Knocking on wood was about knocking on unpainted wood, so that you have actual direct physical contact with wood. Remote knocking seems to go in the other direction...
I know it from Polish usage. In Polish it's "odpukać w niemalowane [drewno]"/"knocking on unpainted [wood]", wood is typically not spoken, the important part is that the wood is unpainted/raw. Superstitious people would especially leave the underside of table unpainted or leave some unpainted wood nearby in living room just for this occasion.
The contents of the article make it clear that "touch wood" is basically synonymous with "knock on wood," making the knocking less important than the touching.
But is is important to mention that a ctrl-f on that page for "unpainted" is proof that you didn't spend much time looking.
Do you have reason to believe that the article knows something about the origin of this practice that no one else in the world knows? The claim is set in the past, not the present. And it has to be, since there is no present significance to unpainted wood in English-speaking cultures.
There are societies where rather than knocking on wood one turns one's head and spits. For example: "Grandad is looking well after his fall, let's hope that doesn't happen again. Ptew!"
I can't explain why but it's amazing! Maybe because in my culture "knocking on the wood 3 times" helps to avoid the bad luck and I lived with that for 20 years, or maybe it's just fun to imagine that you're knocking on the wood remotely ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The knockers are missing solar panels to continuously charge their batteries. So there will be sustained costs to keep them running. And how water-proof are they? Apart from that, it's going to sell like hot cakes.
https://aftertherapturepetcare.com/
The Rabbit AI of this space: a wearable over-the-shoulder salt thrower that connects to a cloud API
How do you know this? For example, there is a wikipedia page section entitled "Origin of use in the English language"...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knocking_on_wood#Origin_of_use...
but the contents of that section make it extremely clear that no relevant facts are known to wikipedia.
But is is important to mention that a ctrl-f on that page for "unpainted" is proof that you didn't spend much time looking.
Looking for this in app form.
https://www.dezeen.com/2023/10/31/kinky-kashayam-portable-bl...
Though it seems less like machine response than humans integrating technology into superstitious belief.
https://stuartcollection.ucsd.edu/artist/allen.html#about-th...