MICROSOFT SKINPUT

If there was ever any question that we were in the future, I think we can put that doubt to rest. Computers run everything. We’ve got such an array of computer hardware, there’s always a shape and size to fit your unique lifestyle.

But this is truly unprecedented. My Inspector Gadget dreams can finally be realized.

Chris Harrison, former Microsoft Research intern, has put a new spin on the idea of a “touch-screen.” He has created a working prototype of a system called Skinput, which actually turns a person’s hand and forearm into a keyboard and screen.

If you happened to be listening to NPR’s Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me quiz show,
where they initially started the buzz this weekend, you may have heard it as the answer to one of the questions.

I thought it was a joke. Seriously, though, this one-upping between computer companies is a bit out of control. How will Apple top this?

Harrison said in a interview at the recent Computer-Human Interaction conference, “People don’t love the iPhone keyboard. They use them. But they don’t love them, if you could make the iPhone keyboard as big as an arm — that would be huge.”

A series of customizable sign-language-like movements, controls a gadget in a person’s pocket through a Bluetooth connection.

A person could tap their thumb and middle finger together to answer a call; touch their forearm to go to the next track on a music player; or flick the center of their palm to select a menu item.

Fitted with a pico-projector, the Skinput system displays an image of a digital keyboard on a person’s forearm. So, using Skinput, someone could send text messages by tapping his or her arm in certain places — without pulling the phone out of a pocket or purse. So it will be important to watch your gestures, lest you unwittingly call someone you don’t want to.

Never one to pass up an opportunity for an obvious joke,
Wait, Wait host Peter Sagal joked, “At long last the Internet will be used primarily by people who are touching themselves.”

c. 2010