"...making devices...smaller, since space-wasting buttons will be unnecessary"

Yah, smaller...it only needs a big, goobery twisty handle the size of a remote control (but, button-free!) bulging out of the side. Still, kudos for thinking outside of the box. I guess.

Sometimes I don't think designers are actually thinking when they come up with stuff. What do people use right now that is like this that they could relate to?

@bosskev: HAHA I wish I could use the word 'goobery' in a sentence.

Why is that MS is always last to see where tech is going, and then compensates by jumping ahead to a future tech that will never see the light of day because it makes so sense?

IF this comes to pass we will have a society with Popeye-like forearms.

An etch-a-sketch?

Force Sensitive? MS is playing with mitoclorians now?

That picture is more like watching your applications get sucked into the black hole of your ultra-portable.

i like those diagrams, Best Graphics Ever!

Yah, encourage people to twist their gadgets with both hands... sounds brilliant

As if the UMPC wasn't big and expensive enough.

Another one of Micro$oft's jerry-rigged "innovations."

Nice Men In Black 2 reference :P

@bosskev: OLEDs have the potential to give us the kind of flexible displays that could be used with this.

@Marty_MacFly: This is still in research phase. The idea is that this becomes a secondary method of interaction, since with a UMPC, your holding it with two hands anyways.

The add-on is just to get the research tech going. In the end, the subtle flexes of the device (as if there wasn't a white plastic thing on the side) will allow actions to take place. This doesn't take over touchscreen interaction, but merely accentuates it.

But i guess ill be like you and put the blinders on just to get a crack at MS.

pretty cool.

@bosskev: Yea, and im sure all the devices that get this tech will also come with protruding sensors that are electrical taped to the back of it. /sarcasm

Why don't you look at the pics and see that this will eventually be embedded into the device. Its still a work in progress, thus the protruding plastic.

And the title is misleading. This is a replacement for interaction buttons on the side of a device. This does not remove the need for touchscreens, since that is the "requirement" for a device to be a UMPC.

@Mio: Point taken.

so, where would be the transition between force feedback and actually breaking the bloody thing be?

My Powerbook 100 already had force feedback. I tapped it lightly to the right of the track ball as an established sign of slight annoyance on my behalf, and then it wouldn't start back up again. Well, actually, the brand new 250 MB harddisk (and I had thought I would never be able to fill it anyway;-) was feedbacking...

Somehow I don't follow the idea of making people do (a lot) more work to achieve the same thing.

How will this be applied to anything I'm doing on a computer?

Email?

Web Browsing?

Word Processing?

Nice tech, but useless in my eyes.

*SNAP* OH SHI-

@diabolusunknown: "Yea, and im sure all the devices that get this tech will also come with protruding sensors that are electrical taped to the back of it. /sarcasm"

If MY limited mechanical skills were involved in the industrial design, then yes, all such devices would feature copious amounts of electrical tape cobbling it all together. ;^)

I do realize this is a prototype and indeed I had studied the included photos to see their intended direction is to incorporate the twistiness into...an inflexible case. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea for the typical consumer, tell them to twist and/or bend the casing on their inflexible product to make it work. Does the sound "SPROING!" come to mind?

That was the source of my criticism of the idea. If it needed to include an external handle like the prototype, not so bright of an idea. And if it were handle-free yet inflexible in accordance with their apparent goal...well, I have reservations there too.

It wasn't until Mio's comment reminding us of forthcoming flexible OLEDs that suddenly this concept seemed to make a bit more sense.

Anyway, aside from my sarcastic jab, I don't mean to totally dismiss this idea. I just challenge them to think through the kind of pitfalls that lab techs don't necessarily see as obstacles to ordinary people. I actually wish them well and hope to see useful technology spring (as opposed to SPROING!) from this concept.

For the curious, the original 8-page PDF of tech notes on this can be found at this link:
ftp://ftp.research.microsoft.com/pub/tr/TR-2008-57.pdf

@blacksamurai87: People said the exact same thing about graphics cards.

@blacksamurai87: As with any technology, someone will find a way to use this somehow there is always some sort of use even if that use does not benefit you in some way. Why the hell should they care about whether or not it benefits you specifically, is this world built for you? Does the facking sun shine out of your asshole? I doubt it you are but one among a mass, nobody cares if it will be of use to you specifically

damnit i need an edit button "...I doubt it, you..." should read like that

I guess I could see you resizing pictures or zooming in by pushing and pulling on the edges. You could give it a twist to scroll up and down as well.

Devices don't have to be very flexible to detect that they're being flexed. Hell, you could probably put some sensors in a 2x4 and it would still detect something.

Call me short-sighted but I can't think of a possible use for this. I mean its like that (those?) Sony Ericsson music phones where you can skip a track forward or back by flicking it. Sure its an interesting concept but is it more useful than what a properly placed button could do, and could you not look silly using it?

@bosskev: modern torsion and tension sensors detect almost no effort at all. I'm fairly certain that I heard modern fighter planes all have inflexible control sticks that rely on pressure control.

Besides, who can predict what will be useful and what won't. This is just research for the sake of research right now. Sounds good to me. I can see this technology being extremely useful for robots that require force-feedback to do their jobs. Like lifting and carrying delicate objects, or people.

Sure feels like a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. Interesting though..

5-7 years ago, if someone told you would put your fingers on the screen of your Dell Axiom and pinch and flick the screen, you would have said the same thing, "how is this useful?". Then the iPhone is released and pinch-and-flick is the next best thing to breathing. If apple would have came out with this, then it would be okay, right?

Sorry for the double post, but one use came to mind. You are holding your ebook or tablet device and a quick twist with the right had turns the page...i will post back in here in 5 years and tell you I told you so....

I think this is rather clever. I hope MS makes some more use out of this.

Great... so MicroSloth wants me to go from holding my UMPC in one hand and manipulating the contols with my free had to using both hands to hold and *twist* the bloody thing. So why can't a quick finger sweep on a touchscreen change the page of a document?
What can this method do that current controls and methods can't?

Typical microsoft 'brilliance'.... add expense and complexity to create useless 'functionality'.

Bah! Welcome to the social.

this'll be incredibly funny to future generations that don't use much paper.

But to them I say;
"This is designed for people who live nearly entirely in the physical world. I know there is a greater elegance that we havn't found yet for interface design. But that doesn't change the fact that our people don't know how to embrace it."

@djdare: Yah, encourage people to twist their gadgets with both hands... sounds brilliant

I am appauled no one had quotes you. That comment just made my nigh...morning. Very good point btw too.

I also wanted to add that this could be useful for every program on your computer. (Except FPS games and stuff) If there were more than 4 ways to twist or flick it, say 12 different ways or something each flick could be for something different like in web browsing it could be page pack for a twist to the left. Checking emails certain flicks could go to the next email or something. I can see the technology being huge on mobile phones. I would love to be able to just do this on my phone as the 3" screen is really small to use without whipping out the stylus. Instead I just need to hold the entire device and twist to go to my homepage.

Now: Slide 2 Unlock
Future: Twist 2 Unlock

How about a Bop-It with an LCD screen?

Now where have I seen a graphic effect like that? Oh yes, Mac OSX when you minimise a window to the dock - jeez Microserf, can you try to at least be a TINY bit innovative and original? NO? nuff said!

@Slaughter: Except that touch screens allow you to interact directly with what you see. A button? Press it. Scrollbar? Scrub it. This thing adds interaction that's rather alien. What do you twist? Wet clothes? What do you bend? .... Can't even come up with anything else than athletic stuff. These are not intuitive ways to interact with onscreen graphics, you have to build the software specifically around these actions to validate them.

@ara: People said the same thing about the mouse when it was first hinted at. People had a hard time thinking it would be more useful than a keyboard.

This looks interesting in an "oh f**k, I appear to have snapped the screen" kind of way.

Looks like you're boned if you only have one arm.

@Ednonymous: As opposed to Apple, whose strategy is remove basic functionality that is industry standard and call it a "minimalist aesthetic" to inflate the cost.

Two button mice, good airflow inside of laptops, an FM tuner in an iPod, and a cut-and-paste feature on the iPhone all come to mind.

@OMG! Ponies!: I'll agree with you except for one thing:

There isn't anything worth listening to on FM.

@strider_mt2k: Dammit.

Sorry, Public Radio.
I completely forgot about YOU.

-almost nothing. (sorry)

@strider_mt2k: I love my NPR - so much that I give them money to support them. However, I see no reason to give Apple $50 more for a dongle to add functionality to an iPod that the rest of the industry had built in when Kerry was running for President. Apple makes some nifty things but they are not a charity worthy of my money.

@OMG! Ponies!: Agreed on all counts.
I should go drop 25 bucks on my local Jazz station, even if they do classical during the day. :\

@OMG! Ponies!: Get a Meizu :); It has an FM tuner.