At Microsoft, they call it “the fat finger problem.”Chubby digits make it tough to work the screens on computing devices that seem to get smaller and smaller every year. Your finger bumbles about, often covering up the very information that you’re trying to see.Researchers at Microsoft think they’ve come up with a way to solve the fat-finger issue by letting people manipulate the back of a device with their finger while still looking at the front screen. It’s a project called Nanotouch and was one of many that Microsoft had on display this week at its headquarters in Redmond, Wash., during the TechFest event.An early incarnation of the nanotouch technology could have people shuffling through songs on their cell phone or selecting contacts while touching the back of the device where sensors follow the fingers’ movements. Patrick Baudisch, a Microsoft researcher, said this could be especially useful with games where you want to shuffle a character or object around the screen without your hands getting in the way of the action.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/microsofts-fight-against-fat-fingers/
Microsoft’s Fight Against Fat Fingers
… Researchers at Microsoft think they’ve come up with a way to solve the fat-finger issue by letting people manipulate the back of a device with their finger while still looking at the front screen. It’s a project called Nanotouch and was one of many that Microsoft had on display this week at its headquarters in Redmond, Wash., during the TechFest event.