Skinput turns your hand into a touchscreen and your fingers into a keypad. Creative thinkers over at Microsoft Research have created Skinput, a Bluetooth-enabled device that allows you to use your own skin as a peripheral input device for devices like cell phones, MP3 players or gaming consoles.

Skinput uses an armband, which contains a small projector that beams the phone/player/console interface onto your arm ... or in the case of a certain Presidential wanna-be, onto the hand¹. At that point, your arm – or hand – becomes a touchscreen. Tap your skin to click on the virtual buttons being displayed. If you’ve just dialed a phone number, it sends the info to your phone and dials the call. Or you could scroll through your ArmPhone's selection of apps.

Now instead of just walking around appearing to talk to yourself, you can add tapping various parts of your body to the mix. The good news is that involuntary commitments are limited to 72 hours.

Besides, it sure beats getting caught with Sharpie-written crib notes on your hand.²

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^1,2 The joke here is that politician Sarah Palin, who is two scoops shy of being a triple-dip sundae, tries very hard to convince people that she really is smart. Recently on a TV talk show she was trying very, very hard to impress — but got caught with crib notes scrawled on her hand. Once again she proves that she is not ready for prime time – not for prime-time TV, and most certainly not ready for the 4 years of prime-time as leader of the world's most important and powerful country.