Touch+ co-founder talks multi-touch technology & the future of computer interaction (video)

There’s no doubt that multi-touch technology has fundamentally reshaped the ways in which we interact with computers on a daily basis. From smartphones to tablets, multi-touch devices have become a routine part of our everyday lives, but to date, there hasn’t yet been a ubiquitous solution for transforming your desktop into a multi-touch experience.

The lack of a good multi-touch product for desktops is exactly what Darren Lim and his company Ractiv set out to achieve with their new Touch+ product. In a recent interview from San Francisco, Lim talks to VentureBeat about how Ractiv came about, how Touch+ works, and what the future of human-computer interaction will look like.

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To find out more, watch the full interview below:

These are the key takeaways from the interview:

• According to Darren Lim, the co-founder and CEO of Ractiv, the company that’s responsible for the development of the product, Touch+ is a consumer technology product that turns any surface into “multi-touch and more.”
• Touch+ enables users to utilize or any flat surface as a controller for their desktop or laptop, much like that of an iPad or other tablet device. By using technology that detects a user’s hand movements, Touch+ effectively removes the necessity for a traditional mouse or trackpad, and simulates the experience of using a tablet or touch-screen device on your desktop or laptop.
• Touch+ is built to work right out of the box with any desktop or laptop and removes the need for an external click mouse. For those familiar with Microsoft’s “Kinect” technology, Touch+ has similar motion detection functionality, but is not built for native use with any one particular application or product.
• Touch+ is Mac and PC compatible and is designed to seamlessly integrate with your existing applications and software.
• Lim explains that Ractiv was founded as a result of his fascination with the ways in which humans interact with computers and his interest in the future technologies that might reshape those interactions.
• Touch+ is available starting August 5, 2014 on ractiv.com.

As consumer technology continues to evolve, there’s no telling what the future might hold, but one thing’s for sure: Multi-touch PC experiences are well on their way, and Ractiv’s Touch+ is one of many we expect to see on the market in the immediate future.

Murray Newlands is a freelance journalist and video producer.