Computer Human Interface
TrueTouch touchscreen solution
Cypress Semiconductor Corp. has launched the TrueTouch touchscreen, a single-chip model that can interpret up to 10 inputs from all areas of the screen simultaneously. The “multi-touch all point” feature could be used for inputting multiple locations into a GPS, gaming, keyboard implementations, or the efficient adjustment of sound and video settings. Read More
Understanding thought: new computational modeling sheds light on how the brain works
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Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a computational model that can predict the unique brain activation patterns associated with concrete nouns with a mean accuracy of 77 percent. Read More
Consumer version of Microsoft Surface PC flagged
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February 27, 2008 Announced last year in a commercial format for use in public spaces, Microsoft's Surface computing technology could soon be available in a consumer version according to a report from InformationWeek. Read More
The first commercial Brain Computer Interface
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The Computer-Human Interface has a new heavyweight contender technology - brain computer interface technology pioneer Emotiv Systems will have its EPOC neuroheadset to market before Christmas 2008. The lightweight US$300 EPOC is worn on the head but does not restrict movement in any way as it is wireless. The set detects conscious thoughts, expressions and non-conscious emotions based on electrical signals around the brain. It opens up a plethora of new applications which can be controlled with our thoughts, expressions and emotions, including for example, the prospect of live animation using the unit’s facial recognition sensors to mimic a gameplayer's facial expressions in an animated avatar. Read More
Pulse Smartpen: merging the mobile computer with the humble pen
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Efforts to combine the sheer convenience of the pen as an input device with the benefits of digital technology continue to evolve with Livescribe's launch of the Pulse Smartpen. Based on licensed technology from pioneering digital pen developer Anoto, the Pulse not only digitally captures handwriting, but simultaneously records and synchronizes audio. The system promises incredible benefits for students, professionals or anyone in a note taking situation... and that's just the beginning. Everything you hear, speak or write is captured by the Pulse and by tapping the pen on the paper, the system will replay audio coinciding with the moment those notes were taken. Read More
Next-gen acoustic modeling: developing the keyboards of the future
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December 20, 2007 It's fair to say the computer keyboard has done a pretty sensational job over the last 20+ years as the primary input device we've been using – but that doesn't mean nobody's searching for the next big thing. Voice recognition and speech-to-text software is developing to the point where it's now a genuine option – and a group of European scientists are working on some very interesting technology that uses acoustic wave reading to turn ANY surface into a primary input device that can read handwriting or be used in any number of different and configurable ways. The technology can take a wall, table, or floor and turn it into a musical instrument, a touchpad, a keyboard or a tablet-style interface. And it's even being trialled on three-dimensional objects. Read More
Surface computing meets home automation: ROSIE Coffee table touch-panel
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September 5, 2007 Surface computing is moving full steam ahead and this latest release from Savant is another reminder that even the wireless mouse is becoming an outmoded piece of technology. The ROSIE Coffee Table Touchpanel Controller offers an easily accessible interface for home automation coupled with interactive multimedia capabilities, connecting to iTunes, digital cameras, IP network cameras, business card readers and various high-tech devices around the home. Read More
The Falcon Game Controller - with realistic force feedback
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UPDATED IMAGES June 30, 2007 We all know the keyboard and mouse are NOT the future of the computer human interface, and to be frank, we’re getting a bit sick of waiting for a replacement capable of generating critical mass. One device with the potential to play a role in the next generation interface, at least in the area of computer games, began shipping this month. Novint Technologies’ highly anticipated, award-winning Novint Falcon game controller is now available in a special Limited Edition bundle. The Falcon is an entirely new type of 3D game interface that makes virtual objects and environments feel real. Replacing a computer mouse or joystick, the US$190 Falcon is, essentially a small robot that lets you feel shape, weight, texture, dimension, dynamics, 3D motion, and force effects when playing enabled games. Read More
Neural input device hints at gaming revolution
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June 6, 2007 It is perhaps the most sought after technological goal in the digital age, an interface that will allow you to throw away the humble keyboard and mouse and take control of your computer by simply thinking. The latest foray into this rapidly evolving field is the Neural Impulse Actuator, a gaming interface prototype unveiled at Computex 2007 that reads brain signals instead of keyboard strokes to provide a hands-free computer control. Read More
Video sunnies are on their way: MED's miniature eye-screens are now ready for mass-production
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June 4, 2007 We've long been excited by the possibilities offered by wearable micro-screens. The ability to mount a miniature display in a set of glasses opens up a whole new portable video experience where any seat on the bus can be a personal movie theatre and you'll be able to enjoy your video in complete privacy. Now, with the anouncement of a volume manufacturing facility in Dresden, Germany, MicroEmissive Displays (MED) is ready to step beyond the prototype and bring commercial microscreens into the mass market. They'll start things off with mass production of the eyescreen ME3204, a 320 x 240 RGB display packed into a 6mm pixel array. It's tiny, bright and clear, with ultra-low power consumption, and the wearer sees the equivalent of a 30" screen at a 2 metre distance. Read More
The 3D air-mouse you wear as a ring
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May 21, 2007 The computer mouse and flat "desktop" themed operating systems have hardly evolved since their inception. But the recent creation of a genuine, working 3D mouse system that you wear as a ring on one finger could open the door to a new model of GUI display that lets the user explore an interface in intuitive 3D. Could we be moving towards a revolution in interface interactivity? Straight out of "Minority Report," meet the MagicMouse! Read More
The first commercially available Brain Computer Interface
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The evolution of the Computer Human interface may seem to be rooted in the infernal keyboard and its recent travelling companion, the mouse, but much work is being done in the areas of virtual worlds, voice recognition, handwriting recognition and gesture recognition to give us a new paradigm of computing. It now appears we are on the edge of another brave new virtual world – the direct interface between the brain and the computer is here. One of the Holy Grail’s of research, there are many such projects going on around the world at present. Now the German g.tec (Guger Technologies) group has taken the technology out of the lab and into the real world with a complete BCI kit, and amazingly, there’s also a kit for a pocket PC - a super-low-weight biosignal recording system “g.MOBIlab” is used to measure the EEG and the data processing, analysis and pattern recognition are performed on a commercially available Pocket PC or in this case, your windows PC. The first BCI system will enable the composition and sending of messages, and control of a computer game. There’s also an invasive (implanted) option still being trialled in the laboratory – this is significantly more effective abnd the system can already accept and process input from both the embedded array and the cap array. Though the first work in the area is focussed on enabling paralysed humans to communicate far more freely, the potential to enhance one’s communications quite freely is clearly not that far away. There’s also the potential unlocked by putting such a device into the hands of thousands of eager and capable amateurs who will no doubt broaden the understanding of the human mind with their pursuits. The BCI system is nominated for the 2007 European ICT Grand Prize. Read More
Motion-Sensing capabilities moving to Consumer Electronics
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November 9, 2006 The pictured object is a TV remote control, designed to be much easier to use than that array of buttons you currently use that make a piano accordion look simple. The Loop is Hillcrest's first Freespace-enabled product, a bracelet-shaped TV remote control with just two buttons and a scroll wheel. Users hold The Loop in one hand, and it translates their motions into on-screen cursor movements. Using the scroll wheel and the two buttons, users can browse through TV channels or change the volume. Motion-sensing has been in use in computer games for some time, offering a more immersive, intuitive experience - consumer electronics will be next - for sure! Read More
A glimpse at the future of the Human-Computer Interface
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October 20, 2006 With applications in just about every forseeable field of personal and business computing, we're expecting the Upravlator keyboard (the latest concept from Art Lebedev, and the cousin of the Optimus keyboard) to do very well when it hits the market. It's a 10.8 inch, 640x480 LCD with twelve square buttons occupying it's surface. The twelve buttons each have five contacts - one in the center, top, bottom, left and right, which are freely assignable to UI elements in the software of your choice. Read More
The not-so-ugly diNovo Edge keyboard
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October 4, 2006 If there were a technology beauty contest, the keyboard would be a shoe-in for last place, being the epitome of organisationally dyslexic, high-tech-by-accident unsightliness. But in the world of the keyboard, Logitech’s new diNovo Edge keyboard is indeed a beauty, though we’re gonna stop way short of Logitech’s PR copywriter’s description of it being a “minimalist work of high-technology art.” Reflecting the growing importance and visibility of the PC in today’s home, the rechargeable diNovo Edge has some compelling features such as an integrated touch-sensitive navigation and scroll panel, and includes embedded Bluetooth wireless technology (and it aint as ugly as a normal one). Read More
TouchBook Touch User Interface (TUI) to be used by NASA
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October 1, 2006 Somatic Digital announced today that it will provide NASA Goddard Flight Center with its TouchBook Touch User Interface (TUI) platform. The TUI is to the printed page what the Graphic User Interface (GUI) is to the computer screen. It is an open convergence technology that enables readers of normally printed materials to touch the page and retrieve digital content or launch communication applications on a computer. Currently, the TUI can retrieve digital content and launch communication applications via Windows XP or Mac OS X. The functions that can be driven from a web page can also be conducted from a printed page.
The Fraunhofer Multimedia Dome
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September 6, 2006 Making its first public appearance at the IFA international consumer electronics fair in Berlin, the Multimedia Dome is the first digital dome theatre to feature natural spatial sound: it envelops visitors in fascinating universe of video pictures and sound. The Multimedia Dome was developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Architecture and Software Technology FIRST and the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT, the inventors of the MP3 format which has taken over the world in the last decade. Read More
Panoptic C-Thru 3D Video Surveillance System
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August 31, 2006 Panoptic’s proposed C-Thru 3D Video Surveillance System could be loosely described as a formalised, scalable implementation of Superman’s X-ray vision. The system enables one or more surveillance agents, using a single high resolution, auto-stereoscopic display, to remotely monitor the security situation of an arbitrarily large number of locations at-a-glance. Agents can see, hear and transport their focused viewpoint through walls, floors and ceilings, zooming into a specific location to monitor it at a level so acute that it seems beyond the levels of even science fiction. Designed to enable both wholistic site-wide and granular-level security, the system is ideal for monitoring airports, shipping ports, transit sites and other ports-of-entry, hotels, casinos, shopping malls, campuses, military bases, large buildings and building complexes, offering total situational awareness at a glance. Read More
Powered Shoes - another breakthrough Virtual Reality interface
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June 30, 2006 Each year the place to be for anyone in computer graphics, animation and virtual reality is the SIGGRAPH conference which will be held in Boston (July 30-August 3) this year and some of the incredible exhibits planned are just beginning to come to light. One that really captures our imagination is this set of powered shoes developed by Hiroshi Tomioka and Hiroaki Yano at the University of Tsukuba in Japan. The University of Tsukuba is a hotbed of research with a lot of development of virtual reality interfaces underway. The Powered Shoes are just one of a number of projects designed to enable a person to realistically move through a virtual world without needing to move from the spot. Working like reverse roller-skates, the Powered Shoes effectively cancel the horizontal displacement of the user as they are driven from electrical motors in a backpack worn by the user, enabling omni-directional walking while maintaining the wearer's position. As such, the powered shoes are an important advancement in the world of entertainment and simulation and are the only viable alternative we have seen capable of emulating the capabilities of the landmark Virtusphere, Read More
Personal Dashboard from Ambient Devices
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May 3, 2006 Ambient Devices is a company which specialises in producing glanceable information displays which allow any customer to have a constant awareness of their important information, without the anxiety of information overload. Ambient's vision is to embed information representation into everyday objects such as lamps, pens, watches, walls, and wearables so the physical environment becomes an interface to digital information rendered in subtle changes in form, movement sound, colour or light. Read More
A new breed of computer human interface for sports video game fans
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March 22, 2006 From the time the first steering wheel controller was hooked to a computer, the future of video game controllers grew exponentially larger. Whatever the game being played, there was bound to be something that could be manufactured that would enhance the realism of the experience. Qmotions is a company devoted to creating new kinds of interactive experiences that combine real-world physicality with the immersive virtual environments found in computer and console video games and at last month’s American International Toy Fair 2006 it rolled out several new such interfaces, most notably its Xboard (for surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding and windsurfing video games), and Qmotions-Fun Fitness, a new device that converts recumbent bikes into video game machines, offering a compelling way to get fit and play games at the same time. There’s also a golf and a baseball controller, offering a diverse range of indoor fun for otherwise outdoor activities. Read More
The Gypsy MIDI controller turns the human body into a musical instrument
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January 26, 2006 Dance and music go together. Intuitively, we know they have common elements, and while we cannot even begin to understand what they are or how they so perfectly complement one another, it is clear that both are an expression of something deep and fundamental within all human beings. Both express things that words cannot – beyond intellect, they are perhaps two of the fundamental building blocks of human expression, common to the souls of all people. Which is why when we saw this machine which links the two, we knew there was something special brewing. The GypsyMIDI is a unique instrument for motion-capture midi control – a machine that enables a human being to become a musical instrument - well, a musical instrument controller to be exact, or a bunch of other things depending on your imagination. Most importantly, the entire package is commercially available with extensive customisation features so that you can decide what each movement triggers – a colour, a sound, or perhaps something else again – anything that can be controlled by a digital interface. The set-up and operation is simple, intuitive and quick and the possibilities for performance art and musical applications are … landmark. One arm costs UKP480 (US$855), the whole MIDI suit costs UKP940 (US$1675), and the whole shebang (MIDI Suit, Wireless Interface, Tripod Stand, interface software, Manuals & Videos CD) goes for UKP1240 (US$2210) … that’s the total price for beginning work in a new dimension. Like we said … landmark Read More
Wearable data storage market evolves
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January 7, 2006 One wonders what we might carry with us “digitally” a decade or two from now, with memory and storage capacity getting larger and much more affordable every day. Imation got us thinking about this by showing several interesting concepts for carrying digital files at the CES – the 256 Mb Flash Wristband and the 4Gb Micro Hard Drive. They’re interesting concepts, particularly the wristband, but just think that a decade from now the bang-per-buck factor will have improved by several orders of magnitude. Read More
New Heads Up Displays enter the work place
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September 13, 2005 Not long ago, we were waxing on about the incredible feat performed by Motion Research in bringing the world's first consumer Heads Up displays to market for motorcyclists, cyclists and auto racers. Now we're equally as enthusiastic about the company's new consumer Heads Up displays, knowing full well that the functionality afforded by the displays could change the face of the modern workplace. VersaVue Heads Up displays are now available for commercial and industrial applications.
The Smart Companion: an intuitive human-like user-interface solution for easy access to your digital world
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September 7, 2005 Philips Home Dialogue Systems has announced that it will start licensing its Smart Companion technology to partners in consumer electronics and the PC or network equipment industry. Using Philips’ technology and support, these manufacturers can create their own Smart Companion consumer product and shorten time-to-market. The Smart Companion is a completely new type of consumer product that will act as a companion in the home. This robot device will communicate with users in a natural human-like way, serving as an easy and intuitive intermediary to the technology surrounding us. It will assist people in their daily routine tasks such as sending messages, accessing up-to-date information, selecting their favorite music or movies, or even controlling their home appliances. Read More
New Haptic Interface Device Adds Sense of Touch to PCs
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February 19, 2005 Novint Technologies has released details of a new haptic interface device for computers that will , the Novint Falcon, which brings interactive three dimensional touch to the consumer mass market. The Novint Falcon, coupled with the company’s 3D touch software, enables people to experience a realistic sense of touch on their computer, fundamentally transforming how they play and interact. Sinificantly, the Novint Falcon is expected to retail for under US$100 and represents a significant breakthrough in 3D touch technology and accessibility. Read More
World's First 3D recognition phone could evolve the user interface
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January 20, 2005 The rapid evolution of the mobile phone took an interesting turn this week when Samsung demonstrated a movement recognition mobile phone, a new technology that could mark a significant point in the evolution of the man-machine interface. Information input devices for the ever shrinking mobile telephone to date have included several different forms of keypad, touch screen and voice recognition but all have their drawbacks in serving the ever increasing capabilities being packed into new designs by phone designers. In the future, 3D movement recognition technology could become an important user interface and significantly alter mobile phone designs and features.
The Samsung SCH-S310 phone's 3D motion recognition user interface can be used in a variety of ways, introducing new features never before seen in a mobile phone. The most significant new feature is the ability to "write" in the air with the phone and have the phone recognise the letters or numbers being written and input those characters, or assign certain movements to functions of the phone, such as "start a new text message" or to control the inbuilt MP3 player or digital camera. This technology will do away with the need for complex keypads on mobile phones, MP3 players, digital cameras and other handheld products. This will particularly effect the way games are played on a mobile phone. Read More
The Pentop Computer – interactive pen that talks to you as you write
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NEW YORK, January 12, 2005 - Educational technology developer LeapFrog has released details of a new pentop computer. Dubbed the FLY, the pentop computer is designed to bring interactivity to the most prolific and user-friendly interface of all (pen and paper) and offers real-time audio feedback to users as they write and draw on special FLY paper. Read More
The future of the human-computer interface
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December 2, 2004 A new Australian research facility called the Visual Information Access Room (VIAR) is at the forefront of the coming revolution in human-digital interaction. The current keyboard, mouse and screen configuration will soon be replaced by digital interfaces that utilise touch, gesture and voice control and seek to integrate seamlessly into our environment. Launched by the National ICT Australia (NICTA), the Sydney laboratory looks like a futuristic office, but is in fact a test facility where sophisticated 3D models of complex systems and innovative ways to interact with complex data quickly will be developed. Read More
Meet Milo - the world's first Robot Personal Assistant
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November 2, 2004 At a time when most handhelds PDA's are racing to miniaturise their hardware, MILO, the world's first Robotic Personal Assistant platform (RPA) - takes a brave step in the opposite direction, developing a four foot tall mix of robot butler and mobile telecommunications hub with programmable commands. Read More
New SureType keyboard
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A new SureType keyboard layout from Research In Motion (RIM) is drawing praise for its effectiveness and appears to have hit a usability sweet spot for mobile devices in the candy bar form factor. SureType is a viable contender to become the next generation interface for the mobile phone sized device. The SureType keyboard design incorporates a QWERTY keyboard layout and a prominent numerical phone keypad and allows easy one-handed phone dialing. Through an integrated keyboard and software system, SureType provides users with an instinctively familiar look and feel and allows them to dial phone numbers and type messages quickly, accurately and comfortably. Read More
Simulating Taste - the last VR Frontier
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Saturday August 9, 2003: Taste is the last frontier of virtual reality according to the inventors of the Food Simulator- a haptic interface that mimics the taste, sound and feeling of chewing real food. Currently at demonstration stage, the project by researchers at the University of Tsukuba in Japan utilizes a mechanical linkage designed to fit to the mouth... Read More
Frog Design and Motorola unveil a new family of wearable devices
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Sports sunglasses that incorporate a heads-up display, wrist-worn PDAs with voice control and intelligent pens that store a digital copy of your handwriting - these devices will form part of an integrated family of wearable devices under development by Motorola and frog design Read More
Watching TV in the kitchen window
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A bay window that's also a home entertainment centre, invisible insect screens, downloading recipes to the kitchen window or watching TV on the same "screen" while washing the dishes... Read More
Our Clothes are Getting Smarter
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Clothes have done much more than serve as protection from the weather for tens of thousands of years. Over the last few millennia they've been worn as statements of rank and fashion, adapted for countless specialised uses from military combat to surfing and bee-keeping, cut and tailored in every conceivable shape, colour, size and fabric, and become signposts for entire cultures.
Along the way clothing manufacture has embraced and developed many new innovations, and it seems a natural progression for micro-electronics and other emerging 21st century technologies to find their way into our wardrobes next to the zip-off tracksuit pants and the Moon-boots. The result: clothes are getting smarter.Smart clothing will both enhance its primary role as body covering and extend its functionality to keep us connected, entertained, relaxed, safe and healthy. Fabrics and designs with built in temperature control mechanisms will merge with invisible add-ons like mobile phones and MP3 players, sophisticated medical monitoring systems integrated into shirts will save lives and clothes may even provide us with our daily vitamin supplement. Read More
