Computer, TV, mobile may not have a physical screen in the future

Nokia is investigating a future where our bedrooms, living rooms and offices are not cluttered with dozens of different screens. In this future vision technology will be seamlessly integrated into our lives, appearing on a as-needed basis.

"If we want to reduce the number of screens and panels cluttering up our lives, then one way of achieving that is making it so that anything can potentially be a screen, appearing and disappearing according to what we want to do, or what will be useful to us. So scientists and engineers have been experimenting with all sorts of different materials," says Nokia in a November 25 blog post.

Scientists at the Nokia Research Centre in Tampere have been experimenting with future technologies in the field, investigating how to turn a giant ice wall into an interactive screen in a project that has been dubbed "Ubice."

Nokia claims Ubice (named after post-desktop ubiquitous computing - where technology is integrated into our everyday items and actions) is the world's first ice touchscreen.

Jyri Huopaniemi at Nokia's research lab in Tampere comments, "This was a playful experiment, but one that we think showed interactive computing interfaces can now be built anywhere."

In 2009 TED speaker Pranav Mistry wowed attendees with a wearable gestural interface called SixthSense. Using a system of projectors and sensors SixthSense merges digital information with the physical world, essentially eliminating the need for stand alone mobile phones, laptops and TVs.  

"There's no going back," says Nokia. "Computers will be increasingly embedded in our lives in the future. So what scientists and engineers working in the field of pervasive computing aim to do is reduce the clutter. They're working to try to bring back an element of calmness and simplicity into our surroundings."

http://www.pranavmistry.com/projects/sixthsense/
http://research.nokia.com/news/11362