Light Touch revives laser virtual interfaces

[Derrick]

Laser projected keyboards have been around for a while now, such as the I-Tech Virtual Laser (http://www.virtual-laser-keyboard.com/). But Light Blue Optics has upped the ante at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2010 with their latest product offering, which was a CES honouree in the Media Player and Electronics categories.

The Light Touch (http://lightblueoptics.com/products/light-touch/) device projects a 10.1 inch virtual WVGA colour touchscreen on to any flat surface. To achieve this it uses some sort of holographic laser voodoo which can detect the motion of fingers interacting with it. It is a class 1 laser device, meaning it is eye safe for all conditions of use.

For connectivity, it has a micro USB port, 2.5mm composite video-in connector, and a 3.5mm stereo-out jack. A WiFi connection gives the device access to the Internet or a closed network, depending on the purpose it is used for. Internally there is 2GB of flash storage, which can be expanded with a Micro SD card.

The device uses a Windows CE operating system with Adobe Flash Lite on top, which presumably powers the touch-interactive applications loaded on to the device. Flash Lite should prove an ideal platform for developing a number of interesting applications. Here the imagination of developers will make or break the device.

Not only can one use it as a personal mobile Internet enabled device, but it can be put to use for more specific tasks as well. Light Touch has put forward some usage scenarios, such as an interactive catalogue for use next to displays in stores, or for use as an interactive menu and ordering system in restaurants.

With this in mind, it could be an affordable and viable competitor to products such as Microsoft’s interactive Surface system. Having just emerged, there is currently no information on when we might see the Light Touch in action.