14 DAY TRIAL // We've seen our share of disposable technological inventions, but the one presented most recently by a team of researchers may take the cake as far as usability is concerned.
Paper has been an essential part of our society for centuries, especially after the invention of the printing press in 1440-1450.
Now, we couldn't imagine our lives without paper the same way we wouldn't imagine them without the wheel, or without electricity. Sure, the world is getting increasingly digitized, but paper isn't disappearing any time soon.
That doesn't mean it can't evolve though. In fact, a team of scientists from both the US and France took some paper and infused it with electronic properties. And we don't just mean any electronic properties, but touch support.
That's right, what we are looking at is a paper-based disposable touchpad, the sort that could be built into book covers and product labels.
With a cost of $.25 per square meter, the touchpad uses metallized paper coated in aluminum and a transparent polymer. Several individual capacitors can be cut into this paper by means of lasers.
Capacitance increases when a person touches the capacitors, signaling that physical contact has been made. All it takes for an electronic device to pick up on the change is some external circuitry and a power source.
And here is the catch, since there always seems to be one: the paper touchpads may already be ready to serve, but there aren't sufficiently cheap and flexible power sources and electronics to assist them.
Not that there aren't small enough circuits, but the power/circuits have to be disposable as well. This is, after all, supposed to still be paper that can be thrown away without any regrets. On that note, you know your world has changed when you can trash a box fitted with an authorization keypad without batting an eye.