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Posts with tag multi touch

Heads or Tails? Dual Touch Screen Laptop Is CES Highlight

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jan 10th 2008 at 9:03AM


eDetail Shows Off Dual Touch Screen Laptop

Riddle us this: what's better than a laptop with one screen? A laptop with two screens!

eDetail was at CES this week showing off its award-winning dual screened computer tablet.

The unique dual multi-touch screened monster is primarily targeted at professionals and commercial applications, but the company is producing a 14-inch model aimed more at consumers. Professionals can use the laptop to give mobile presentations, showing customers a slide show or questionnaire on the larger front screen while controlling it all from the smaller back screen. The laptop also has a programmable hot key that can be used for launching a presentation.

The laptop has a built-in camera and microphone for video conferencing. One can imagine flipping the top screen up to watch a movie or opening iTunes iwhile using a word processor or browsing the internet on the main screen.

The 14-inch model is expected to retail for about $1,200 loaded with Windows XP, 512 megabytes of RAM, and an 80 gigabyte hard drive. The one questionable decision was going with AMD's Geode processor, the same chip in the OLPC XO. The Geode allows the eDetail computer to stay cool even with-out fans and last all day without recharging, but the Geode is a little underpowered for running Windows.

Gallery: Dual Screen Laptop

  • Dual screen laptop
  • Dual screen laptops opened and close.
  • Dual screen laptop from side.
  • Dual screen laptop from front.
  • Dual screen laptop closed.


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iMac Touch-Screen on the Way?

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Oct 23rd 2007 at 12:22PM

Apple Rumor Mongering: Touch Screen Macs Please
Some of us have been hoping for or expecting it since the announcement of the iPhone, while some of the rest of you, like Farhad Manjoo of Machinist, are just realizing the possibilities. A touch-screen Mac, or the more traditional rumor route, a Mac Tablet.

It's not as crazy as it seems, the iPhone is built on OS X, it shares the same core operating system with your desktop and notebook Macs. So why not port over the awe inspiring multi-touch interface to the iMac? According to a recent article in the New York Times, Steve Jobs certainly thinks his new touchscreen is impressive. When interviewer John Markoff suggests that "there have been no obvious radical innovations to jump-start growth," Job's counters that the iPhone's multi-touch interface is exactly that sort of innovation. "People don't understand that we've invented a new class of interface," the Apple demigod is quoted as saying in the Times.

Imagine using multi-touch technology to manipulate an image in Photoshop, or twiddle with virtual knobs and faders in music creation programs such as ProTools or Apple's own Logic (the more likely initial candidate). So Mr. Jobs, we know it's technically feasible, and you seem to think it's revolutionary, so get moving and bring the world's best touch-screen technology to your desktop computer line... please?

How about you? Would you want a touch-screen Mac?

From Machinist and New York Times.

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Robot Heads, Private Subs and Other Crazy Gadgets From Neiman Marcus

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Oct 4th 2007 at 5:19PM



Every year, Neiman Marcus offers outrageously expensive and exclusive gifts through its Christmas Book. In the past, the catalog has featured such one-of-a-kind items as a space flight on Virgin Galactic (currently scheduled for 2009), a Skycar even a private water park. This year, though, the high-end retailer has really outdone itself on the gadget front.

The creepiest is easily the Swami Conversational Robot pictured above. It's an animitronic head entombed in a glass orb reminiscent of those old fortune telling machines (like the 'Zoltar' one featured in the Tom Hanks classic 'Big'). This marvel of artificial intelligence is able to recognize family members and carry on conversations. The $75,000 technological wonder is powered by an included laptop with unlisted specs.

Also available is an eight- by three-foot Internet-connected multi-touch Media Wall designed by Jeff Han, a pioneer in multi-touch technology. Videos of Han's designs have been circulating on the Internet for a few years now, and without his work in the field, we can almost guarantee there would be no such thing as Microsoft Surface or Apple iPhone. This piece of technological history will set you back an even hundred grand.

However if neither of those is really quite extravagant enough for you, consider the two truly over-the-top forms of transportation being offered this year. The first is an $80,000, 420-pound glider that was featured in the documentary, 'Papalotzin: The Flight of the Monarch.' In the movie, the Papalotzin Ultralight Journey carried documentarian Vico Gutierrez 3,000 miles over the course of 10 weeks as he migrated with the endangered Monarch Butterfly from Canada to Mexico. Or, if sea creatures are more your thing, snag the $1.4 million Gem Triton 1000 submarine. Neiman Marcus makes sure that this no ordinary personal sub, decking it out with posh leather seats, air conditioning and a high density acrylic bubble that allows for 360-degree views. It's certainly the most unique way to travel around under water (not counting Cousteau Jr.'s shark-shaped submarine).

But, if you're considering one of these garish items, chances are you're the type who likes to own ... not do. And to that end, Neiman Marcus is offering perhaps the most outrageous gift of all: your very own Rocket Racing team. For a measly $2 million you can be part of the 2008 inaugural season of the Rocket Racing League. These bad boys plow through the air on a three-dimensional race track at 320 miles-per-hour powered by liquid oxygen. This is as extreme as extreme sports gets, and now you can take part without risking your own life -- just the lives of your newly-acquired employees.

From PR News Wire

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The Touch Screen iPod in September?

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jul 13th 2007 at 8:42AM


Never one to rest on its laurels, the Apple rumor mill is hard at work resurrecting a piece of gossip sure to please those who love the iPhone interface, but hate the paltry amount of room for music. Yes sir, the touch screen iPod rumor is back with a vengeance. Of course, now the touchtastic iPhone lends more credence to the rumors, and even Steve Jobs himself has said that a new iPod was in the works that would run an embedded version of OS X, just like the iPhone does. Though he said nothing of a touch screen, we can only assume (with fingers crossed).

Apple insider, Digitimes, and Wall Street analysts are batting around the suggestion that the new iPods will land at the Macworld conference in January of '08, or perhaps even earlier. We at Switched honestly feel a little left out of the rumor mongering, so here's our two cents: We think sixth generation iPods will land in September.

Every year like clockwork, Apple refreshes the iPod line, even if for a minor update like last years increased capacity and brighter screen. And every year the announcement comes in either July or September (check Apple's press release library). Seeing as how July is halfway over and Apple hasn't started promoting a press event, we're betting all in on September.

From Apple Insider and Newsvine

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Microsoft Unveils Surface Tabletop Computer

by Terrence O'Brien, posted May 30th 2007 at 8:11AM




After a few years of taking a beating from Apple on design and innovation, Microsoft is stealing a little of Steve Jobs's thunder. Just a few weeks ahead of the iPhone, Bill Gates (or, actually, Steve Ballmer) has unveiled Surface, Microsoft's new table top computer that features a big-screen version of the multi-touch technology used on, say, the iPhone.

But the similarity pretty much ends there. Microsoft's new Surface is a full-fledged coffee-table sized PC that is completely touch-sensitive, so users sitting around it can move and open files, video conference, watch movies, play games, and flip through photos -- together! CNET spent some time with some Surface software that lets you browse a menu, order items, split the bill, calculate the tip and pay -- all from the tabletop display

Where the Surface gets really interesting is when you add peripherals to the party.

Promotional videos from Microsoft show people dropping their Zunes on the tabletop computer. Surface recognizes that a Zune has been placed there and connects to it wirelessly. Users then use their fingers to drag albums and photos to their Zune. 'Popular Mechanics' also got an early-look at the Surface photo tools and multi-touch technology, which you can check out on this video.

Dropping a wireless-enabled digital camera on the table causes Surface to download the photos, spilling them out across the display as if a shoe box full of pictures was just emptied.

The videos also show several people interacting with the table at the same time. No more leaning over a friend's shoulder to watch and direct a slide show: If he or she passes by that great picture of Billy shooting milk out of his nose too fast, just grab it with your hand and look at it with out having to physically assault your pal to take control of the mouse.

Prices are expected to be between $5,000 and $10,000 when the units start shipping around the end of the year to commercial customers. At first, Surface will not be geared towards consumers, though Microsoft hopes that within three years the technology will be affordable enough for the home. T-Mobile, Harrah's Entertainment, and Starwood Hotels have partnered with Microsoft to use Surface as kiosks in retail outlets and lobbies.

With Surface, Microsoft seems to have made computing truly communal, taking the Web 2.0 ethos of social interaction through computers and moving it into the physical world.

From Microsoft.


Gallery: Surface




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