Another blog named Digital Digressions (nuts, and it looks like she used it first, too) points to a video demo of a touch screen with multiple contact points. This is the interface I want! Everything on the screen responds to touch. You can move things around, zoom or resize, stretch, pull, and “play” with objects on the screen using both hands. I think something like this will be a big part of future computer interfaces, perhaps combined with thin, flexible displays. I can’t wait.
Now I just need a more original name for my own site.
[…] Of course, there will always be some user screaming if you remove his favorite key, so it’s easier to keep the legacy keys than remove them. And for power users, mouse-driven interfaces still can’t match the speed of Escape Meta Alt Control Shift. This will have to change, and I think it will with large, multiple-contact, flexible touch screens. Keyboards will stick around for a long time, because there’s nothing better for getting a lot of text down fast, and the tactile response is important. But they will be more “peripheral,” stripped down to their essential function and used only occasionally. […]