Line Blurring Between Humans, Machines Latest Technology Stretches Definition Of ‘Virtual Reality’

When it comes to technology, ordinary sight and sound just doesn’t cut it anymore.

Imagine sliding the computer cursor across a Web page - and feeling textures and bumps through the hand-held mouse. Or driving a car that responds to spoken commands, and even talks back to warn the engine’s too hot.

A fresh wave of products tries to mimic the world as we might naturally see, hear or feel it. Stretching the definition of “virtual reality,” the technology aims to lend humanity to the faceless devices that threaten to alienate us from our everyday activities.

The trend is not new. Telephones replaced telegraphs because speaking was more natural. Movies grew less silent. Color photographs supplanted black-and-whites.

More recently, “virtual reality” software that recreates 3-D imagery invaded computer games and professional situations, such as helping surgeons operate on hard-to-see areas.

But the latest wave enters a new tactile dimension. Whether it catches on may be decided by thousands of delegates who attended the giant Comdex trade show in Las Vegas last week.

“The real question is, ‘Does the new technology present a profound new mode of communication, or is it just a trivial thing?”’ said Paul Levinson, a New York-based author who chronicled technology’s evolution in his book “The Soft Edge.”

Consider the FEELit mouse, which is made by Immersion Corp., a Silicon Valley start-up funded in part by chip giant Intel Corp. The bulbous gizmo is attached to a Teflon-coated pad, which is slightly thicker than most ordinary foam pads and includes a silicon microprocessor and magnets that control the mouse.

Drag an icon across the screen, and “feel” its weight through the mouse’s pull. Drop the icon into a computer folder and feel a “pop” as it falls.

Software allows users to change sensations for different circumstances. Users can choose a spring-like sensation for scroll bars and snaps for icons, for instance.

The company already licenses the technology to 12 makers of computer-game joysticks, but the debut of a mouse and accompanying software that works with Windows 95 could draw a wider audience - particularly helpful to users with shaky hands or poor vision.

“Now it’s a device that can sit on everybody’s desk,” said Immersion chief executive Louis Rosenberg, who expects the mouse to work with up to 100 software games by Christmas.

Price could be a deterrent. While most PCs include a mouse for free, the FEELit product is expected to sell for about $140 when it hits retail shelves next spring.

For a real stretch of the senses, check out an experimental auto that brings to mind television’s “My Mother, the Car.” The car at Comdex included the latest voice-recognition software to “respond” to the spoken commands of driver and passengers, like flicking on wipers or lights.

No need to sing campfire songs. Passengers use on-board computers to access the Internet, or play computer games like Myst.

One way to humanize technology is to make it scarcely noticeable.

Take laptops. Japan’s Mitsubishi showed off a portable computer that is only .7 inch thick - up to 60 percent skinnier than most notebooks today.

The new machine features the latest technology, but weighs only 3.1 pounds. It goes on sale early next year.

No matter how futuristic their products, all high-tech companies share a common goal: to convince consumers that their current technology is obsolete and needs replacing. To do that, developers must continually create fresh and exciting products that also are useful.

“We need to be skeptical in a healthy way of the messages coming out of industry, and need to realize they are constantly having to convince us we need to upgrade our machinery,” said David Shenk, author of “Data Smog,” a book on how technology clutters our lives.

“They are in the business of not only producing technology, but also producing anxiety.”

Just like real life.