Here’s one of the coolest things you’ve seen all week, even if the technology behind it is a little mysterious. Researchers at the Tokyo University of Technology have developed a new interface they are calling "Pinch” that allows you to group individual tablets or smartphones together to create one large display.  The researchers are not being forthcoming with details about how it’s accomplished (they are simply calling it a “Wi-Fi-based system”), but it’s incredibly cool nonetheless.

“Pinch” was first demonstrated in a video posted by DigInfo TV. (You can find it here.)


Image via Shutterstock

Here’s how you set it up: you place a thumb and index finger on two adjacent screens and use the “pinch” motion Android (News - Alert) users will be familiar with, and voila: the screens magically link up. The screens can be lined up freely, whether vertical or horizontal, and the pictures can be matched up if they're misaligned, reports DigInfo TV.

"This Pinch interface we've developed is used to create applications that make devices react when they've both been pinched, so they work together,” said one of Pinch’s developers. “In the case of a graphics application, when the devices recognize they've been pinched, they can show the whole picture as if it's on one screen. You could use Pinch to develop a variety of apps. For example, with a music app, if you connect devices horizontally, you could keep playing music for a long time."

Tokyo University researchers noted that though most people have only one or two devices, the Pinch could be used, for example, at parties for fun. The interface has been showed at conferences, but hasn’t been formally launched yet. Researchers say they hope developers will use the technology to create new apps.