10 Tech Research Projects to Watch

[PC World]

Technology firms wowed us in 2011, delivering tablets, ultrathin laptops, innovative cloud services, and voice command digital assistants. Not so long ago, the technology underlying these products was nothing more than research and development projects. So, in an effort to peek into our not-so-distant tech future, here’s a glimpse at ten promising projects percolating in tech research labs.

I’ll take you behind the scenes at Microsoft, IBM, and university labs where researchers are experimenting with a range of fascinating technology that may appear in future consumer products. Look forward to 3D images you can “touch,” touchscreens that get sticky, robotic astronauts, and — yes — even flying cars.

HoloDesk

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Programmable Friction

Researchers at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver are working on a new kind of haptic feedback for touchscreens. Programmable friction uses small mechanical discs to make the display of a tablet or smartphone vibrate so that it feels more or less “sticky” depending on how you are interacting with objects on the screen, according to a report in NewScientist. One practical use of this technology could be moving folders around a desktop using touch. Friction on the screen increases when you hover over a folder to make it an easier touch target, and the screen oscillates when you hover over a trash bin as a kind of warning that you’re about to discard a file.

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Read the full article here: http://www.pcworld.com/article/247164/10_tech_research_projects_to_watch.html