jeff han

________________________________

art center college of design

graphic design

________________________________

jhan8@inside.artcenter.edu

Es kommt mir nicht allzulang vor, das ich über die Möglichkeiten des Multitouch Displays von Jeff Han gestaunt habe. Minority Report Real-Life waren die Schlagwörter.

Das das ein alter Hut ist weiß man nun, das Video unten ist nur ein Besipiel die Fortschritte in Richtung Spielerein und neuen Möglichkeiten. Zum Thema Spielereien einmal mehr einer meiner Favouriten in Sachen Interfacedesign.

Ted.org ist die Videoplattform der jährlich in Monterey, Kalifornien abgehaltenen TED-Konferenz ( Technology, Entertainment, Design), auf der eine Gruppe von rund 1.000 Experten aus verschiedenen Fachgebieten ihre Ideen austauschen.

Auf Ted.org gibt es zahlreiche hochinteressante Vorträge, die man sich ansehen kann. Wie zum Beispiel das unten eingefügte Video. Es zeigt Jeff Han (Wissenschaftler am NYU’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences) bei der Demonstration eines Multi-Touch-Screens, den er entwickelt hat. Han präsentiert den Touchscreen anhand mehrerer Anwendungsbeispiele. Er benutzt, zum Beispiel beim Fotos ansehen, alle Finger beider Hände um zu zoomen, Fotos zu drehen und zu verschieben. Auch eine Tastatur zum Beschriften der Fotos lässt sich jederzeit einblenden.

Das meiner Meinung nach faszinierendste an dieser Technologie ist das Verwenden von zwei oder mehr Fingern, um bestimmte Aktionen durchzuführen. Han ist der Meinung, dass seine Erfindung die Zukunft der Computerbedienung darstellt und ich stimme dabei voll und ganz mit ihm überein. Die Bedienung mittels Multitouchscreen dürfte einfacher und praktischer sein, als die herkömmliche Bedienung mittels Maus. Nur was das Schreiben am Screen mittels eingeblendeter Tastatur betrifft, bin ich mir nicht ganz sicher. Ich habs gern, wenn ich beim Tastendrücken einen Widerstand spüre – Oldschool sozusagen.

Teilweise, etwa bei Apple-Produkten (z.B. Iphone, Macbook) wurde das, was der von Jeff Han vorgestellte Prototyp konnte, bereits umgesetzt.

Han präsentierte diese neue Art von Touchsreen bei der TED 2006 vor einem in höchstem Maße beeindruckten und begeisterten Publikum. Auf Youtube wurde sein Vortrag  mehr als 600.000 mal angesehen.

Interessante Links zu Jeff Han und seiner Multi-Touch-Technologie:

http://cs.nyu.edu/~jhan/

http://www.perceptivepixel.com/

http://multi-touchscreen.com/

While working on a group project, I noticed how ill-suited mobile computers were for collaborative use. Even with computer display connected to an external projector and another mouse, it was impossible for more than one person to make edits when pulling together a PowerPoint presentation. Only one set of actions went through via vocal instructions to a laptop user, regardless of the number of ideas tossed out that could have been explored. This hampered productivity.

Imagine trying to have a conversation with five of your best friends that you haven’t seen in a year (yay!) except only one of you can speak at a time with no interruptions or exclamations. This is no way to work nor socialize.

I wished, then, for an operating system that would support a minimum of dual input (at least two mice, two cursors on one screen) for multiple-user single-tasking, AKA “group conversations” on a single workstation.

—–

Computing hardware has advanced by leaps & bound and become increasingly powerful, efficient, and reliable–whereas mainstream graphical user interfaces have remain unchanged, for the most part. 

Technology has allowed us to amass an immense amount of data in digital age (satellite imaging, radiology scans, genome sequences), but no user interfaces exist which can visualize, analyze, and present data as readily as multi-touch platforms can. Other than being downright cool, touch is ideal for consuming/presenting information. Because it is a more natural interface, it increases user productivity.

I’ve been drawn to it from the start.

—-
Zooming in and out of photographs is direct manipulation using two fingers of one hand, a bare bones gimmick for ads; it doesn’t scratch the surface of what true multi-touch (more than two input points!) is capable of.

For example,Perceptive Pixel offers pressure-sensitive multi-touch displays that can sense an unlimited number of simultaneous touches with accuracy and precision. Their displays come bundled with the right software and have applications in geo-intelligence, broadcasting, medical imaging, data exploration, digital storyboarding, industrial design…the list goes on. 

Cuando defendí mi proyecto fin de carrera allá en los 90, mi profesor me dijo, tal vez con un exceso de pesimismo, que no incluyera demos de mi trabajo porque siempre fallan: el conocido por todos y por todos temido efecto demo. Ahora bien, si la demo salía bien, el impacto en la presentación sería tremendamente positivo y además se demostraría a las claras qué se había hecho y qué no. En definitiva, se trataba de una apuesta arriesgada.

En una presentación, especialmente en el ámbito tecnológico, suele resultar muy frecuente incluir demos de productos o de aplicaciones informáticas.

Existen algunos fallos históricos, como el legendario pantallazo azul en presencia de Bill Gates durante la presentación de Windows 98:

Y por supuesto, todos los días podemos asistir a innumerables fallos anónimos, que no pasan a la historia, pero engrosan las estadísticas de demos fallidas.

¿Demo o no demo? He ahí la cuestión

Si se ha ensayado adecuadamente y si el producto funciona correctamente, entonces qué duda cabe, yo siempre apuesto por la demo. La vida es riesgo. No podemos limitarnos a nosotros mismos para evitar el fracaso. Recuerda: cuando siempre aciertas es que algo estás haciendo mal.

A continuación enlazo algunas de las demos más espectaculares que he visto en presentaciones, todas ellas realizadas de manera impecable y magníficamente integradas en la presentación. Que las disfrutéis y os inspiren.

Blaise Aguera y Arcas: Photosynth

Jeff Han: interfaz multi-touch

David Merrill: Siftables, bloques de juguete que piensan

Johnny Lee: creando maravillas con la Wii

Añadir a del.icio.us

ENTRADAS RELACIONADAS

Presentaciones con demos que nadie ve más allá de la quinta fila

Pautas para ensayar tus presentaciones

DIÁLOGO ABIERTO

¿Sueles incluir demos en tus presentaciones? ¿Has visto demos espectaculares? ¿O fracasos estrepitosos? Comparte tus experiencias con otros lectores.

|English|
This is a relatively simple solution, that can be developed at home with a low cost. Jeff Han, an MIT researcher, was the first to use the total internal refraction (FTIR) in a multi-touch system, from that different building methods and experiments begin to emerge, a lot of that is documented in the NUI (Natural User Interface) group forum. The assembly that I’m developing here has a acrylic glass with infrared LEDs around it, translucent paper as a surface diffuser for the projected image, a câmera sensible only to infrared light and a projector. The infrared light keep reflecting inside the acrylic, here a snapshot form the camera below the glass shows only a black image. When you touch the acrylic, because of the frustrated total internal refraction, the LED beams get out straight down, the camera sees a white dot in the shape of the finger. A image analysis – made trough the TBeta software – transforms the white dots in cartesian coordinates that feeds my graphical software ‘Units’, through the TUIO protocol (some good libraries to read this protocol are available here). The result is projected back in real time on the surface been touched, the projection and the infrared don’t disturb one another because they work in different light spectrum’s.
Silicone is applied between the acrylic and the translucent paper, to better the touch sensibility, more on that later.

More info:
See the multi touch screen working, here.
How to transform a webcam to be sensible to infrared light, here.
An example of the graphical emergent software ‘Units_08′.

|Português|
Essa é uma solução relativamente simples, podendo ser desenvolvida de forma caseira e a baixo custo. Jeff Han, pesquisador do MIT, foi o primeiro a utilizar a refração total interna frustada (FTIR) em um sistema multi toque, a partir disso experimentos e modos de construção diferentes foram surgindo, muitos desses estão documentados no fórum do grupo NUI (interfaces de uso natural). A montagem que eu estou desenvolvendo constitui de um Acrílico com LEDs infravermelhos a sua volta, um vegetal como superfície difusora para a projeção da imagem, uma câmera sensível somente a radiação infravermelha e um projetor.
Os raios infravermelhos dos LEDs ficam presos dentro do acrílico, a câmera filmando por debaixo da montagem vê apenas uma imagem preta. Ao se tocar o vidro, por causa da refração total interna frustada, os raios infravermelhos saem para baixo, a câmera vê então um ponto branco no formato do dedo. A análise da imagem – feita via o software TBeta – transforma os pontos brancos em coordenadas cartesianas que alimentam o meu software gráfico ‘Unidades’, através do protocolo TUIO (algumas ótimas bibliotecas para se ler esse protocolo estão disponíveis aqui). O resultado é projetado de volta em tempo real na superfície que está sendo tocada, a projeção e o infravermelho não se atrapalham mutuamente pois trabalham em espectros de luz diferentes.
Uma camada de silicone é aplicada entre o vegetal e o acrílico para melhorar a sensibilidade ao toque, mais sobre isso em breve.

Mais info:
Veja a tela sensível a multi toque funcionando aqui.
Como transformar uma webcam para ser sensível somente a luz infravermelha, aqui.
Um exemplo do software de emergência gráfica ‘Unidades_08′.

The second post ever on Notorious R.O.B. was entitled, “More Silliness from Real Estate Connect” and contained this passage:

The Real Estate industry has gone tech-crazy.

Here’s a wakeup call: all that technology does is make your existing processes more efficient. If what you do is crap, it makes crap more efficient. If what you do is valuable, then it makes that more efficient. Microsoft Word is an amazing piece of technology, but it can’t write the next Great American Novel for you. You have to actually write the damn thing yourself, and if you suck as a writer, then Word isn’t going to solve that problem for you.

If only sloganeering created reality...

By the way, I would like to note that I have broken through some sort of dork continuum by quoting myself from a year ago.  The only thing I could think of that might be dorkier is singing She Bangs on American Idol.  (Click on that link at your own peril; I will take no responsibility for brain meltdown and queasy feelings.)

A couple of recent experiences reminded me that plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose.

Evidence: Oh, Canada!

First, we get this announcement from Coldwell Banker Canada:

Coldwell Banker Canada Operations ULC today announced the launch of the brand’s customized real estate application developed for Microsoft Surface™.  The dynamic new real estate interface was unveiled during a live interactive demo at the Coldwell Banker® Canadian Broker Meeting and Awards Gala being held today in Toronto. The new Microsoft Surface home search application allows users to interact with thousands of home listings, real estate maps and other www.coldwellbanker.com features in a way that is familiar, by using simple hand gestures. Similar to the intuitive technology featured in the futuristic film, “Minority Report”, this exploration on the use of Microsoft Surface represents yet another way in which Coldwell Banker is working to harness innovative technologies to benefit home buyers and sellers.

Um.  Okay guys.

So the Canadian real estate market was down17.1% i n2008, and the Canadian Real Estate Association is predicting a 16.9% drop in 2009, but one of the largest brokerage companies in Canada is excited about Microsoft Surface?

Is this really the thing that’s going to turn things around for CB Canada?

Maybe.  But I submit that the real estate industry has gone tech-crazy if folks really believe that Surface is where dollars need to be invested.

By the way, compare what CB Canada put together with this from Perceptive Pixel, the company founded by Jeff Han who pioneered multi-touch interfaces:

If you’re going to do multi-touch, then by golly do it right.  Putting a website that we’re all familiar with on Surface and calling that a “dynamic new real estate interface” doesn’t pass the laugh test.

Evidence: Ubiquity of Social Media

I don’t hate social media.  Nor do I think it’s useless.  If anything, I believe the opposite: it’s damn useful, and quite likely groundbreaking in lots of ways.  But I do think the industry is focusing on absolutely the wrong thing as it comes to social media.

People are focusing on the technology of social media, rather than on the meaning of social media.

Past two weeks, I’ve been on the road, first at RE Tech South and then at the Leading Real Estate Companies of the World Conference.  I’ve sat through hours of seminars and panel discussions and lectures on how real estate professionals and companies can survive, thrive and even improve in the current market conditions.  And it seemed that every other word being uttered was “Twitter” or “FaceBook” or “Blog”.

The emphasis on technology leads to realtors using the technology in all sorts of unsuitable ways: spamming their friends, endless twitterstreams of listing after listing, advertising after advertising, and blogs that are nothing more than digitized billboards.

All that technology does is make your existing processes more efficient.

When your existing mode of engagement is “NOW IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY OR SELL!” (And by the way, how does that work, exactly?) then the technology is just going to make you be more efficiently annoying.

To be sure, there are people like Jeff Turner who are trying to preach the meaning of social media, rather than the technology.  We need more of him, and less obsession about how to create a dozen groups on TweetDeck to keep track of all of your social networks.

It Ain’t the Technology

If I believe in nothing else, I believe that marketing post-Cluetrain is authentic, open communication between human beings.  Technology assists in the transformation, makes some of the interaction possible even, but it is not the interaction.

I firmly believe that a realtor who doesn’t know how to use a computer, but send personal, authentic, and no-bullshit handwritten notes will beat the pants off of the realtor who has thousands of Facebook Friends and barrages them with digital versions of “Just Sold” postcards.  I really do.

Because it ain’t the technology; it’s the person behind the technology.

I'm still Jenny from the block.

What realtors need isn’t a newfangled technology to be a thousand times more annoying than they are today, but a transformation into the kind of trusted advisor that so many claim and so few achieve.  Companies need to be investing in technology (and processes!) that help realtors become true experts in their local market, the real estate transaction, the financial elements, and client service, rather than in gadgets that win cool points then fade away.

Show people that you care about them as people; that you will work hard for them; that you are a professional with pride in your training, knowledge, and expertise; that you won’t lie to them or bullshit them; that you will advise them to the best of your abilities for their benefit and not your own; that you are neither a huckster nor a servant; that you too are human… and people won’t care if you message them through Facebook or through smoke signals.

They will trust you.

-rsh

Properties of SixthSense

After Jeff Han’s groundbreaking demo of the Perceptive Pixel interface in 2006, and the introduction of Microsoft’s hopelessly overpriced Surface table, most consumer efforts have been focused on solid state multi-touch interfaces on a multitude of “iPhone-killers”. Dr. Pattie Maes and her team at the newly founded Fluid Interfaces Group (FIG) have just raised the bar.

FIG,part of the MIT Media Lab, recently demoed the SixthSense Project at TED. This ground-breaking project takes Jeff Hans original multi-touch “minority report” approach to a whole new level of interaction.

‘SixthSense’ is the brainchild of Pranav Mistry and showcases a cheap wearable gestural interface that augments the physical world around with digital information and lets the user interact with the information using natural hand gestures.

The prospect of this device remains to be seen, but at $350 for the current prototype the potential for mass implementation is definitely there. check out the project here

InteractionLove from Nik

Multi-touch interactive displays, the choice interface of futuristic cinematic endeavors, now stand the forefront of the consumer electronics and multimedia entertainment industy. Highly intuitive user interfaces have been rapidly commercialized and integrated into daily life.

Stop and think about it. Watching the news (CNN’s eight-foot “Magic Wall” courtesy of Perceptive Pixel), withdrawing cash from an ATM, making calls on a mobile phone, casting votes on Election Day, paying the bill at a restaraunt (courtesy of Microsoft Surface), getting directions with the latest GPS navigator, or gaming on a portable device. . . touch screens are ubiquitous.

But this is only the beginning, since touch is only one form of interactivity. Single-chip 3D engines & sensors coupled with multi-modal, multi-touch LCD displays will revolutionize the user experience in both computing and gaming. Display and technology developers already have holographic interactivity, haptics, and gestural interfaces (think supercharged Nintendo Wii) in the works. It’s all uphill from here.

—-

The Interactive Displays Conference 2009 is being hosted at the Hilton in San Jose two months from now. I’m excited about attending and getting a market overview straight from industry heads! IDC2009 will assess advances, as mentioned above, and discuss the challenges of interactive display development and integration. Register here.

Great Expectations:

• Updates on surface computing from Microsoft
• Latest applications for interactive displays from uWink, Ecast, BMW and Flextronics
• Trends in interactive gaming technologies from 3M Touch Systems
• Multi-touch and the design of user experiences from Wacom Technologies
• Emerging holographic interaction technologies from EON Reality
• Design, affordability, interactivity of touch screens with Pixel Qi’s Mary Lou Jepsen, founding CTO of the OLPC Initiative
• Strategic analysis of the rapidly emerging interactivity industry from iSuppli

[Update] Looks like Jeff Han, founder of Perceptive Pixel [view official demo here], will be making an appearance for a keynote address!

JEFF  HAN

Jeff Han founded Perceptive Pixel to develop and market the most advanced multi-touch systems in the world. Above is the official demo. All I have to say is, HOT DAMN – that’s the stuff of dreams! 

Imagine coupling Perceptive Pixel’s systems with Intel’s Minority-Report-esque 3D translucent touchscreen wall at CES 2009!!! I can’t wait until multi-touch user interfaces go mainstream.

—-
I guess I should also mentionMicrosoft Surface, the first commercially-available surface computing platform as of 2007.

Surface computing is:

• Direct Interaction: Users can actually “grab” digital information with their hands – interacting with content by touch and gesture, without the use of a mouse or keyboard.
• Multi–Touch: Surface computing recognizes many points of contact simultaneously, not just from one finger like with a typical touch–screen, but up to dozens of items at once.
• Multi–User: The horizontal form factor makes it easy for several people to gather around Microsoft Surface together, providing a collaborative, face–to–face computing experience.
• Object Recognition: Users can place physical objects on the display to trigger different types of digital responses; in the future, this will include the ability to transfer digital content.

Jeff Han is behind  the multi touch Tv that you probably saw on CNN.He is a research scientist for the New York University.Han has founded a company called Perceptive Pixel to develop this multi-touch system. Check out more about this technology here, it is umbelievable.

He should be the Person of the Year 2008, on Time magazine.

De fleste vel har sett Jeff Hans presentasjon på TED fra 2006.

Jeff Hans TED presentasjon

Disse tar den enda nærmere Philip K. Dicks visjon i Minority Report:

www.oblong.com

Selvsagt ikke perfekt enda, men SATAN så kult!

Etter tips fra min mann i Much Ados R&D Department, Fred M.

Jeg synes dette også sier litt om hvor viktig kunstnere og forfattere er for å drive ting fremover. Det er ikke nødvendigvis forskere, politikere, foretningsmenn, ol, som er viktigst. Det starter ALLTID med kulturen!

/Kenneth Tangnes

Via Chris Brogan whose blog post suggestion was via Mitch Joel whose suggestion was via OnClick, here is my suggestion of a “Pixelated Conference.”  The premise is having an online conference of various videos to take advantage of resources at hand.  At least that’s my interpretation.  It’s a way of keeping up with what’s cool, hot and rocking on a few topics – all at NO CHARGE.  So, here are my favorite presentations that impact success, creativity and productivity.  This is who I’d have speak if I had my druthers.  Enjoy!

PIXELATED CONFERENCE – Creativity, Inspiration and Productivity

David Allen – Speaking on GTD

Garr Reynolds on Presentations

Merlin Mann -Inbox Zero

Richard St. John – 8 Secrets of Success

Jonathan Harris – Stories of the Internet

Anand Agarawala on the Bump Desktop

Jeff Han – Touchscreen Technology

Thanks to Chris and Mitch for passing this on.  If you have a collection of conferences you’d suggest, post them in the comment section and let’s share.

If you’re a tech hipster then surely you’ve heard of Microsofts pet project “Surface“. Surface is cool but this multi-touch display by Jeff Han blows it out of the water, atmosphere and finally out of the galaxy!

Truly,
Mr. Echo

Es lo ultimo en tecnologia de pantallas multi-punto con interacción táctil, es la Perceptive Pixel de Jeff Han…Vale la pena, el futuro ya esta aquí en cuanto a este tipo de tecnología se refiere.

Todo-TV 
Reparar TV Barcelona

Em comemoração aos seus 35 anos e o início das transmissões das Olimpíadas, o Fanstástico estrou uma nova tecnologia na televisão brasileira que muda de certa forma o conceito dos infográficos ou os tradicionais selos, aquelas imagens ao fundo ou ao lado dos apresentadores, ilustrando a matéria que está sendo apresentada.

Isso porque, graças aos avanços tecnológicos, alguns telejornais (a até alguns programas, como a transmissão de corridas e futebol), utilizam recursos técnicos tridimensionais a esses elementos complementares para que tenham mais ligação com o cenário ou como os apresentadores.

Baseda na Magic Wall, do canal americano CNN, Patrícia Poeta e Zeca Camargo, através de uma imensa tela eles arrastavam, clicavam ou apontavam para ter acesso as informações que necessitavam. Tudo com simples toques sobre ela. Durante as Olimpíadas de Pequim, essa tela digital interativa irá quadro de medalhas, inforamações sobre atletas, os locais onde acontecerão as competições, entre outros.

É bem verdade que hoje a linguagem televisiva permite ter a ilusão que não se precisa haver o toque em nada para o aparecimento de gráficos. Vide as previsões do tempo do Jornal da Band ou ou Jornal Nacional, por exemplo.  Mas essa linguagem “touch screen” traz um diferencial. Ela tenta trazer cada vez mais uma associação maior a linguagem da internet ao mundo televisivo. Coisa que a tevê digital vêm prometendo com a sua tão alarmada interatividade.

Confira no vídeo abaixo ou no site da Globo.com como funcionará a tela digital durante as Olimpíadas.

Além disso, confira uma reportagem feita também pela Globo.com, como o criador da tela: Jeffrey Han.

Postado por André Luiz Sens

(Com a colaboração de Tiago Dória e Fernando Lima)

Jeff Han: The Amazingly Orgasmic Pixel Guy

The Emergence of Multi-Touch Technology

When Steve Jobs first introduced Apple’s iPhone at Macworld last year, the feature that evoked the most excitement was its touch-screen interface, allowing more than one touch at a time. The multi-touch technology added innovative new functions, such as allowing the user to easily zoom in and out of pictures and web pages by pinching the screen with two fingers.

But a more advanced version of the amazing power of multi-touch technology has been unleashed upon screens much larger than those on the iPhones. Over the past few years, Jeff Han, a research scientist at New York University, has developed a relatively inexpensive way to make large multi-touch screens that can accommodate 10, 20, or even more fingers. He foresees applications that range from interactive whiteboards to touch-screen tables and digital walls, any of which can manipulated by more than just one person. Han’s company, Perspective Pixel, is based upon the unique multi-touch technology that he’s pioneered.

The Amazing Perspective Pixel

Han’s touch display is made of clear acrylic with light-emitting diodes that are attached to the edges, which illuminate a six-millimeter-thick acrylic piece with infrared light. Normally, the light from the diodes reflects along predictable paths within the acrylic plate, a physical phenomenon called total internal reflection. However, once a finger or other object touches the acrylic, the internally reflecting light diffuses at the point of contact, scattering outside the surface. Behind the acrylic surface, there is a camera that captures this light and using simple image-processing software, the captured scattering is interpreted in real time as discrete touches and strokes.

Many researchers who’ve been working for decades on touch technology have been extremely excited to see these developments. “For almost two decades, we’ve been trapped by the tyranny of the screen, the mouse, and the keyboard,” observed Don Norman, professor at Northwestern University, in Chicago, and the author of The Design of Future Things. “It’s nice to think we’re breaking away from that and going toward touch-screen manipulation in the real physical world.”

What follows below is a video that presents a fascinating demonstration of Han’s Pespective Pixel, an exhibition that he made of “Perspective Pixel” at the annual TED Conference in Aspen, Colorado.

done

Jeff Han Presenting Perspective Pixel at TED

You can read more about Jeff Han’s groundbreaking Perspective Pixel in The Technology Review here.

Technorati: art, computers, culture, cultural, education, entertainment, higher education, internet, music, NYC, Manhattan, New York City, news, personalities, photographs, photography, science, social, social ideas, social life, society, technology, video, videos, world, computer technology, image, internet technology, multimedia, music video, songs, world news, Jeff Han, touch-screen, multi-touch, multi-touch technology, multi-touch screen technology, Steve Jobs, Macworld, California, Apple, iPhone, New York University, Perspective Pixel, pixel, pixels, TED, TED Conference, Aspen, Colorado

Please Remember Me and Bookmark This:

This is a fairly dated video, but watch in amazement at one of the most promising technologies ever to emerge in this 21st century.

Technically, a multi-touch screen is an ingenious medium made by having a computer, infra-red equipped cameras, projector, and a modified projector screen. How the programming is made is beyond me, at least for now it is…

So far I’ve come across some ways to have this technology in your own home with minimal cost.

Home made screen:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=bnjeWbvVCCo&feature=related

Some actionscripting:
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/articles/webcam_motion.html

Some imagination and ingenuity:
http://www.secondstory.com/

The top 10 TED talks of all time:

1. Jill Bolte Taylor: “My stroke of insight”
2. Jeff Han: “Touchscreen demo foreshadows the iPhone”
3. David Gallo: “Underwater astonishments”
4. Blaise Aguera y Arcas: “Jaw-dropping Photosynth demo”
5. Arthur Benjamin: “Lightning calculation and other ‘Mathemagic’”
6. Sir Ken Robinson: “Do schools kill creativity?”
7. Hans Rosling: “The best stats you’ve ever seen”
8. Tony Robbins: “Why we do what we do, and how we can do it better”
9. Al Gore: “15 ways to avert a climate crisis”
10. Johnny Lee: “Creating tech marvels out of a $40 Wii Remote”

Microsoft’s new baby: TouchWall, is similar to Surface which is out in AT&T stores just recently on 17th April.

Surface is a multi-touch and vision system that uses cameras to sense what is on the table, a coffee table to be exact, where it is and what it is doing.

Surface 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.

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 number of activities can be done like 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 where the future of our computing experience is less monitor/keyboard/mouse!

More info on TouchWall here.

In the meantime, since TouchWall is not commerically available – we can still review and purchase the Surface!

Watch a first-hand review by On 10 – it’s very informative and at 20 mins long, i think it’s worth watching.

After all these inventions, i think the credit still goes to Jeff Han, a research scientist at NYU, who came up with similar technology 2 years back.

This guy is my idol already!

HOWEVER, there are always sceptics.

And this is one of those around, from Sarcastic Gamer. I have no idea if you’ll laugh or cry now.

Faça você mesmo seu próprio display Multi-touch, já que isso deixou de ser privilégio de alguns apenas como Apple, com o novo iPhone, e Microsoft, com seu Surface.

Agora com parcos resursos já é possível chegar lá. É só adquirir kits de software e hardware para montar uma mesa multi-touch toda personalizada. Claro, isso é possível por causa de um conceito mais amplo de código aberto, não se compartilha apenas software, informação sobre hardware também.

Quando o novo iPhone foi apresentado por Steve Jobs na Macworld, a característica mais marcante que arrebatou suspiros foi a interface touch-screen, que permite mais que um toque ao mesmo tempo. Essa tecnologia “multitouch” adiciona funções tais como permitir que uma pessoa facilmente aproxime ou afaste (zoom in, out) figuras e páginas da web comprimindo a tela com dois dedos ou mais.

Mas o poder total da tecnologia multitouch pode ser expansiva e solta em telas bem maiores que em telefones. Nos últimos anos, Jeff Han, cientista pesquisador e consultor junto à Universidade de Nova York, tem desenvolvido uma maneira econômica de fazer grandes telas multitouch acomodando 10, 20 ou até mais dedos. Ele prevê aplicativos variando de “quadros-brancos” interativos a mesas de touch-screen e paredes digitais— muitos dos quais podem ser manipulados por mais de uma pessoa. E neste mês Hans revela Perceptive Pixel, sua nova empresa baseada nessa tecnologia.

“O novo iPhone é pequeno demais para ser um aparelho multitouch interessante pelo fato da tecnologia multitouch implicar em múltiplos usuários”, afirma Han, que demonstra a sua tecnologia de forma descontraída mas surpreendente, trabalho plausível, não perca:

Várias pessoas ao redor de uma mesa podem ser colaboradoras mútuas, já que se tornam usuários múltiplos. Tal colaboração poderia tomar várias formas, desde sessões de tempestade de idéias usando quadros-brancos interativos e conectados até colaborações animadas nas quais, por exemplo, seis mãos podem esculpir a face de um monstro. A Perceptive Pixel está se preparando para enviar sua primeira tela de toque interativo tamanho-parede para um cliente militar não revelado ainda este mês.

Existem várias maneira de construir uma tela multitouch. Dentre elas, a opção escolhida pela Apple é um grande segredo bem guardado e responsável pelo sucesso do sonho de muita gente, naturalmente.

Engenheiros da Eyebeam, centro de arte e tecnologia sediado em Nova York, criaram uma versão em escala reduzida do Surface, chamado de Cubit. Através de compartilhamento do código-fonte do software e esquemas do hardware do Cubit, os engenheiros estão baixando significativamente os custos de construção de uma mesa multitouch. Mas eles também estão promovendo inovação ao prover engenheiros com plataforma aberta para desenvolver aplicativos novos com essas ferramentas— algo que eles se privaram no passado.

Simplificando

Addie Wagenknecht, também da Eyebeam, projetou o Cubit numa tentativa de “desmistificar o multitouch”. Ela e seu colaborador Stefan hechenberger “queriam provar que qualquer um poderia construir uma mesa multitouch se tivesse apenas algumas coisas simples”, afirma Addie. Além de disponibilizar o software Cubit online, Wagenknecht está vendendo vários kits de “faça-você-mesmo” que incluem peças e instruções, planejado para pessoas com um certo nível de conhecimentos em engenharia. Somando tudo, uma mesa multitouch pessoal poderia sair por algo em torno de US$ 500 A $ 1.000,00, dependendo do tipo de hardware usado, diz Wagenknecht.

Multitouch não significa nova tecnologia. Na verdade, isso já é feito em laboratório há decadas. Mitsubishi criou a DiamondTouch, Jeff Han desenvolveu a WSMS que é vendida para empresas e grandes agências governamentais. Mas por causa da queda do custo de muitos componentes de touch-screen, tais como fontes de luz infravermelha, pequenas câmeras e projetores, agora tudo ficou factível para pessoas sem acesso a um laboratório ou capital de risco para fazer seus próprios displays a toque de tela.

— Jeff Han demonstrando seu multitouch de parede.

O Surface da Microsoft tem um projetor de imagens, emissores de luz infravermelha e cinco câmeras abrigadas em sua base. De acordo com Kyle Warnick, um gerente de marketing da Microsoft, tanto o projetor quanto o emissor infravermelho refletem de baixo para o topo da mesa. Quando um objeto tal como um dedo ou um celular está em contato com a superfície, ele reflete a luz infravermelha de um jeito característico, e o reflexo é captado pelas câmeras abaixo. Atualmente a Microsoft não tem planos para abrir o hardware nem o software do sistema a desenvolvedores.

Faça você mesmo

Wagenknecht diz que o seu sistema funciona de um modo similar. Cubit é uma mesa em forma de caixa, um caixão, com uma superfície clara. A câmera sob a mesa, dentro da caixa, pode ser uma simples webcam com um filtro infravermelho acoplado, e um pequeno projetor de imagens que pode ser comprado por cerca de US$ 300,00. Ela diz que um usuário simplesmente precisa conectar a webcam ao computador, instalar o software disponível no site do projeto do Cubit — que vez por outra é muito procurado—, ligar o projetor e projetar imagens sobre a tela. Em seu kit, ela inclui uma tela de tampo de mesa que possui um revestimento que facilita o serviço da câmera ao rastrear objetos, ela acrescenta. Também incluídos no kit, tiras de LEDs de infravermelho que refletem no reverso da tela, muito parecidas com as fontes de luz infravermelha que a Microsoft usa. TouchKit, que contém o código-fonte, faz parte do Cubit.

Os pesquisadores da Eyebeam vendem kits que permitem que você construa sua própria mesa multitouch. Nesta figura, a estrutura do Cubit está completamente desmontada. Para tornar o display funcional, o usuário tem que adicionar uma câmera de vídeo barata e um projetor, dentre outras peças de hardware. Contudo, não é tão difícil de imaginar e fazer um caixão mais ou menos nessas dimensões, marcenaria resolve.

Com algumas peças à mão, sendo muitas delas obtidas no Brasil mesmo, e um pouco de know-how, que neste caso é compartilhado, é possível construir uma mesa multitouch como tarefa de trabalho escolar para apresentar numa feira de ciências, por exemplo. Que tal?

Em exibição

Cubit esteve exposto no último fim de semana, dias 3 e 4 de maio, em San Mateo, Califórnia, na “Maker Faire“, uma vitrine para tecnologia, artes e ofícios do faça-você-mesmo. Outros projetos de multitouchh também estiveram representados. Uma equipe de engenheiros independentes demonstrou uma mesa multitouch cujo desenho é similar aos displays de Jeff han. Neste sistema, a luz infravermelha que é detectada pelas câmeras é projetada para dentro da tela a partir das laterais, rumando para dentro da tela, retida até que um objeto toque a tela e a disperse. Além disso, Johnny Lee, um estudante graduado da Carnegie Mellon University, em Pittsburgh, está apresentando um outro projeto multitouch no qual ele usa a câmera de infravermelho de um controlador de Wii para fazer um “quadro-branco” por menos de US$ 50,00.

— Seguindo rasto dos seus dedos com Wiimote:

— “Whiteboards” de baixo custo com Wiimote.

Ponderações

Projetos como estes ilustram duas tendências impostantes em tecnologia, diz Tim O’Reilly, fundador da O’Reilly Media, a empresa publicitária detentora das revistas ‘Make’ e ‘Craft’ exibidas na feira. Primeiro, o custo em declínio de hardware capacita pessoas a brincar com alta tecnologia sem correr um alto risco financeiro. Segundo, as pessoas se juntam em comunidades online, tal como Instructables.com e wikihow.com, para compartilhar suas idéias, revolver problemas e começar projetos colaborativos.

Tradicionalmente, O’Reilly diz, a comunidade de código aberto tem enfocado software, mas em anos recentes tem havido um grande estímulo para compartilhar mais informações sobre hardware. “O que estamos vendo são hackers se engajando no mundo das coisas no modo que eles costumavam agir no mundo do software,” ele diz. E quanto mais pessoas são capazes de contribuir para desenvolver e melhorar tecnologia, mais chance haverá para inovação.

Petrosky