It's getting cold outside, and soon your nimble fingers will be covered in warm, snuggly gloves that keep your digits warm but make it virtually impossible to navigate your iPhone. In fact, any capacitive touch-screen is pretty much beyond your reach (resistive works fine, thank you very much).
So you take off a glove and live with the cold, so you can touch your iPhone and virtually any one of the other 400 million capacitive touch screen devices you encounter--ATMs, gas stations, checkout counters, and the like.
On the other hand, you could simply use TouchTec's new nano-technology-impregnated gloves and never remove them for a touch screen again (unless you want to). Check out my "hands-in" report in the video; more details after the jump.
Developed by amateur inventor Jerry Leto, TouchTec gloves use nano-impregnated textiles--including real leather--to mimic the capacitive properties of the human hand. In other word, you don't even need to have your hand in them to use them.
Leto acknowledged that his are not the first gloves that let you "touch" your iPhone: Some gloves let you expose just your fingertips, and others have metal beads on them,which could also scratch the screen. Leto said he's also seen gloves that put a metal stud in the glove material that also touches your finger to transfer your capacity.
However, Leto said, these tend to react too strongly to external temperature fluctuations. Also, most of these solutions confine the capacity to a number of distinct points on the gloves. The TouchTec models are capacitive all over--pretty much like our skin.
The patent-pending process, which Leto would only say "starts at the tanning level" for leather and is much easier with fabrics, has already resulted in finished products. For now, however, they're available only at the pricey Gaspar Gloves, a designer boutique that has crafted glove designs for movies such as Batman, X-Men, and The Changeling. Pricing starts at $185.
Leto told me that more affordable models (in the $85-to-$125 range) are coming soon. When might you see far more affordable sets at, say, Wal-Mart? "When there's enough of a volume of material and demand for products that it would drive it down to that level." He added that it's likely those gloves will use less expensive materials.
This is so cool. What a great idea. I intend to put this on my Christmas list for my cold weather friends. No excuses not to stay in touch, especially with your company sales department, and don't forget your mom!
This is really really cool technology, I have to say - the fact that the entire glove is made up of the stuff definitely puts it above the other types that expose your fingertips or use the metal tips to mimic human skin. I'm looking forward to seeing this in stores!
That being said though, Lance, really man - we have to get you some cable management for your desk there! :D
Posted by:
BananaChicken October 10, 2009 8:06 AM
The gloves are very cool! I like the fact you can still use your iPhone/touch with them. However, I'm thinking the inventor sitting there probably didn't like the fella trying the gloves out saying "these are fairly expensive". He could have just said, "these are available at high-end retails stores and check out their site for more information". Sorry, but if I was the inventor sitting there and being happy these were being shown/reviewed to a lot of people, the last thing I would want to tell people is that they are "fairly expensive". In these economic times, those words are an instant turn off! The inventor obviously wants to sell the gloves and make some money, but telling the viewers “these are fairly expensive” is a no no. Let the potential customer find the cost out for themselves via the glove maker’s site or by viewing the product first hand in a store. At least the company would get traffic, hits and interest to their site. $85 to $100 for a pair of gloves may seem high to some, but considering they are the only pair to allow you to use your iPhone with them on is worth it! I’ve seen gloves cost twice that amount and they don’t do anything except look nice!
Posted by:
BananaChicken October 10, 2009 8:09 AM
By the way...my comment was not intended to flame or hurt the person(s) viewing the video or the editor from PC mag.
Posted by:
Anthony Sebastian October 12, 2009 6:03 PM
I have a disability that precludes use of my hands or fingers. I keyboard with a rubber-tipped mouthstick. I cannot use an iPhone, as the rubber-tipped mouthstick does not work with the touchscreen. Could I cut off a finger of the glove, use it to 'englove' my rubber-tipped mouthstick, and still expect to be able to use an iPhone with my outhstick? Or does the glove need to remain whole to work?
Posted by:
E Chuy October 12, 2009 9:13 PM
It seems to me, Anthony, that if the glove work as advertised, you would only need one of the fingertips of the glove material to cover the end of your mouthstick. The limitation I would see if you actually able to make it work, is you would miss the multitouch capabilities. I wish you luck in getting in touch with somebody who can help you try your idea.
The one thing though, using the one tip as you would or the whole glove as intended, would tend to obscure more of the screen, in comparison to a finger (or two for multitouch), which is one of the reasons why I don't see myself using a small capacitive touchscreen such as the Iphone's even without the glove.
Anthony Sebastian: The answer is yes. In fact, Leto is working on a pen that puts a small circle of this nano-fabric on the tail end. That could easily be ported to a long pointing stick. I saw the pen work, it’s very cool.
Anthony, contact me directly and I will assist you. I used to volunteer at Stanford, working with the disabled, to enable them to interact with modern technology. I would be more than happy to get a prototype of one of these mouthstick "TouchPenz" so you can use an ipod, iPhone or any other type of touchscreen for that matter. BTW, the pen was "supposed" to be a secret for another couple of weeks, but its all good. Anthony, reach out to me via email so I can get the dimensions right. I will custom create one of these for you. Jerry
Like Anthony we are interested in anything that could make independent access possible for our son who is severely disabled and 6yo. I was thinking of having something with a pincer or tap type movement which when activated by a head or foot switch (his only way of controlling things) it could cause the conductive pincer to tap the screen. It would be positioned over the appropriate part of the screen to allow the desired effect.
I know then I would need to have someone develop an app for step scan auditory scanning... but that is down the track a little. It could even mean two pincers/tappers on the iPhone with two switches means he could make a yes/no choice with a fully portable device...
Mixx It
Digg It
Stumble
More...
October 9, 2009 12:42 PM
This is so cool. What a great idea. I intend to put this on my Christmas list for my cold weather friends. No excuses not to stay in touch, especially with your company sales department, and don't forget your mom!
October 9, 2009 2:35 PM
This is really really cool technology, I have to say - the fact that the entire glove is made up of the stuff definitely puts it above the other types that expose your fingertips or use the metal tips to mimic human skin. I'm looking forward to seeing this in stores!
That being said though, Lance, really man - we have to get you some cable management for your desk there! :D
October 10, 2009 8:06 AM
The gloves are very cool! I like the fact you can still use your iPhone/touch with them. However, I'm thinking the inventor sitting there probably didn't like the fella trying the gloves out saying "these are fairly expensive". He could have just said, "these are available at high-end retails stores and check out their site for more information". Sorry, but if I was the inventor sitting there and being happy these were being shown/reviewed to a lot of people, the last thing I would want to tell people is that they are "fairly expensive". In these economic times, those words are an instant turn off! The inventor obviously wants to sell the gloves and make some money, but telling the viewers “these are fairly expensive” is a no no. Let the potential customer find the cost out for themselves via the glove maker’s site or by viewing the product first hand in a store. At least the company would get traffic, hits and interest to their site. $85 to $100 for a pair of gloves may seem high to some, but considering they are the only pair to allow you to use your iPhone with them on is worth it! I’ve seen gloves cost twice that amount and they don’t do anything except look nice!
October 10, 2009 8:09 AM
By the way...my comment was not intended to flame or hurt the person(s) viewing the video or the editor from PC mag.
October 12, 2009 6:03 PM
I have a disability that precludes use of my hands or fingers. I keyboard with a rubber-tipped mouthstick. I cannot use an iPhone, as the rubber-tipped mouthstick does not work with the touchscreen. Could I cut off a finger of the glove, use it to 'englove' my rubber-tipped mouthstick, and still expect to be able to use an iPhone with my outhstick? Or does the glove need to remain whole to work?
October 12, 2009 9:13 PM
It seems to me, Anthony, that if the glove work as advertised, you would only need one of the fingertips of the glove material to cover the end of your mouthstick. The limitation I would see if you actually able to make it work, is you would miss the multitouch capabilities. I wish you luck in getting in touch with somebody who can help you try your idea.
The one thing though, using the one tip as you would or the whole glove as intended, would tend to obscure more of the screen, in comparison to a finger (or two for multitouch), which is one of the reasons why I don't see myself using a small capacitive touchscreen such as the Iphone's even without the glove.
October 13, 2009 12:24 PM
Anthony Sebastian: The answer is yes. In fact, Leto is working on a pen that puts a small circle of this nano-fabric on the tail end. That could easily be ported to a long pointing stick. I saw the pen work, it’s very cool.
October 13, 2009 11:55 PM
Anthony, contact me directly and I will assist you. I used to volunteer at Stanford, working with the disabled, to enable them to interact with modern technology. I would be more than happy to get a prototype of one of these mouthstick "TouchPenz" so you can use an ipod, iPhone or any other type of touchscreen for that matter. BTW, the pen was "supposed" to be a secret for another couple of weeks, but its all good. Anthony, reach out to me via email so I can get the dimensions right. I will custom create one of these for you. Jerry
October 19, 2009 7:37 PM
Like Anthony we are interested in anything that could make independent access possible for our son who is severely disabled and 6yo. I was thinking of having something with a pincer or tap type movement which when activated by a head or foot switch (his only way of controlling things) it could cause the conductive pincer to tap the screen. It would be positioned over the appropriate part of the screen to allow the desired effect.
I know then I would need to have someone develop an app for step scan auditory scanning... but that is down the track a little. It could even mean two pincers/tappers on the iPhone with two switches means he could make a yes/no choice with a fully portable device...