When it comes to the future of computing, why not skip the middleman? That’s the basic idea behind Skinput, a technology that skips the whole notion of using manufactured touchpads or keyboards to interface with electronic devices. What could be more simple, elegant and sustainable than using your own skin, which you already have, which lasts a lifetime, and which you will never leave behind in a taxi? Skinput was developed by a team headed by Carnegie Mellon University student Chris Harrison, as a way to enable people to manipulate ever-smaller electronic devices.
Though new technologies are bringing us closer to molecular-sized computers, the size of touchpads and keyboards is still somewhat limited by the size of the average human finger. Freed from that equation, electronic devices like phones and MP3 players could shrink down to truly microscopic sizes – and that could have some important implications for e-waste, energy efficiency and the sustainable future of electronics.