Hasta La Gadget!

We don’t know when Google plans to release another device like its Chromebook Pixel, but Chrome OS support for touchscreens is continuing to improve. A new update in the beta channel brings support for both touch enabled text selection and touch enabled drag and drop on touch based devices. Right now the Pixel is the only Chrome OS laptop that supports it, but who knows what could be around the corner. Google “Happiness Evangelist” François Beaufort noted the new feature in Chrome OS’ dev channel a couple of weeks ago and recorded a demonstration video, which you can check out after the break. Otherwise, Chrome OS users living on the not-quite-bleeding-edge can also expect tweaks like an audio source selector in the tray menu, ability to share folders and files from the Files app and an improved UI for the release channel switcher.

Filed under: Laptops, Google

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Source: Chrome OS Releases

Touchscreens and Windows 8 go together, Microsoft keeps insisting, and it looks like at least Toshiba is listening: the company has a pair of new notebooks, the Satellite W30t and “Click” W30Dt, with detachable screen sections for standalone slate use. Running Windows 8.1 on a 13.3-inch HD IPS touchscreen with 10-finger multitouch, the Satellite W30t […]

Sony teased a new form-factor laptop for IFA 2013, and the VAIO Fit is just that machine, a Windows 8 ultrabook that converts into a tablet in a way that actually manages to be unique despite all the convertibles we’ve seen before. In fact, it’s a whole family of devices: offered in 13-, 14-, and […]

It seems as if all of Volvo’s recent efforts have been leading up to the unveiling of the Concept Coupe. The svelte two-seater is a plug-in hybrid, has a touchscreen-based center console and was built on the company’s Scalable Product Architecture, which at some point will allow for autonomous driving. According to Volvo, the gas-and-electric engine achieves “around” 400 horsepower out of a 2-liter motor thanks, in part, to the supercharger and turbo mated to it. The prototype two-door also features a touch-display console that’s tied into the car’s adaptive digital display as well as a heads-up display. The Swedish automaker tells us this new touchscreen is an evolution of what was seen in the Concept You, which only had five physical buttons in the entire cockpit.Volvo attributes the triumphs of the Concept Coupe and its related tech to the efforts of new Senior Vice President of Design Thomas Ingenlath. Not a bad showing for his first year on the job, is it?

Filed under: Transportation

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With several companies developing technologies that can turn any surface into a touchscreen, it should be widely available soon. Those who want to try it out before it’s cool, however, should look towards Ubi Interactive’s software that combines the talents of Microsoft’s Kinect for Windows sensor and a projector. So long as the software’s installed on a Windows 8 computer, the sensor tracks and detects movements users make on the projected image. Interactions are the same as any tablet or smartphone, including launching icons by tapping on them and expanding areas with pinch-to-zoom. Merely a concept in 2012, the software is now available on Ubi’s website with prices ranging from $149 to $1,499, depending on the display size and the type of customer support. Sounds like even an Average Joe can nab one, assuming they already have a projector and one of Microsoft’s $250 motion / voice detectors.

Filed under: Misc, Microsoft

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Via: CNET

Source: Kinect for Windows, Ubi Interactive