Haptic-friendly gadgets.

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* Remember that old AT&T jingle that concluded with "reach out and touch someone?" Now we really can, thanks to advances in haptic technology.

Aerospace, defense and other security-oriented industries typically have avoided touch-screen technologies because of the lack of tactile feedback. But recent advances in touch-based sensors are changing previous aversions to the technology.

In the medical industry, haptics-based simulations are training doctors to make incisions without having to cut open cadavers. As they wield computer styluses shaped like scalpels, surgeons feel force feedback as they exert pressure to "cut" into the skin and navigate scopes through the body. Deployed medics in the military have been training on such simulators to learn how to open up obstructed airways in troops.

Research is underway to further develop haptic technology. In Japan, scientists are exploring methods to convey different types of textures, such as smooth silk or rough sandpaper.

The wider use of haptics in touch-screen devices is having a dramatic impact in the electronics industry, says Mike Levin, vice president of Immersion Corp., based in California. For example, imagine if you press a touchscreen button and it feels as if you actually depressed a button. "You're really adding a whole other dimension to the experience," says Levin.