For the moment forget about touchscreens, multi-touch technology and all that regular interactive stuff. Microsoft has got something new in mind when it comes to computer-human interface collaboration. The new technology Microsoft is designing is an even more interactive way of dealing with the technology at hand (pardon the pun). Sure it uses multi-touch and even motion sensing, if you can all it that and even offers tactile feedback but all in a very new and exciting way. This new technology takes interactive to a whole new level that will allow users to very physically touch the actual technology and even squash, stretch, roll, or even rub it.

This technology, a "sensor tile", is designed to be at the base of a device. It produces magnetic multiple fields above its surface by which disturbances to these fields can be tracked on a display. For example, the user could manipulate a ferrous fluid-filled bladder to sculpt 3D virtual objects on-screen. The researchers mentioned that the surface can easily be reconfigured to use a variety of input options. The researchers have also experimented with applying currents to 64 magnetic coils, each wrapped in a coiled wire, within a 100-square-centimeter sensor tile, to induce physical effects on the objects placed on top of the tile. This would also enable the user to receive haptic feedback. This technology has a lot of potential and we should hope to see it in the near future. It could also make for some fantastic psychedelic techno- art.

[Technology Review]