Via a post over on “we make money not art” comes word of an electronic device for the blind. From their source, News.3Yen (which provides translation from the original Asahi.com article):

The prototype, displays 24 letters which can be refreshed with new text in approximately one second making reading easy for visual handicapped persons. A plastic sheet or card displays Braille lettering by creating arrays of bumps on its rubber-like surface.

Some years back I was imagining how something similar to this could be used as a virtual world interface. Imagine being able to transmit touch via a pressure sensitive input device and “display” it on this material. Now imagine a full-body suit made from it. Hmmm. Maybe you shouldn’t do that.

{Update: C|Net is now carrying a Reuters article on “touch” via cyberspace. Too bad they couldn’t have posted this a day earlier. Here’s the link}