Splish Splash, My Computer's Taking a Bath

Goodbye, point-and-click; hello, point-and-splash! This water-based touch screen by Japanese designer Taichi Inoue is more than just clever and ergonomic, it's downright summery.

In his artist statement, Inoue writes, "It is difficult to say that the interface of mechanical materials like a keyboard, a mouse and so on is very suitable for man. So I made the Minamo interface. 'Minamo' means 'Surface of water' in Japanese. Water is the most intimate material for human body. And I decided to make a touch screen interface on water surface."

The device—a transparent, water-filled fish tank placed on top of an upturned LCD screen—uses a webcam and Max/MSP+Jitter to keep track of user movement.

See it in action below.

• Previously, Fingerpainting for Baby Cyborgs.