Digital Home Thoughts - News & Reviews for the Digital Home

Be sure to register in our forums and post your comments - we want to hear from you!


Zune Thoughts

Loading feed...

Apple Thoughts

Loading feed...

Laptop Thoughts

Loading feed...





All posts tagged "multi-touch"


Friday, October 9, 2009

Watch Microsoft's Multi-Touch Mice In Action!

Posted by Hooch Tan in "Digital Home News" @ 02:00 PM

http://www.on10.net/blogs/larry/Thi...our-Next-Mouse/

"Today at the User Interface Software and Technology Conference, Microsoft will show five new mouse prototypes that combine normal mousing with multitouch controls. Here is a video that gives you a brief introduction to each of the controls."

A video has surfaced that demonstrates Microsoft's foray into multi-touch mice and how they can be used in different applications. The demos are somewhat interesting, but I think that it is the finger gestures that they demonstrate that could have the most potential in real world applications. Watching the hand do awkward things like pinching and stretching on a mouse looks painful to me, and not something that I would relish doing repeatedly. And while multi-touch actions are useful, putting those on a mouse seems counter-intuitive to me, since it is a step removed from the actual object you're interacting with; why not just do those actions right on the screen itself? Flicks and twists though, look much more natural, and I could see those being more quickly accepted. Anyone going to rush out the moment these, or something like them, go on sale?


Friday, May 29, 2009

Windows 7 Multi-touch Features

Posted by Chris Gohlke in "Digital Home Software" @ 03:00 AM

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=1009

"Last week, on a whirlwind tour of the Microsoft campus, I had a chance to sit down with the team responsible for implementing the multi-touch feature set in Windows 7 and to see a previously unannounced product called the Microsoft Touch Pack for Windows 7, which will be available with Windows 7 on new touch-compatible PCs. The Touch Pack consists of three multi-player games. Rebound, shown below, works like the old air hockey games where I wasted many hours of my college years."

Cute, but gimmicky features. I'm still not sold on full sized touch screen displays being useful for daily activities. I would like to see multi-touch features added for mice. Basically I'd like to be able to hook up two mice and use two independent pointers with multi-touch like features.


Thursday, May 28, 2009

GottaBeMobile Shows Off Multi-Touch in Windows 7

Posted by Hooch Tan in "Digital Home News" @ 02:00 PM

http://www.gottabemobile.com/2009/0...-for-windows-7/

"These applications are a lot of fun, once you figure out how to play them. They make multi-touch on a Windows 7 touch computer come alive. I did this quick demo on my Dell Latitude XT running build 7100 and the latest multi-touch drivers from N-Trig. Except for a lack of help files to give me some pointers, and my having difficulty figuring a few of the games out, I’ve had a lot of fun playing with these applications over the past several weeks."

Microsoft is releasing the Microsoft Touch Pack for Windows 7 which includes a whole bunch of goodies. GottaBeMobile demonstrates some of the neat features in a video though they're mostly showcase programs, except Microsoft Surface Globe. As pretty as multi-touch is, and this definitely gives a taste of Surface, I'm not sold on all the hype surrounding multi-touch. It has uses as a consuming-type interface, but I spend a lot of my time with the keyboard and sadly, I haven't found anything to match it yet. That and I can just imagine how often I will need to clean the screen to keep fingerprints off once multi-touch becomes a standard.


Friday, March 13, 2009

Taking a Peek At The Dell Studio One 19

Posted by Hooch Tan in "Digital Home News" @ 09:30 AM

http://www.pcworld.com/article/1611...tml?tk=rss_main

"Dell's Studio One 19 attempts to take what HP's big, black obelisk of sleek touchiness (the HP TouchSmart IQ506) got right -- and wrong -- and hit a slightly different demographic: Non-nerds. At least that's the pitch Dell spokespeople give."

The effort to push All-in-Ones have existed for well over a decade, with the most prominent one probably being the iMac. While the iMac was a great success for Apple, I've yet to see any Windows based All-in-One truly succeed, and while I suppose laptops and their brethren could fall into that category, I'm not counting them. HP recently took another stab with the HP TouchSmart, and now Dell is having their go at it. The specifications are nothing outstanding, but they'll provide a good experience for most computing uses. I've noticed that they also feature multi-touch as an option, something not normally found in other All-in-Ones, but any vertically mounted touch device raises concerns of "gorilla arm." If the Studio One 19 was laid close to flat, I think it'd be much easier to play with. Maybe that's just my tablet and Microsoft Surface (I wish!) experience coming though. Has anyone tried working against a vertical interface for an extended period of time? It's tiring!


Monday, January 12, 2009

iTable To Compete With Microsoft Surface

Posted by Hooch Tan in "Digital Home News" @ 01:00 PM

http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/01/1...u-in-every-way/

"They’ve essentially taken the idea behind the Microsoft Surface and have done it better in every way. It’s cheaper, it’s gorgeous, and perhaps most notably, it’s not a hulking monster. Two of the most notable features of the Surface are its multitouch capabilities and the availability of a development SDK, both of which PQ Labs has matched (or, in the case of the SDK, plan to match soon). The number of fingers detected by the multitouch sensor is limited only by the individual software designer’s desire - the hardware itself supports as many simultaneous prods as you can throw at it."

CrunchGear has a video demonstrating a very impressive multi-touch interface made by PQ Labs called the iTable. It runs on Windows XP and can be added as a 32" LCD overlay or as a preconfigured 30" table. Watching the video, it seems quite responsive, and can handle as many digits on the surface as you care to use. The only significant part that I find lacking in comparison to Microsoft's surface is the ability to recognize devices placed on the surface. In some ways, it looks a lot like a glorified HP Touchsmart but with a more open concept developer interface. A closer comparison would be the multi-touch capabilities that Windows 7 will bring to the table. Thinking of what one can do with multi-touch, I'm excited to see this and the price is more competitive, starting at $2,399, however, I remain unconvinced that it is worth that much extra cost.


Featured Product

The Canon PowerShot S100 - The incredibly fun and small camera that offers you 12.1 megapixels with a bright f/2.0 lens and full 1080p video recording . MORE INFO

News Tip or Feedback?

Contact us

Thoughts Media Sites

Windows Phone Thoughts

Digital Home Thoughts

Zune Thoughts

Apple Thoughts

Laptop Thoughts

Android Thoughts

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...