It used to be the case that if you wanted to reach out and touch someone, you had to use your hands. But thanks to scientists in the U.K., you might some day be able to use technology--and no, we're not talking the telephone--to transmit the emotions you experience to someone else via touch.

A study conducted by Dr. Marianna Obrist at the University of Sussex has established that touches to certain parts of the hand tend to be interpreted as specific emotions. For example, contact to the outer part of the hand is generally seen as negative; unhappy emotions are triggered by touches to the area around the pinky, while tactile sensations in the index figure are more positive. (Obrist's study did not, however, show a physiological reaction from the touches.)

Obrist used a system to test the emotional impact of the study’s participants called Ultrahaptics, which uses directed bursts of air to trigger those emotions via haptic--or touch-based--feedback. Though the UltraHaptics device is bulky and sits on a desk, the researchers envision a day when the same end result could be accomplished by a bracelet worn on one's wrist.

It's hardly a far-fetched idea, especially given the current intense interest around both haptics and wearable technology. Take the soon-to-debut Apple Watch, which uses a specialized Taptic Engine to deliver silent notifications that feel like someone is tapping you on the wrist. The Watch can also be used to send one's heartbeat to a friend or loved one, which they then experience as a series of taps on the wrist. Granted, in many cases that might seem toointimate, and it potentially conveys fewer distinct emotions than Obrist's system.

Beyond just the ability to communicate emotions between two people, the Sussex researchers also propose the idea of a one-to-many relationship where, say, a performer could 'send' emotions to audience members who raise their hands into the air (though probably not like they just don't care).

這台 9 塊美金電腦可做的事情超越想像。Next Thing 設計團隊表示，Chip 相容於各種顯示螢幕，不管是新型的液晶型螢幕，又或是傳統大型電視，只要搭配傳輸線並供應電源，各種螢幕就能立即變身為一台電腦，可以瀏覽網頁、玩遊戲等。

Next Thing 設計團隊解釋，他們希望壓低電腦價格，不只是為了吸引買氣，更希望能藉由開源設計，開放大眾共同開創、設計出不同的創新應用。在個人電腦逐漸式微的當今社會，Chip 逆向以低價格、低運算效能出發，他們希望能藉此宣示，「人人自製個人電腦的時代已經來臨」。