Multi-touch
”Multi-grope: Interacting with Microsoft Surface at the AT&T Store
Microsoft's near-mythical Surface table just appeared at five AT&T Stores across the country (with seven more locations soon to get one), and we were happy to have a go with it this morning. As you'll see in the video, this one is programmed for mobile phone sales pitches, and doesn't have all of the fun apps we've heard about, but even here, Surface's massive, beautiful potential is obvious. More »Microsoft Surface in Your House in 2011
For Microsoft, full speed-ahead on a cheaper consumer version of Surface, its multi-touch computer table, means 2011. Tom Gibbons, VP of Microsoft specialized apps and devices group says that "In the three-year time window, we absolutely see how to get there. If we can beat that, we'll try to beat that." Alas, it's Microsoft, so they're already running late on the initial launch to companies waving around a lot more money than you. Expect to hang onto your Ikea coffee table until 2012, to be safe. [Fortune]Smitrix Swiftpoint Triped Mouse For Tablet PCs: Forget Those Annoying Pens
microsoft
Microsoft Reportedly Working on Sphere Shaped Version of Surface
By now you have probably heard quite a bit about Microsoft's "Surface" multi-touch table, and now ZDNet is claiming that the company has been showing off a sphere-shaped version of the technology around their campus. We know that Microsoft is pushing to get this technology into homes sooner rather than later, but a spherical device doesn't seem to be all that practical (unless you are a fortune teller or something). However, when it comes to the future of this device, we will just have to wait and see. [ZDNet via Electronista]Magic Cube Heralds the Future of Gaming and Human Interfaces
Nobody really knows what the future of human interfaces and gaming will look like, but Andrew Fentem—who went from working on classified missile systems to developing multi-touch human interfaces, kinetic surfaces and motion sensing technologies before almost anyone else in the planet—gave us a fascinating vision on where we are headed in this exclusive interview. Work like his Fentix Cube, a motion- and touch-sensing cube which can play Pac-Man among other games, have all the big companies taking notes. The videos speak for themselves.
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cellphones
New RIM Patents Hint at New Blackberry Form Factors, Advanced Multi-Touch Displays
A couple of new Blackberry patents have been unearthed that may or may not give us some hints as to what to expect in upcoming models. First up is a design for a phone with a screen that angles up, presumable for watching video when the phone is placed on a flat surface. The second patent is for a new LCD touchscreen technology. More »
apple
iPod Scroll Wheel Illumination Patent Shows Two Finger Control
Apple's in the midst of shoving multi-touch into every single thing they own, which means that this patent for a two-fingered iPod scroll wheel seems quite likely to come to fruition. Besides allowing you to do the "Churchill", the patent details an illumination of the wheel as your finger passes by, possibly making a comet or a little pie shape under your pointer. Pretty neat to see what you're doing in the dark, but ultimately just only a slight upgrade to what they already have. Mmmm, pie. [iPodNN]MacBook Pros Getting MacBook Air's Multi-touch Trackpad
We think this is pretty obvious, but AppleInsider says they've received info that the MacBook Pros will also be getting the MacBook Air's multi-touch trackpad feature (which we got hands-on of here). The feature was supposed to be rolled out in another refresh for the MBP line around Macworld, but was delayed in order to get the Macbook Air out on time. There's no good reason why the Pros won't get a feature like this (or why Apple would make this exclusive to the Air), so we're going to go ahead and say don't buy a Macbook Pro until after the upcoming refresh. [Apple Insider]
touchy-feely
Feeling Up the LG Multitouch: It's a Hoot But Flawed
LG.Philips dives into the multi-touch display game at CES 2008, seen here running Google Earth. Coolness indeed, but LG's idea of mounting dual IR-sensitive cameras on either side of the display is still flawed. More »Windows Mobile 7 Details Leaked - Multi-touch, Motion Gestures
InsideMicrosoft just got a gigantic scoop of Microsoft's Windows Mobile 7, due to be released in 2009. This isn't Windows Mobile 6.1—which we've seen leaks of recently—but the next full version of Windows Mobile that fixes a bunch of problems we've seen with the platform. The huge changes are multi-touch gestures (including flicking, swiping and drawing on the screen), motion gestures (shaking the phone), Windows Vista-like redesign of the entire UI, better finger-based navigation and a desktop-like Internet Explorer browser. It's totally amazing, and fixes a bunch of the complaints we had with the platform. InsideMicrosoft has the full details. [InsideMicrosoft]
apple multi-touch
Apple Hiring a Whole Team of Multi-touch Engineers, Not Just One
After Apple posted a job listing for a Reliability Engineer who would work in multi-touch development, blogs have been speculating left and right about Apple's plans. We went over to Apple's jobs page and found they're not just hiring a single reliability engineer, but a whole team of engineers specifically for multi-touch products. More »
rumor
Windows 7 Getting Multi-Touch That Will "Blow Away" iPhone Users
One of the test engineers working on Windows 7, Hilton Locke, dropped a post today pimping Dell's Latitude XT that also contained this little nugget:I will say that if you are impressed by the "touch features" in the iPhone, you'll be blown away by what's coming in Windows 7. Now if only we could convince more OEMs that Windows Touch Technology is going to drive their sales.More »
S60 Gets New Features, Stepping Out of iPhone's Shadow?
The folks at Crave UK recently got a chance to tour Nokia's R&D facility in Finland; and while they may have seen a robot dog, the real prize here was updated information on the S60 Touch UI. We already knew that the software, accused of being an iPhone clone by some, had a couple of sweet features that the iPhone couldn't compete with (namely, stylus input and tactile feedback response). What we didn't know is that the R&D team is also working on an app that translates foreign words in pictures taken with the phone's camera, and another one that identifies objects by pointing the camera at them (finding product information while shopping is one proposed use). Hit the gallery to see it all up close, and let us know what other apps you'd like to see in the comments. [Crave UK]
Nokia Introducing Touch UI to Open Source S60 OS
Today Nokia, the largest player in the mobile handset game, announced the addition of a touchscreen interface to their S60 OS. Comparisons to Apple's multi-touch input system are inevitable, but Nokia is holding its own with a few promised extras. These include silencing the phone by flipping it on its face when an incoming call is received, support for stylus-based input and a tactile feedback response.More »
Jazzmutant Multitouch Tablet PC Demoed
Here's a video of the multi-touch tablet PC prototype that Jazzmutant showed off last week at Siggraph. It's got the pinch and spread features that Apple popularized on the iPhone, but this can actually take an unlimited number of contact points. You can use as many fingers (or styluses) as you were born with to move and spread stuff around. We could see this in a tablet, but replacing the traditional mouse and keyboard in a laptop is pretty unlikely. [Jazz Mutant]42-Inch Touchscreen LCD Features Multi-Touch
Korean electronics company Dahan T&S has unveiled 42-inch touchscreen LCD that features multi-touch input recognition. One use of the multi-touch technology, or what they call "multi dot recognition", is for the monitor to recognize one finger as a left click and two fingers as a right click. While standing inches away from a wall-mounted LCD doesn't sound too appealing, working this into a coffee table (ala the Microsoft Surface) would be cool. [AVING]
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We think this is pretty obvious, but AppleInsider says they've received info that the MacBook Pros will also be getting the MacBook Air's multi-touch trackpad feature (