Touch Me

No, not that kind of "Touch Me".  Touch Screens.

Touch screens have been around a long time and they have been slowly integrating into our lives: PDAs, kiosks (printing your photos at Walmart, buying tickets at the movie theatre), Tablet PCs etc. It's been more of a slow and steady evolution instead of a revolution though.  I believe we are on the cusp of the next generation of touch screens. 

Look at the kind of computer interaction that is made possible by Multi-Touch Interaction.

What's cool is how fluid the touch gestures are, there was excellent tracking, even with 8-10 concurrent gestures.  The example of resizing and sorting photos, and the map interaction in the video really showcase how a touch screen UI can be far more intuitive and productive than a keyboard and mouse (for certain applications).

Now check out "Origami" -- an Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC).  This includes the Microsoft Touch Pack which is an add-on to Windows XP which "optimizes the touch screen user interface for UMPCs to simplify navigation and ease-of-use while on the go".

In other words, people are coming up with really cool new ways of using a touch screen at the same time the cost of a touch screen is no longer the hurdle it used to be. 

I think we're on to something here...