Touch has continually done some amazing things. One of the coolest things going right now is Nearness, a gorgeously shot experiment in interaction without touching.

From the site:

One of the essential properties of Near Field Communication is nearness, but this is set against one of the paradoxes of touch-based interaction where, in fact, nothing needs to touch.

Nearness from timo on Vimeo.

I love this idea that touch based tech is a stepping stone to much more intuitive interaction, one that requires zero knowledge of gesture based interactions.

There’s tons of evil potential when an individual is no longer explicitly declaring interaction with a machine. Its a scary thought that a computer is going to do whatever its going to do based on me just being around.

For awhile now too much stock has been placed in RFID and its ability to create wireless interactions. Its dangers can be pretty scary, but that doesn’t mean that its an inherently evil technology or that there aren’t amazing things that can be done with it.

Check out Touch’s Sniff project.

Sniff from timo on Vimeo.

This ability to create interaction between the child and the world is mindblowing. It’s Teddy Ruxpin taken to a whole new level. I’m a big fan of how the child is using the stuff dog as a tool for discovery, and while a relationship exists between the machine and the child its exists in the perceptions of the child.

[touch]