Long before the XO Laptop climbed over US$100 and OLPC's name was sullied by infighting (and then redeemed by its dual multi-touchscreen XO2 concept) OLPC founder Nick Negroponte was preaching the gospel of ten-finger multi-touch over the "mouse on Macintosh," which sounds profoundly clunky compared to his vision of interfacing with computers. In this 1984 TED talk, the experience he describes sounds remarkably like the XO-2--over 25 years later, he'll finally build the computer he's always wanted. (And I want too.) The clip is long, but prescient and brilliant--you'll feel smarter afterward. [TED via Mental Floss]

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The X800 mobile phone from Philips has been seen around and about this past few weeks, but it's finally been officially announced. Although there's still no release date or, more importantly, a price, this e2e touchscreen (that's edge-to-edge) that's being mooted as, snore, Philips' iPhone killer, is lacking in both 3G and EDGE departments. Full specs below the jump.

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Philips Xenium phones are generally known for their long-life battery performances but if these photos are in fact real, then the designers are venturing into new iPhone, Diamond touchscreen territory. PC World China is saying that the upcoming Xenium x800 will have an "e2e" screen— that's an edge-to-edge touchscreen, apparently. From the photos it looks like it's got an orientation sensor, Wi-Fi, a browser, a curved design and a bevelled metal edge. Sounds a little familiar? Check out the photos yourselves.

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Ah, the Asus Eee PC, the little computer that can be modded to do anything, from stealing all your money in an ATM to grabbing all your money on the internet. This one will snatch $3,200 from your account if you want to buy it on eBay, with all the mods except for the 3G card: a 32GB Patriot XT solid state drive (in addition to the included 8GB), a touchscreen and a bunch of other things, an Air Play card to transmit all your sound to any FM radio. Complete specs after the jump.

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The Triforce Touchscreen Pointer is a marketing ploy destined for swag-bag oblivion, but it could also be a rare case where functionality and tchotchke coalesce into something genuinely useful. First, the lanyard-pointer from Specialdesign eliminates the act of fumbling with your PDA's lanky stylus. Second, the lanyard means no more dropped devices. Finally, when Specialdesign promises the Triforce pairs up with "hip hop" devices you just know the transformation from vanilla roadwarrior to white party-throwing music mogul is close at hand. No info on pricing, sorry. [Triforce, via GeekAlerts]

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Scientists in the UK have thought differently about touchpad designs: their system peeks at your fingertips to see what you're touching. It can sense when you're pushing on something and how hard, so everything —even a 3D uneven surface— could be made into a touchpad. Quite why they chose to demo this with a purring rock we're not sure. But we like it.

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This Runtriz touchscreen is something we'd want in the kitchen area of our home. Not because it's totally necessary, because it isn't, but because it display stocks, weather, news, recipes, wine organisation, and even send emails and text messages to people on the outside. Why would we use this? One example is to make up a grocery list on the device (assisted by the recipes so we know exactly what to buy) and then emailing it to our phones so we can see it at the store. Or better yet, email it to the person who's actually at the supermarket so they know what to buy. That seems more likely. [Runtriz]

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Asus' president of sales, Kevin Lin, has announced the upcoming 8.9-inch Eee PC will have a touchscreen incorporated. Lin also speculated that the device may have GPS functionality, too, however this was not confirmed. The announcement has us a little confused, as earlier reports suggested otherwise. Still, Lin went on to say the expected starting price for an 8.9-inch touchscreen toting Eee will be around US$500, and he also added that the Eee Desktop PC will begin retailing at the US$199 mark. Put that in your Eee PC news pipe and puff it. [DigiTimes]

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Samsung's latest introduction, the SCH-W420/W4200 in the video below, is a slender, iPhone-like handset with a 3.2" touchscreen, a lively user interface, and the kind of force feedback that the LG Prada phone could only dream of.

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LG are sending some serious touchscreen love to South Korea, all in the form of the Touch Web mobile phone, a.k.a. LG-LH2300. The touchscreen wonder has a 3-inch display, with a staggering 800 x 480 resolution, as well as a 3MP camera with AF, MicroSD memory slot and a full internet browser, which has incorporated hot keys and a jog wheel for scrolling. The widescreen toting mobile phone is expected to retail for 700,000 KRW (US$693,) when it begins to ship this April. At present, the device is a South Korea exclusive and there is no word on a global release as yet, but honestly, we wouldn't hold our breath. [Aving]