Texas Instruments has released the Capacitive Touch Booster Pack for the Launchpad platform. This hardware/software combo demonstrates the use of touch sensitivity and proximity sensing with the Launchpad platform. Check out the video for an interesting demonstration!
While I've not been a big fan of touch sensing (which has been all the rage lately), I have to admit that the demo does look pretty cool. TI spent some effort in designing the hardware and software to make interesting apps, and it shows. I actually found myself thinking about things I could do with this platform rather than dismissing the product out of hand like I've done before when looking at 'touch sense' applications.
The launch price is, surprise surprise, $4.30 but the claim is that's a limited time price. As with the Launchpad itself, you can order up to 3 of them at once. Also like the Launchpad order itself, TI is not charging shipping.
So I have a couple of these on their way to me; maybe I'll find something cool and interesting to do with them.