Whenever the G1 vs iPhone debate gets underway, iPhone purists are quick to flag the G1′s lack of multi-touch input support. Turns out, it might just be able to handle it after all -on the hardware end, at least. Whilst tearing his G1′s workings apart line-by-line, a crafty coder going by RyeBrye came across an interesting artifact. It seems the driver for the Synaptics touchscreen has some code commented out; after recompiling the kernel with said code back in, he was able to track two finger presses at once. So if the hardware supports it, why no multi-touch on the G1? Patents, presumably. While this in no way actually enables to you to do any kind of multi-touch funnin’ immediately (nothing made for the G1 is currently coded for use with multi-touch, afterall), it’s certainly a step in the right direction. Though we probably won’t see any official support for multi-touch on the G1 any time soon, someone with a bit of spare time to tinker will probably figure out a way to make use of it before too long. → Read More
I guess you don’t know you’re leading the pack unless you hear the other dogs barking at your heels. GestureTek is a company that puts out touch- and gesture-based interactive screens in more various forms than the Microsoft Surface project. From what I can tell, it doesn’t track as exactly or as reliably as the seriously stress-tested Surface, but it also has a more attractive form factor in this thing (autoplaying video warning). I can’t tell what it’s using to track movement, but it looks to be sufficient for the basic applications that would be running in, say, a mall kiosk: a map, sales, basic product browsing and so on. → Read More
digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/microsoft/Multi_touch_for_Windows_7_demo_d’; digg_bgcolor = ‘#ff9900′; digg_skin = ‘compact’; digg_window = ‘new’; Windows 7 is getting a good amount of press, and I mean good press. It seems that people are looking forward to the next Windows incarnation and the app demo’d above shows off just what the system will be able to do. The multi-touch comes via a 3rd-party app running pre-beta N-Trig drivers on a pre-beta Windows 7 build. Still, the demo is eye-catching once the guy gets it to work; not Apple multi-touch impressive, more of a Window’s novelty. Thoughts? → Read More
Cool. Looks like the HTC Touch Diamond (and presumably the HTC Touch Diamond Pro) can actually do multi-touch. Apparently it’s just around the navigation buttons that the multi-touch works – not the entire screen, which seems odd. The feature is revealed when using HTC’s Nav Debug Tool but so far doesn’t have any practical use beyond simple testing. However, HTC updates its ROMs on a fairly regular basis so maybe we’ll someday see this feature come to light for normal people like you and me. From MobileTopSoft: Here is how it works: * The area around the navi-wheel is actually a capacitive touch-area with multi-touch * it may allow using finger pinching gesture and finger spreading gesture (zooming for example) and also implement 2 finger moving for panning gesture for example too. * Not all capacitive touch-areas are multi-touch at the same time! * You can try it for yourself at XDA-Developers NavDbgTool.exe, you must have registered account there in order to download [via Gizmodo] → Read More
Cool. Looks like the HTC Touch Diamond (and presumably the HTC Touch Diamond Pro) can actually do multi-touch. Not only multi-touch on the screen itself, but all the way down around the navi-wheel and buttons. [Update – Apparently it’s just around the navigation buttons that the multi-touch works.] The feature is revealed when using HTC’s Nav Debug Tool but so far doesn’t have any practical use beyond simple testing. However, HTC updates its ROMs on a fairly regular basis so maybe we’ll someday see this feature come to light for normal people like you and me. From MobileTopSoft: Here is how it works: * The area around the navi-wheel is actually a capacitive touch-area with multi-touch * it may allow using finger pinching gesture and finger spreading gesture (zooming for example) and also implement 2 finger moving for panning gesture for example too. * Not all capacitive touch-areas are multi-touch at the same time! * You can try it for yourself at XDA-Developers NavDbgTool.exe, you must have registered account there in order to download [via Gizmodo] → Read More
A recent patent application by Apple details the company’s interest in expanding the number of gestures its multi-touch displays can recognize. Right now, there’s but so many gestures you can tap out on your iPhone or MacBook Pro: zoom in and out, rotate, pan around, etc. This patent, which is called ”gesture learning,” shows that Apple has developed an entire language of sorts based on gesture inputs. Yes, sorta like a sign language, specifically for inputting commands on one of Apple multi-touch displays. Apple has designed it such that each hand can create 25 “chords,” or combinations of finger placement, alongside 13 different movements. In total, one hand on its own can do 325 different commands. Crazy. And there’s a game that Apple has devised to teach people the gesture language. Of all the patents I’ve seen, this one is by far the most interesting. via Unwired View → Read More
Now that everyone is on the multi-touch bandwagon new systems are popping up all over. Seth Sandler’s solution is fairly ingenious. It uses a piece of paper and a camera to create a camera-based multi-touch interface. All you need is a box, a webcam, and some graph paper and he even includes the demo and application source code. The system can be used to demo multi-touch functionality or to actually drive a Windows cursor around the screen. He estimates it costs about $5 to $50, depending on the quality of box and camera you use. FinestFones has also discussed using a Bluetooth connected Nokia N95 phone to do this as well. → Read More
Bill Gates will demo a new multi-touch computer and interface today called TouchWall at the Microsoft CEO Summit in Redmond. TouchWall refers to the touch screen hardware setup itself; the corresponding software to run TouchWall, which is built on a standard version of Vista, is called Plex. TouchWall and Plex are superficially similar to Microsoft Surface, a multi-touch table computer that was introduced in 2007 and which recently became commercially available in select AT&T stores. In a demo yesterday, though, Microsoft Office Labs GM Chris Pratley and Director of Envisioning Ian Sands said that the two products are completely different. Surface is a multi-touch and vision system that uses cameras to sense what is on the table, where it is and what it is doing. It can determine, for example, if a cell phone is on the table and then interact with the phone in a variety of ways, such as pulling photos off of it (see video here). TouchWall is a fundamentally simpler mechanical system, and is also significantly cheaper to produce. While Surface retails at around $10,000, the hardware to “turn almost anything into a multi-touch interface” for TouchWall is just “hundreds of dollars” says Sands. TouchWall consists of three infrared lasers that scan a surface. A camera notes when something breaks through the laser line and feeds that information back to the Plex software. Early prototypes, say Pratley and Sands, were made, simply, on a cardboard screen. A projector was used to show the Plex interface on the cardboard, and a the system worked fine (I’m trying to get Microsoft to release photos of the cardboard prototype, no luck so far). The TouchWall system I was able to test yesterday consisted of a PC running Vista and Plex, a 4×6 foot plexiglass screen, a rear projector, a infrared camera and the three infrared lasers. As you can see in the video, it worked, and well: Sands showed a number of activities in the video – scrolling though mixed media on a desktop with his hands, infinite zooming in and our, playing media, and even using a drawing tool to turn the entire screen into a whiteboard. Microsoft is quick to say that they have no current plans to productize and sell TouchWall. But the potential of the system is obvious – Prately spoke animatedly about a future where the computing experience is less monitor/keyboard/mouse and more like → Read More
Esteban and his partner Javier sent us this demo of a $20 multi-touch screen they built as a thesis project. It’s quite cool. This one is a few inches across and can sense multiple inputs and even pressure. He writes: Javier Jorge and me started with this project one year ago for our thesis. We are Computer Engineer students at the “Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Fisicas y Naturales” of Cordoba University, in Argentina. Our initial idea was to develop a multi touch technology similar to the one Jeff Han did, but trying to make it fit in a LCD screen without increasing size too much. The prototype seen in the video is a proof of concept of the technology we made. It has an active area (where the multi touch is sensed) of 7cmx7cm. It basically uses IR light emitted from the back to “see” the objects that touches the screen. We can detect any IR-reflective object, specially, fingertips. The functionality is similar to Microsoft’s ThinSight, but we don’t use the IR detector grid. We are keeping the sensing technology confidentially for the moment. The technology can be integrated to an LCD screen. We didn’t have the time to do it (but we tested it). Because IR light can go through the LCD, we can place our sensing technology behind it. The prototype dimensions does not reflect the size that this technology requires, the sensing technology could be 3mm thin and it requires another space to place some processing hardware. The prototype cost us around 60pesos (~US$20). We calculate that a 20” should not cost more than US$100 (without including the LCD screen). We are looking for some company that can invest in this technology, we want to finish it and make a product. I think that in 1.5 a final prototype could be ready and in 2 years a product. → Read More
Some more details for you Eee PC followers. The Eee PC 900, which we mentioned a few times already (score one for multi-touch rumors turning out to be true), has now been officially unveiled. I think the Pope First, the bare stats: 8.9-inch, 1024×600 resolution display; 12GB or 20GB hard drive (depending whether you opt for the Windows or Linux version); and 1GB RAM (which, incidentally, is the same amount I have in my MacBook and it’s not nearly enough). So it’s certainly a capable machine, especially when you consider what you’re supposed to use it for (light use, that is). Just don’t grab one with the idea that you’ll be rendering video on the road, lest you be disappointed. Oh! It’ll be here early next month. via Laptop mag → Read More
The new Asus eee PC 900 — not the potential touchscreen model — ended up on the FCC site today and it’s looking good. One interesting point: It has a multi-touch trackpad, something that will definitely make the anti-Apple fanbois happy. It looks very similar to the original eee, but expect improvements, including a possible 8 hour battery, in the future. → Read More
Welcome to the Unreasonable Stance, where our own Devin Coldewey takes the minority opinion on a tech matter and defends it with convenient data, spun numbers, fanboyism, and insults until he proves, without a doubt, that those that disagree with him are filthy mouth-breathers. Everybody’s all a-twitter about Apple’s latest amazing technology, the incomparable “multi-touch.” But what is it exactly that is so great about this? It’s impressive technically, but it doesn’t really seem to be very handy for much of anything. → Read More
Matt was impressed by the Surface back at CES so I’m inclined to go along based on his judgement. The Sarcastic Gamer gets up close and personal with the Surface’s first game called Firefly. Check out the video and see what it’s all about. It looks really neat. → Read More
My first impressions have been positive with the Penryn MacBook Pro, but I wonder about the trackpad and why it isn’t bigger. Why does the craptastic MacBook Air have the ginormous trackpad when the workhorse of the line is left with the same trackpad its had for years? And why can’t they make the rest of the line multi-touch. We first believed it was software but then we found that the main board used a special touchscreen chip, the same one found in the Touch and the iPhone. We’d like to recreate the behavior on older MacBooks. The thing is, with John’s delirium tremens and Doug’s hatred of Apple, the only two guys who could possibly try to do this are out of the running. We think CG readers are smart enough to figure this out. We definitely aren’t. Help the world make the trackpad on all MacBooks more Air-like, and we’ll give you an iPod Touch. Read on to see how. → Read More
Having spent the last few hours reinstalling apps and customizing to my specific liking, I’ve noticed that using the multi-touch on the new Penryn MBP isn’t what I imagine it to be. The trackpad just isn’t big enough and I really wish Apple would have put the larger one, like the MBA, on the MBP. It’s not horrible or unusable by any means, but you’d figure with such a large palm rest area that a larger trackpad would make sense. Of course, this is a miniscule gripe and everything else seems to be working fine, but I figured I’d chime in and let you all know. It’s much, much better than the MacBook Air in terms of functionality, but if that slimmed down sexy piece of hardware has anything on the MBP it’s the larger trackpad. Did any of you purchase a MacBook Air? Chime in with a comment and let us know. [Update]: I’m not sure what the deal is but my Wi-Fi is being really funky right now. I’m sitting within two feet of my router and I’m not getting full bars. Matt has been having the same issues since he installed Leopard, but my MacBook had Leopard and its signal strength was always pretty good. I’ll keep investigating. → Read More
Just returned from the Apple store on West 14th here in Gotham and this is my first post with the new MacBook Pro. It’ll take me a few hours to gather up some real hard info on it, but in the meantime enjoy the gallery. Although, there isn’t much difference between this and the old MBP. No Apple Remote which kind of sucks, but I never really used it when I had it. It’s another $20 if you really, really want one. The new processor is hot though. [photopress:2294638889_cb00d5c2c0_o.jpg,thumb,pp_image][photopress:2294617381_4bb41ffea6_o.jpg,thumb,pp_image][photopress:2294626797_113530630b_o.jpg,thumb,pp_image][photopress:2295413174_ec98d3ddbb_o.jpg,thumb,pp_image][photopress:2294622987_09c111d5b9_o.jpg,thumb,pp_image][photopress:2294646135_eb72008cbe_o.jpg,thumb,pp_image][photopress:2294634427_b4c50f4336_o.jpg,thumb,pp_image][photopress:2294631769_7f1a5c8d16_o.jpg,thumb,pp_image][photopress:2295423646_3a26dfebf3_o.jpg,thumb,pp_image][photopress:2294640411_e79b93cca6_o.jpg,thumb,pp_image][photopress:2295473214_5c3e625760_o.jpg,thumb,pp_image] → Read More
The new MacBook Pro features the latest Intel Core 2 Duo technology with up to a 2.6 GHz processor with 6MB of shared L2 cache; up to 4GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM memory and up to a 300GB hard drive, plus NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with up to 512MB of video memory. Every MacBook Pro now includes a trackpad with Multi-Touch gesture support for pinch, rotate and swipe, making it more intuitive than ever to zoom and rotate photos in iPhoto® or Aperture™ 2 or browse web pages in Safari™; an illuminated keyboard that makes it ideal for dimly lit environments such as airplanes, studios or conference halls and a built-in ambient light sensor, which automatically adjusts the brightness of the keys as well as the brightness of the display for optimal visibility. → Read More
Duh! The only other thing worth noting is that the new MBPs will get Penryn-based Core 2 Duo processors. They will supposedly be introduced in the next few weeks. Good thing I’ll be getting that $600 check from the government. Next-gen Apple MacBook Pros to gain multi-touch trackpad [Apple Insider] → Read More
San Francisco, CA
