[LINK] $100 laptop could sell to public

[Ivan Trundle]

On 15/01/2007, at 10:51 PM, Jan Whitaker wrote:

> At 10:08 PM 15/01/2007, Ivan Trundle wrote:
>> On the other hand, I do think that the multi-touch (?) approach on
>> the phone Is A Good Thing - but to date, few have considered or
>> explored the ramifications of what the device's interface can offer.
>
> ....except if you have a vision impairment and the interface  
> doesn't offer a voice overlay. The VIP community reckons it will  
> eventually be made accessible, though.

That's exactly why I thought it would be a real asset for vision- 
impaired: current tactile input devices are not perfect, and  
generally inflexible in function (other than shift/control/option/alt  
derivatives).

Of course, a voice overlay or some other form of auditory feedback  
would be required to make multi-touch useful, but I see great  
potential here. The fact that you don't have to be precise with  
hitting the right button or key, but rather use gestures, is surely  
an improvement on multi-button devices (and nondescript in function  
unless you know where you're at on the keyboard).

When I saw a working demo of multi-touch last year, I began to wonder  
about its potential in many other applications (but funnily enough,  
didn't consider phones or iPods at the time).

iT

ps. How much did the people who produced the movie, Minority Report,  
know of this?