TouchSmarter: Touch Screen Gadgets

By far one of the strangest multi touch demonstration videos we have come across to date:

It is nice to know that if you ever want to play with a virtual pizza cutting knife, it is far more intuitive to do it with multi touch compared to a mouse. We can see it leading to the next blockbuster game!

Now, a warning is in order. The following multi touch table demo is powered by Apple hardware, but is not an Apple product.

Why is this warning important? Well, if your impression is anything like ours, the product just does not stand up when compared to the rest. Take a look at the demo over at Gizmondo.

Proving once again, that it is all about the software, an enterprising individual devised a multi touch system using just coloured water, a zip lock bag, and a camera. This setup highlights where a touch is happening, and then software takes over.

It may just be a matter of time until multi touch peripherals and software are marketed to consumers by small startups, allowing them to set the standard that Microsoft and Apple will have to catch.

Multi touch is even influencing music videos. Take a look: (I make no promise that the music will be to your taste, mute if you wish).

The band is Sondre Lerche, and the song, Phantom Punch.

The MS Surface is a great new direction from Microsoft. However, it has to share much of its technological achievements with Apple and the more available iPhone. Perhaps Microsoft dislikes sharing the limelight, or maybe they just really want to improve how people interact with technology. Either way, now there is LucidTouch.

LucidTouch is only in prototype form, so the physical unit and form factor are not yet ideal. Time will surely solve those initial issues. Looking past that, however, brings us an entirely new means of interacting with a mobile device. Basically, you hold the device similar to how you would hold a paperback book. You can then use all 10 digits to comfortably manipulate data.

Can not quite imagine what that would look like? No problem, here is a video for your viewing pleasure.

This is a great idea, and the video shows that they have a solid foundation to move forward with. It is true that Apple has filed patents that describe perhaps similar abilities, but you have to give Microsoft credit for going one step further and building a device.

Watch the set of commercials in the video. Nearly everything that was but an idea in 1993 has already happened, in some variation or another. This really makes you wonder what the next 15 years have in store for us.

A special thanks to ConsultaGlobal for bringing this to our attention. They have breakdown of how the close the concept and the reality are, nearly 15 years later.

Up until this point, the iPhone, and the multi touch goodness that makes it so special, has been available only to AT&T customers in the U.S. That has finally changed. No, Apple has not released it or made any changes, rather the iPhone has been unlocked. Engadget has the scoop on the latest developments, brought to us all by the iPhoneSIMFree.com team.

Aside from Visual Voicemail, all other aspects of the iPhone work as expected on any other GSM carrier. Engadget’s video:

This is another very unique, very innovative interface project. PICO (Physical Intervention in Computational Optimization) not only accepts multiple physical inputs, but it actually physically moves those inputs (in the form of electromagnetic pucks). From http://www.jamespatten.com/pico/:

 PICO is a tabletop interaction surface that can track and move small objects on top of it. It has been used for complex spatial layout problems such as cellular telephone tower layout. The interface provides ample opportunities for improvisation by allowing the user to employ a rich variety of everyday physical objects as interface elements. The physical form of many everyday mechanical systems helps users quickly discover how these systems work and how to use them. One example is the record turntable. Because the mechanism through which this device functions is exposed to the user, some users have developed interaction techniques that the inventors of the device likely had never imagined, such as “scratching” the record as a part of musical performance. In a similar spirit, we have developed a system called Pico (Physical Intervention in Computational Optimization) that simultaneously represents and controls the high level structure of a software process with a mechanical process. The user can leverage his or her mechanical intuition about the way physical objects respond to forces and interact with each other to understand how common objects, such as a rubber band or coffee cup, might be used to constrain the underlying software process. Objects on the Pico table are moved not only under software control using electromagnets but also by users standing around the table. The combination of these interactions, all governed by the friction and mass of the objects themselves directly affects the result of the task being performed. Additional information is graphically projected onto the table from above. To date we have built Pico applications for factory floor plan layout, CNC toolpath optimization, and cellular telephone tower layout.

 

Autodesk has done up a video of a vision it has for how multi touch could assist in the workplace, specifically managing a construction project.

Scott Sheppard, a long time employee of Autodesk, has additional information on the background of the video demo.

Every day, it seems that either a new company, or a new individual, has some work to show and share about multi touch. The future keeps getting a little closer and clearer each day.

A great big thank you to Feroz’s World for posting a walk through of how to build your very own multi touch display table. It can be done in a weekend, and uses pretty standard parts and tools.

 We hope this encourages folks to build the hardware, and then get busy designing great software that will help bring the technology to the mainstream.