The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

One button? No. Two buttons? No. Touch-sensitive technology hidden underneath a plastic shell?  Again, no. Have you ever wanted to ditch the mouse entirely, grab hold of your icons, files and folders and move them around manually? I mean, we naturally hold and manipulate objects with our hands. If you've ever wished for a similar experience when working on your computer, then take a look at the TactaPad by Tactiva.

This incredible device combines a camera with a touch-sensitive, responsive (it moves vertically as you push against it) surface that puts a translucent overlay of your hands on your display. Touch the TactaPad surface, and a cursor appears underneath your "finger" on the screen. Drag and drop, open and close applications and windows...all by "touching" them. It's really an intriguing idea. Watch the video demonstrations to get a better idea of how this works. I'd really like a chance to play with one of these.

What's really cool is you can have two active cursors at once. If you're manipulating an object in an image editing application, for example, you can "grab" opposite corners at once to turn it, resize it, flip it or relocate it on the screen.

Now before you whip out your checkbook and toss that Mighty Mouse into the trash can, I'll give you the bad news. The TactaPad isn't in production...yet. Tactiva is currently looking for a company to license the technology and bring the product to market. They expect the retail price to be in the neighborhood of $1000US. Let's keep our fingers crossed. I think it's a very cool idea.