating Wii remote looked, felt and behaved pretty much like a vibrator? No? Well, too bad, because it turns out that the two were more similar than the light-hearted humour suggested. In fact, both tools of pleasure employ technology built from a patent from the same company, Immersion.
If a Palluxo.com source is to be believed, Apple is currently in talks with Immersion Corp. regarding haptic technology implementation for the iPhone. Immersion Corp. solutions have been implemented in Samsung handsets in the past and it now looks like Apple want in on the action. The conjecture gathers weight thanks to Clent Richardson, a former Apple executive that has just been appointed as Immersion Corporation’s CEO.
Remember that sleek black mobile phone from LG we wrote about earlier this month? More details are emerging, most notably that it shoots DivX video at 120 frames per second, and sports face-recognition technology on that 5-megapixel camera, as well as having haptic feedback, mobile Google apps and Bluetooth. Oh, and one for Conan O’Brien—its name is *whispers* Secret. Full press release after the jump.
I messed around with Novint’s Falcon haptically endowed globe/joystick at Tokyo Game Show last year. It was neat, but not going to replace my mouse—in part because game support was lacking. Now it’ll be supported in real, live games from EA: Madden NFL 08, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08, Need For Speed ProStreet, Battlefield 2 and Battlefield 2142. But! Even if you’re already one of the suckers lucky souls who already owns a Falcon, it’ll cost you another US$10 to patch a game to get all touchy-feely with it. FWIW, there are definitely better tactile experiences out there for 10 bucks. [Level Up]
Gadget Lab got a hands-on demo with prototype magnetic levitation haptic control unit at Carnegie Mellon University, where they got a simulated feel for 3D rabbits, hard surfaces and vinyl records. In addition to simulating the general shapes of objects, the technology can accurately reproduce qualities like texture and elasticity using an interesting dual joystick setup.
A couple of University of Glasgow students have built a prototype of a program that brings haptic touchscreen technology to the iPhone. It’s a buggy program, but even if the kinks get worked out a question remains: does anybody need it?
