Minority Report Comes to the High Street

The technology you’ve been waiting for, Minority Report style computer control. According to a recent report on electronic gadgets and devices in the Guardian, there are no transparent touchscreens around yet. Well, I beg to differ. Cambridge company Visual Planet has been developing see through active screens for years. Their biggest has a 2.5 m diagonal. The only thing that’s missing from this video demonstration is Tom Cruise (thankfully) and a steady camera, but you’ll get the idea nevertheless.

Visual Planet’s publicity blurb says they have been “involved at the leading-edge of interactive and display technologies since 2001″. Apparently, they recently moved into new production facilities to keep up with worldwide demand for their interactive touch-foils - transparent films that can be un-rolled and easily applied to surfaces such as windows and even table-tops and combined with rear-projection. One of their partners, Charamel, will be demonstrating at CeBIT in March, 2007.

Something similar this way comes from Perceptive Pixel, except it’s not transparent.