subject: The Touchscreen Providing New Potential For Creative Control [print this page] Technological advances in the modern day are somewhat taken for granted; they are happening far more frequently than ever before and the leaps that are being made are growing too. All it takes is to look back 70 years to see how far we have come with the development of digital technology. In 1943 Thomas J Watson predicted that there would only ever be a worldwide market for five computers, because they were so big, so expensive and so time consuming to make. Nowadays computers are everywhere; they have become versatile machines that have begun rendering much old analogue technology obsolete.
There are a variety of different formats that computers come in these days; the first that the public was introduced to was the desktop computer. The desktop computer is renowned for being a powerful machine that still holds its own against many more modern equivalents. Its sheer capacity for storage, processing power and general reliability has played in its favour. For many people the desktop computer is one that cant be beaten simply because of how easy it is to upgrade, even people who know nothing about the inner workings of a computer can change components successfully. For this reason desktop computers are an extremely economical choice.
The laptop then presented a portable option for the computing world, while these computers are not as easy to upgrade, due to the miniature components that go into making them. This therefore requires the assistance if a professional to do so they have still proven to be quite popular. Having a mobile computer was something that many people found useful for a variety of different reasons. Following this there was the smartphone, the first successful computer/phone hybrid, and this can perform basic computer tasks such as checking emails and all the original functions a mobile phone could.
One defining feature of the smartphone is the touchscreen, which is also now found on tablet computers. For many people touchscreen technology is something that is only useful as a novelty, however it is more than likely that it will go on to have some significant implications for creative control and innovative methods of interfacing with technology. Already it seems that there are gaps in the market for new interfaces; musicians are always looking for more intuitive ways to program MIDI tracks and draw automation, and the gaming world has seen the introduction of gesture technology using kinetic sensors, with probably the most obvious example being the Nintendo Wii.