Posts Tagged ‘multitouch’
Video: Turning A Massive Touchscreen Display Into a Multitouch Microscope
Given the fact that the minimum size for the screen is 46 inches--and it can be much larger, like the size of a conference table or even an entire wall--the device is capable of making the very small very large. The multitouch surface can recognize the touches of several different people at the same time, adding a whole new dimension to collaborative science and lab instruction.
This isn’t just an overblown iPad app--files can be up to 200 gigabytes, so there’s some real computing power backing the multitouch microscope. But from a technology standpoint, it’s not so very complex. Samples are digitized using a microscopy scanner and put onto a server from which the touchscreen device continuously receives them over the Web.
From there, an entire group can stand around a massive visualization of a sample, swiping, zooming, and otherwise manipulating it intuitively and without any kind of serious training. We’ll always be a bit nostalgic for the old days when we stained our own slides in chem lab, but it’s hard to argue that a wall-sized, multitouch microscope isn’t extremely cool.
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Synaptics lets Linux gadgets give the iPad 10 fingers
Apple’s multitouch finger controls on the iPad have inspired a wave of copycat tablet computers that will be out later this year. Those copycats are likely to get help from touch-sensor company , which is announcing today that it has created a Linux version of its multitouch sensor system.
The enables computer screens to recognize touches from up to 10 fingers at the same time. In the past, two-finger gestures, like pinching to zoom, were the norm on devices such as the iPhone. But using 10 fingers to control what happens on a screen is much more liberating for application designers. It enables apps such as finger painting, for instance, or playing a touchscreen game with multiple users at the same time.
Synaptics announced the same 10-finger gesture suite for Windows computers and other devices last year. It’s possible that the technology — or at least something like it — is being used in the Apple iPad (Apple doesn’t allow its suppliers to talk about components or subsystems inside Apple devices). But at the very least, the Synaptics Gesture Suite lets tablet computers running Windows 7 or Linux stay competitive with the iPad.
The extension of the suite to Linux will widen the variety of devices that can use multitouch screens, which are one of the coolest new user interfaces in computing devices and phones. This means that multitouch screens could be used in everything from small remote controls to netbooks, which are a hot-selling category of portable computers.
Synaptics isn’t saying who will use the technology yet. But give it time. Six months after an announcement like this, a new wave of devices usually hits the market. Synaptics, based in Santa Clara, Calif., says its technology has been used in more than 700 million devices since 1995.
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Multitoe Turns Floors Into Massive Multitouch Screens You Control With Your Feet
Most multitouch surfaces are limited by the lengths of our arms: a multitouch surface must be small enough that we can comfortably reach every inch of surface, otherwise the unreachable portions of screen are worthless. This in turn limits how many objects we can cram onto the screen at once.
But Multitoe allows users to wander around a canvas of -- theoretically -- limitless size, manipulating objects with their kicks. Based on , Multitoe can identify and track several different users working on the same screen and recognize their foot postures, allowing them various degrees of freedom depending on the users balance, posture and movement.
Essentially, Multitoe identifies users by their footprints, using the unique characteristics of the bottom of their shoes to differentiate between them. It can ignore inactive users, tell the difference between walking and screen commands, and even determine the orientation of a user's head based on his or her balance. Multitoe can even perform precision tasks like typing via a virtual hotspot that the computer affixes to the ball of the foot.
As such, Multitoe is far more than a means to tap out "Heart and Soul" on a virtual keyboard; check out the young lady blasting her way through a first-person shooter in the video below. While Multitoe might seem limited in some capacities -- for instance, there are only two points of contact rather than the potential ten we get from our fingers, a fact that might complicate tasks like rotating objects on screen -- it's certainly an interesting technology and could have vast applications.
Imagine smart floors that can guide you directly to a particular painting in a museum and then display information on demand without cluttering the walls with tiny placards. Or Dance Dance Revolution -- which by our estimation will never be the same.
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