Touch me not

In 1886, Filipino national hero, Jose Rizal, wrote the novel, Noli Me Tangere and sparked a revolution. The title may be translated in Filipino as Huwag Mo Akong Salingin. In English, Touch Me Not.

In 2006, American inventor, Jeffrey Han showed his digital technology to the world and sparked a revolution in media reporting and forecasting. This time, it is all about touching.

Computer whiz Han perfected a multi-point interactive touch-screen technology and sold it to CNN in 2007. This year, CNN unveiled its “Magic Wall”, a giant TV screen showing graphs, charts, maps, and data on the ongoing American election. Think of it as a really big iTouch. CNN anchor John King navigated the screen with his fingers. He adjusted pie charts, zoomed in and out of a map from a country view down to household clusters, and made bold predictions on who is leading and who is trailing behind.

This is indeed the power of information at your fingertips.

Han’s company Perceptive Pixel developed this technology called the Multi-Touch Collaboration Wall, after years of research. Han was a researcher at the New York University. A simpler version of the Magic Wall is available for US$ 100,000.00.

The multi-touch technique finds its roots in 1982 with multi-touch tablets and screens. Apple tried to register the word multi-touch as part of the iPhone trademark in 2007.

It took over two decades before the multi-touch technology gained its rightful place in our computer era. Thanks to a very young researcher named Jeffrey Han.

Jose Rizal's Noli started the downfall of the Spanish reign in the Philippines. Whose reign will end with Jeffrey Han's Magic Wall?