Why do we seek to fill our geek little hearts with glee through new technologies? Why do we want to stroke, hold, pinch and shake our shiny new gadgets? Because we believe they will bring us a better future with improved health, networks and jetpacks. Eris Stassi is not a futurologist, but she is studying the literature and thinks there may be some doubt around a utopian dream of the future.  She does however see a role for exploratory technologies that go beyond touch interfaces to save us from the inevitable zombie invasion.

Some of the cool stuff she referenced in her (amazingly short) talk:

Nanotechnology contact lens designed to detect glucose levels in diabetics - it changes colour to reflect sugar levels.
Think labs iPhone app linked to their digital stethascope to capture and display patient sounds, email recordings etc
Copenhagen wheel from MIT which captures the energy dissipated while cycling and braking and maps pollution levels, traffic congestion and road conditions in real-time.
The Sniff RFID dog
SixthSense - a wearable gestural interface that uses natural hand gestures to interact with information.