TouchSmarter: Touch Screen Gadgets

Review: All-In-One HP PC Not So Touch Smart - Smarthouse

HP has joined the touch bandwagon by releasing a PC that has a touch-sensitive screen, allowing you to use your fingers to scroll through menus and files. But despite looking good on paper, and on TV commercials aired on primetime, the TouchSmart failed to impress us.

Sure, the TouchSmart software is easy to use and can give you a ‘hands-on’ experience while taking a look at photos and videos. But when it came to using the touch screen on Windows Vista, we were plagued with small icons that were hard to press and unresponsive icons that needed to be tapped over and over.

Fortunately, HP has included a wireless keyboard and mouse with the package, making it easier for consumers to use the IQ508a for Windows-based programs.

The unit sports a piano black finish and is on the heavy side as all of its major components are installed behind the touchscreen. Up front, users can find a 22-inch screen, built-in speakers, webcamera, and a ‘Home’ key that automatically launches the TouchSmart function.

NUI will be attending Dreamhack Skelleftea on September 26-28 to demonstrate one of their latest interactive multi-touch tables.

NUI is in partnership with LTU Skelleftea, a regular invited exhibitor at the Dreamhack events for the last two years.

Read the article about NUI on the Dreamhack website.

Dreamhack is the organisation behind the worlds largests LAN events.

Apple has released the latest minor firmware update for the iPhone and iPod touch.

Apple describes the 248MB update as containing “Bug fixes” but expands no further.

1-3 October, the event, IEEE Tabletops and Interactive Surfaces 2008, will take place in Amsterdam, Holland.
This will be one of the more interesting events of 2008 related to multi-touch technology, where people from the industry and the academic world meet each other.

Quote from http://www.ieeetabletop.org/ website:

“About Tabletop 2008

The use of the tabletop as an input/output device is an exciting and emerging research area. This cross-disciplinary domain brings together experts in projector based display systems, augmented reality, user interface technologies, multi-modal interaction, input and sensing technologies, CSCW, and information visualization.”

Pawel Solyga, COO NUI Poland and I will be in Amsterdam to represent Natural User Interface (NUI).

Don’t let this happen to your iPhone | Technology | Los Angeles Times

Then I dropped my iPhone — it slipped! — from about three feet, and it hit the sidewalk. Apple’s design gurus had miscalculated — one fall and the screen shattered across the top corner. Little bits of glass began to chip away.

The Apple store had bad news. The only way to replace a cracked iPhone screen is to buy a whole new iPhone.

How many of you have had to replace an iPhone (or iPod Touch) due to screen damage/dropping?

No Tags addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.surfacerama.com%2F2008%2F08%2F14%2Fsheraton-to-become-multitouch-enabled%2F'; addthis_title = 'Sheraton+to+Become+Multitouch+Enabled'; addthis_pub = '';

The electronics world will never cease to amaze with the amount of intrigue that it can come up with.  However, when millions of dollars are at stake on every single decision that a major company makes, we can perhaps forgive them for playing their cards close to their chest.

If this type of cagey behaviour is understandable under normal circumstances, it is perhaps especially understandable for a company like Microsoft that has had its clocked cleaned on a regular basis over the last few years starting with the Windows Vista fiasco and ending with Apple’s near-complete takeover of the mobile marketplace for electronic devices.

However, Microsoft did release something new today by launching a blog for Windows 7.  This blog will be written by people getting their talking points directly from Steven Sinofsky, the person that is the de facto head of the Windows 7 project.

According to Sinofsky, the blog is intended to bridge the gap between the current complete lack of knowledge regarding Windows 7 (aside from the much ado about nothing announcement regarding the fact that it will have Multitouch functionality, something that was already expected) and the October 27 Professional Developers Conference during which more details will be released regarding the new operating system in development.

The bottom line is that people that want real information regarding the details of Windows 7 will likely be put on hold until October 27th.  However, if you want more bits and pieces to try and put things together yourself, maintaining an eye on the Windows 7 blog might definitely be a good idea.

No Tags addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.surfacerama.com%2F2008%2F08%2F14%2Fwindows-7-the-great-enigma%2F'; addthis_title = 'Windows+7%3A+The+Great+Enigma'; addthis_pub = '';

All-screen clamshell concept phone: A glimpse of the future | Computerworld Blogs

A new concept design by designer James Piatt shows what this might look like. It’s a compelling idea, and one that I believe is inevitable, simply because of the appeal of having the largest possible screen and the necessity of fitting inside a pocket.

Last week analyst Gene Munster wrote a note to clients informing them that Apple would most likely hold a Special Event in September to refresh its iPod lines and MacBook and MacBook Pro notebooks.

At the time the report was mainly pinned as speculative but Mac Rumors has heard “whispers” of an iPod touch refresh within the specified timeframe but offers no details above this.

Today also saw another analyst for Piper Jaffray weighing in on the speculation. Mike Olson wrote in a note to clients today that he expects a refresh to the iPod touch in line with the iPhone 3G. In addition Olson expects the starting price of the iPod touch to drop from $299 to $199.

Olson doesn’t mention the MacBook Pro in his report but does report on slimmer MacBooks cryptically explaining “exteriors made of plastic instead of aluminum and could also have a newly designed keyboards”.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal Apple CEO, Steve Jobs has revealed some facts and figures about the App Store which has now been live for one month.

According to Jobs more than 60 million applications have been downloaded for the iPhone and iPod touch, roughly 2 million per day. Revenue from those 60 million applications was $30 million, 70% went to developers, 30% was kept by Apple.

According to the Wall Street Journal if Apple continues at its current sales pace then the company stands to take in at least $360 million over the year in revenue.

“This thing’s going to crest a half a billion, soon,” Jobs said. “Who knows, maybe it will be a $1 billion marketplace at some point in time.”

“I’ve never seen anything like this in my career for software,” he added.

Jobs also commented on stories last week that Apple had built an internal “kill-switch” into the iPhone which could allow the company to remotely disable applications.

“Hopefully we never have to pull that lever, but we would be irresponsible not to have a lever like that to pull,” he said.