Hasta La Gadget!

When the heads over at the MOTO Development Group aren’t busy outfitting E-Ink devices with Android, they can often be found looking for bigger, better, and cheaper ways to build multitouch surfaces — and they seem to be on to something. The video below shows full multitouch on a 19-inch display, although the company promises it is scalable up to at least 50-inches — and it does this without the bulky projector. The capacitive touch screen forgoes the ITO (indium tin oxide) used in devices like the iPhone, relying instead on “extremely fine” wires to conduct the signals (which are lit up here for effect — the company assures us that this will not be the case in production units). You know what this means: we may be getting that touch screen coffee table sooner than we thought! And we won’t have to buy that yacht, either. But don’t take out word for it — peep for yourself after the break.

Continue reading Video: MOTO Lab’s multitouch display scalable up to 50-inches

Filed under: Displays

Video: MOTO Lab’s multitouch display scalable up to 50-inches originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While attempts to add feedback to touchscreen displays via vibration and audible tones are laudable, these attempts are nothing by comparison to the tactile euphoria felt at the press of a well-designed button. Still, many of us are willing to sacrifice tactility in order to maximize display sizes on our pocketable or portable devices. Now researchers at Carnegie Mellon have developed touch-sensitive displays with physical buttons that “pop-out” from the surface. CM’s prototypes pump air through geometric-shaped holes to create concave or convex “buttons” on a screen covered with a semi-transparent latex — IR sensors and cameras detect finger placement while a projector cast images (like numbers and graphics) onto the display. It can even sense press-force by monitoring changes in air pressure. Sure it all sounds overly cumbersome until you see the technology demonstrated. For that you can travel to Pittsburgh to count the rivers or just hit the read link below for the video.

Read — Video
Read — Technology Review

Filed under: Displays

Carnegie Mellon morphs ‘pop-up buttons’ onto multi-touch display originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Apr 2009 04:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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About a year ago Lenovo’s ThinkPad X300 launched as a direct competitor to Apple’s slinky MacBook Air. Over that time, the ultra-slim Thinkpad with a face for business has come to either match or dominate the MBA in nearly every category except the sexy. Now you can tick off one more as the X301 brings a new multi-touch trackpad option with fingerprint reader. In the typical befuddlement that seems to greet every new on-line spec on the Lenovo store, the new TouchPad is listed as a $9,969 option. Too rich? They maybe the $8,402 bump from a 1.4GHz to new 1.6GHz Core 2 Duo SU9600 processor will interest you?

[Thanks, James C.]

Filed under: Laptops

Lenovo’s ThinkPad X301 now with $9,969 multi-touch trackpad option originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Apr 2009 02:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When you think about it, it makes perfect sense for Epson to get into the touch-surface game — most of the larger versions are projector-based, and Epson’s been making great little beamers for quite some time. Showcased earlier this year at ISE 2009 alongside a multitouch air hockey table, the Core 2 Duo-powered X-Desk boasts a 1,024 x 768 resolution panel and possesses the ability to recognize up to 16,000 objects using “Smart Tags.” Also of note, gesture recognition software enables users to actually speak to the table and see results, though there’s no word on whether raising your voice or blurting out obscenities improves efficiency. Like all of these things, we’ve nary a clue when they’ll really be available for the layperson to purchase, but you can certainly live vicariously by hopping past the break.

[Via AboutProjectors]

Continue reading Video: Epson’s multitouch X-Desk is your next coffee table

Filed under: Displays

Video: Epson’s multitouch X-Desk is your next coffee table originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 18 Apr 2009 01:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell’s new all-in-one Studio One 19 is due to start shipping soon, and it’s packing some interesting new multitouch capabilities which Dell has been kind enough to demo briefly on video. There’s a new touchable launch bar, which give access to Dell’s own touch-friendly apps (see the second video after the break), though Dell’s Josh Duncan (video one) made sure to reiterate that gestures should carry over to non touch specific apps — which pretty much means Internet Explorer, from what we can tell. Our own experience with Windows 7 multitouch was none too impressive, and Vista’s built-in single touch stuff is even worse, so hopefully Dell’s not just paying lip service to making multitouch a real OS-wide phenomenon. The touch-specific apps like a photo browser and paint app are cute and gimmicky, but at least seem to match HP’s TouchSmart for the most part — plus some multitouch enhancements. What is perhaps the Studio One’s biggest boon to touchability doesn’t even have a thing to do with the screen or software: it tilts back on the stand, giving you a better angle to work with. Check out both videos after the break.

[Via Pocket-lint]

Continue reading Dell demos multitouch on the Studio One 19

Filed under: Desktops, Displays

Dell demos multitouch on the Studio One 19 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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