Touch Screen: How it Changed our Lives

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Today our world is filled with new technology that has changed the way the world functions. One of the biggest is the touch screen. Touch screen technology has changed the focus of our technological advances . We find them on ATMs, phones, MP3 devices, tablets, computers, as well as other kinds of technology. Many think the touch screen has only been around since 2006, when Apple released the first iPhone. The truth is, the touch screen has been around since 1965 but it has come a long way since then.

In 1965 the first touch screen was invented and used in British air trafficking towers. “This touch screen used touch technology similar to that found in today’s tablets, but could only read one touch at a time (NPR Timeline: A History of Touch).” England’s Royal Radar used the touch screen devices until 1995 when it was replaced by a screen similar to today’s ATMs.

Touch screens greatly improved with the development of multi-touch technology. A multi-touch screen is preferred because it follows multiple touches instead of a single touch at a time. Multi-touch technology was created in 1984 by Bob Boie of Bell Labs. “This touch screen used a transparent capacitive array of touch sensors overlaid on a CRT platform (Bill Buxton Multi-Touch system).” A CRT is a screen that was generally used for computers. In other words, you could find one on your grandma’s dinosaur computer or television. Despite the fact of it being made in 1984, the multi-touch screen was quite a success. The screen was responsive, clear, and allowed the user to manipulate graphic objects on the screen. The multi-touch screen is still in use today and can be found on almost every smart phone out there.

Many people believe the iPhone was the first smart phon...

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