How will you like to use your body, or rather the skin on any part of your body as an input device. Precisely as a touchscreen for your computer and electronic devices? Imagine tapping your skin in order to control audio devices, play games, make phone calls, etc. Sounds like fiction I know. But the technology to do just that is already around. Maybe not yet available for you and I to play with. But the technology is already out of the laboratories.

Skinput Can Turn Your Skin Into A Touchscreen For Your Device

I read an article this morning on Physorg.com that stated that a new skin-based interface technology called Skinput has been developed. Skinput allows users to use their own hands and arm as touchscreens by detecting the various ultralow-frequency sounds produced when tapping different parts of the skin. (Never mind the technical terms). The simple fact is that you can control a device by using your finger to tap the image projected to your skin, courtesy, skinput.  I got a video of skinput in action from Youtube also.

Skinput enables a user to control devices via visual keyboard, menu, or other graphics that are beamed onto the user’s skin from a projector. Then an acoustic detector determines which part of the display is being activated by the user’s touch.

The report stated that this new technology is a collaboration between Chris Harrison of Carnegie Mellon University and Desney Tan of Microsoft Research Lab in Redmond, Washington. You can get more technical details by reading the original article at Physorg.com

I really wonder what effect this will have on the computer hardware we presently have around. It sure will get some of them further miniaturized. A palmtop computer will now have greater potential to compete favorably with the bigger netbooks and laptops as skinput turns your skin into a touchscreen.

• Computers As Tools For Running Your Business (1)

Computers are nothing more than tools to enhance your productivity. As an entrepreneur, it is necessary to employ recent technology in reducing the cost and time spent in carrying out business operations. However, the cost of introducing and maintaining such must be weighed against the benefit.

In the past, businesses owners carry out their tasks manually. They simply rely on the use of a pen, a paper and of course their mind.Some entrepreneurs still insist that that is the best way to do business. They don’t trust the funny looking machine. WEll that is a ridiculous way to reason. The truth is that the same entrepreneur that is skeptical about the usefulness of a computer is already using a smartphone to do video call. I guess he is not aware that a smartphone is just another computer in a minaturize form.

Really, it is almost impossible to run a business in this generation without employing the use of computers. If you don’t need a computer to do your documentation, you may need it to keep record. Often times the need to receive and send emails or making research online is another reason to get a computer for your business.Attempting to carry out your business tasks without employing the use of computer will simply make the tasks tedious and time consuming.

Can you imagine what it will look like if a MacDonald store in busy commercial spot decide to compute the number of sales, the expenses, the returns on investments, the salary for employees and many other activity that needs computations with a paper and pen. The record can hardly be accurate nor presented on time to management for strategic business decisions. If you get even a basic computer desktop, will no longer have to exhaust your brain in computing or your hand in recording anything. Computers have made running a business operation less stressful to the entrepreneur.

The most important area that computer has added value to business operation is in communication. Unlike before when  the fastest way to communicate with clients and customer was through telephone, now you can use the power of the internet to handle your communication. Voice calls, video calls, online conferencing, Instant Messages and the latest Twitter are some of the wonderful resources that computer and technology has made available for the use of both the big and small business owners.

The beauty of all these is that you don’t need a fortune to own a computer that can get this things done. In my next post, I will be sharing tips on how to choose the right computer for your business! You can get a free update to this post Computers As Tools For Running Your Business by subscribing to my RSS feed.

• Technology Support For Your Small Business (3)
• How To Choose The Right Computer For Your Business (15)
• Welcome To Business Computers (4)
• Skinput Turns Your Skin Into A Touchscreen! (1)
• How to Choose A Netbook Computer (18)