TouchSmarter: Touch Screen Gadgets

In an excellent article recently written on PC World, tech analyst Mike Elgan points out that Apple may have replaced Microsoft as the computer company that people love to hate.  As he admits in the article, his goal in doing this was not to bury Apple, but rather to point out that neither Apple nor Microsoft deserved a lot of the vitriol heaped at them in terms of bundling software and forcing it on users as well as using the large inertia of their monopoly-like companies to bowl over competitors and stifle creativity in the marketplace as a result.

You can get a good lowdown on exactly how Apple is doing today what Microsoft used to do from that article, but there is a point missed in that article that intimately relates to Multitouch.  That topic is how Apple came to replace Microsoft as the major industry player.

In the opinion of many, the reason this happened was that Microsoft’s monopoly-like inertia reached past a critical point.  When this happened, instead of stifling the competition in the marketplace, Microsoft became old news, unable to respond to changes in the marketplace and changes in consumer behaviour.  The Surface Computer (an overpriced flashy item that does nothing for the average person) and Windows Vista (quite possibly the worst operating system in history, especially from a mobile and Multitouch point of view) are very good indications of that.

Since the consumers are mostly interested in mobile Multitouch products at the moment, Apple seems to be top dog.  If they want to avoid Microsoft’s fate however, they need to be more on the ball in responding the next time the tech marketplace undergoes a large shift.

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It would be completely foolish for anyone that knows anything about analyzing the electronics industry to write off a product that Microsoft has created.  If there is one thing the corporation has shown again and again it is that they can market a thoroughly bad product to death and make it into a good product through sheer force of will.  The Surface is by no means a bad product in the absolute sense, but has been made to look bad because of cost overruns and a comparatively fantastic iPhone sales number.  However, Microsoft has been plugging away with the Surface, getting marketing deal after marketing deal to the point where the Surface Computer and the Multitouch technology it carries has been recognized as a mainstream product in hotels and retail stores around the country.

Now, with yet another astonishing marketing turn, Microsoft has been able to market the Surface Computer to MSNBC for their coverage of the 2008 American Presidential Election.  This coverage is something that is very much enhanced by the Multitouch display that has allowed people to touch places on a map of the country and then move votes to or from those places by virtue of dragging their fingers across the screen.  The newest Surface Computer that MSNBC is using actually comes with McCain and Obama action figures, both of which are uniquely recognized by the Surface display.

With this kind of theatre you can only tip your hat off to the Microsoft Corporation that is really pulling out all the stops to make their Surface Computer as mainstream as possible.

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Just a few days after the announcements surrounding the placement of the Surface Computer in some of the key retail areas of the country, Microsoft has come back with yet another announcement.  This announcement has to do with their newly introduced Multitouch Cell and the announcement is that the future of Minority Report is here.

Well, that isn’t actually the announcement, but it really does capture the gist of what Microsoft was trying to get across with this particular release.  The massive Multitouch Cell wall device is meant to be something for the super rich to purchase that will allow them the chance to experience the future of technology before everyone else.

The Multitouch Cell features products that come in 32 inch and 42 inch displays and have a maximum resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels.  This massive screen will allow you the opportunity to push pictures, notes and other program windows back and forth across the surface using the same Multitouch technology that is featured in the Microsoft Surface Computer.  In this way, the Multitouch Cell can really be thought of as the Microsoft Surface on steroids, something that is a very pleasant image for anyone that loves the Surface Computer.

What does the Multitouch Cell mean for the Microsoft Corporation?  At the current moment in time the answer in practical terms is not much.  The Multitouch Cell does absolutely nothing for Microsoft’s efforts to break into the mainstream Multitouch market, although it does have the potential to do so later in the future when these units are mass produced.  In that sense, it is a much better flagship product for Microsoft than the Surface ever was.

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Of all of the different developments that have taken place in the Multitouch category recently, it can be argued that the advent of wall Multitouch technology is definitely the most interesting.  The wall technology has been created by Microsoft in an effort to make their Multitouch products more accessible for the average human being.  After all, while the Surface Computer is a very impressive piece of technology, it’s not really something that would interest people outside of technology circles.  Wall Multitouch displays on the other hand can be used by anyone including conventional desktop computer users that want to incorporate Multitouch into their everyday lives.

However, it appears as though Microsoft is not alone in their plans for Multitouch, although the competition this time around is coming from an unexpected source.

Newly launched Multitouch hardware company Multi Touch Incorporated has come out with a new product known as the Multi Touch Cell.  This device is designed to function exactly like Microsoft’s Multitouch wall unit with additional functionality and a cost that might present more value for the dollar to savvy technology consumers.  For this reason, it is quite obvious that the unveiling at this time was done so that Multi Touch could take aim at Microsoft’s product and steal a portion of the wall market away from the software giant.  If they’re successful, it would represent the second consecutive loss that Microsoft has taken in a battle over a specific portion of the Multitouch market.

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How to do you perceive your home in 2013? Do you want all the devices in your home to run with your voice common and simply want to navigate through using your hands? Then you can surely dream about it because human touch and natural user interface is something that companies are seeing their future in. Some laptops and handheld devices already use biometric finger scans to access stored data and can easily recognize the human touch as input device. Well, these things might come into other device within your home too making your life much easier than ever before.

Microsoft Surface Blog & Discussion Forum (Unofficial). Interacting with MultiTouch Input Devices and More..

Since the unwitting leak that lead to massive speculation regarding the Multitouch Sphere that Microsoft had been working on, the device has actually been demoed.  There are many different videos circulating the internet at the moment that discuss the different parts of the demo, but suffice it to say that Microsoft has drummed up more interest in Multitouch and their own company than they have seen in years.

The Sphere did a number of different things, but it is perhaps the omni-directional nature of the sphere that has so many people interested in it.  Microsoft employees were able to broadcast omni-directional video onto the sphere, allowing you to take a look at 360 degrees of camera action on the surface of the sphere.  In addition to that, you could take a look at a map of the world in globe format, manipulating the map and zooming into and out of specific features with the use of your hands.

There was even a demo of a picture sorting software package that Microsoft has come up with.  Using this package, you can have a pile of pictures placed at the top of the sphere and a number of people sorting through those pictures while standing around a sphere.  With all of the wow factor that the sphere’s demo brought, there are still some questions as to the practicality of the sphere.  After all, why stand around a sphere and sort pictures when you can sit at a table and do the exact same thing?

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Since the unwitting leak that lead to massive speculation regarding the Multitouch Sphere that Microsoft had been working on, the device has actually been demoed. There are many different videos circulating the internet at the moment that discuss the different parts of the demo, but suffice it to say that Microsoft has drummed up more interest in Multitouch and their own company than they have seen in years.

The Sphere did a number of different things, but it is perhaps the omni-directional nature of the sphere that has so many people interested in it. Microsoft employees were able to broadcast omni-directional video onto the sphere, allowing you to take a look at 360 degrees of camera action on the surface of the sphere. In addition to that, you could take a look at a map of the world in globe format, manipulating the map and zooming into and out of specific features with the use of your hands.

There was even a demo of a picture sorting software package that Microsoft has come up with. Using this package, you can have a pile of pictures placed at the top of the sphere and a number of people sorting through those pictures while standing around a sphere. With all of the wow factor that the sphere’s demo brought, there are still some questions as to the practicality of the sphere. After all, why stand around a sphere and sort pictures when you can sit at a table and do the exact same thing?

Microsoft Unveils Multitouch Sphere | SurfaceRama.com.

After months of rumors, Microsoft researchers are taking the wraps off a prototype that uses an internal projection and vision system to bring a spherical computer display to life. People can touch the surface with multiple fingers and hands to manipulate photos, play games, spin a virtual globe, or watch 360-degree videos.

Sphere, as it’s known, is expected to be shown publicly for the first time Tuesday at Microsoft’s Faculty Summit in Redmond. For now, it’s purely a research project. The company says it doesn’t currently have plans to offer it as a product. The idea is to see what the technology can do, and how people will use it.

“It’s really an exploration of ideas,” explained Hrvoje Benko, the Microsoft researcher spearheading the project, during a sneak preview Monday afternoon.

Sphere is a cousin of the Microsoft Surface tabletop computer, already being used in retail and hospitality settings. The underlying hardware for Sphere is sold commercially by Global Imagination of Los Gatos, Calif., but Microsoft researchers made numerous enhancements and developed specialized software.

Video: Microsoft’s Sphere display in action.

 

 

The Zune Phone is something that exists, but does not really, at least that is what the associates at Microsoft would have the public believe.  According to a media leak even larger than the one that resulted in forehand knowledge of the spherical Surface Computer, Microsoft has had high level executive meetings to kick start a project that would see Zune cell phones rolling off Microsoft manufacturing plants in the near future.

According to representatives of Microsoft the story is not true, since they are focusing on software development for their hardware partners as opposed to direct hardware development.  According to the same leak, an overhaul is planned on the Windows 7 Mobile system and if this is true it would represent the first mobile software overhaul that Microsoft has done in about three years.  Windows 7 is already confirmed as being Multitouch compatible and for this reason it perhaps makes some sense that Windows 7 Mobile would bring a Zune cell phone to the market with it.

Ultimately, believing Microsoft’s spiel about not having plans for a Zune phone is somewhat suspect, considering the company’s takeover of Danger.  Danger is a company that did produce software for media and messaging, both of which are expected to be big parts of the Windows 7 Mobile operating system when it is released.  On the other hand, Danger is also a company that was responsible for creating hardware to go along with their software and for that reason many are sceptical of Microsoft when they say they have no plans for Zune cell phone development.

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One of the most interesting aspects of the electronics industry is how different companies interact with each other.  For example, the interactions between Apple and Microsoft over Multitouch technology have been extremely interesting and drawn millions of words of commentary from all around the globe.

After Apple’s decisive trouncing of Microsoft in the first round of the Multitouch battle, Microsoft went away to lick its wounds for awhile, coming back eventually with the Windows 7 Multitouch introduction.  While Windows 7 appears so far that it might be able to pick up some of the massive amounts of slack created by Windows Vista, Microsoft seems to find themselves in competition with another company now.

This time, that company is Dell.

Dell has tablet PCs in their Latitude XT line that are capable of supporting Multitouch technology, something that would be required of hardware that would be able to accommodate the full list of features from Windows 7.  However, Dell has recently announced that they are going ahead and releasing a software update that will make Multitouch available on those same tablets now, effectively pre-empting Microsoft’s bid to do the exact same thing in their still years away final release of Windows 7.

With this latest announcement, it appears as though Dell is throwing their hat into the Multitouch ring and announcing that they intend to tangle with anyone else that is putting themselves into Multitouch technology.  With developments this interesting, keeping your eyes peeled on the Multitouch industry should bring even more developments in the near future.

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