Hasta La Gadget!

You can’t afford a proper QWERTY keyboard on your phone, much less a expansive multitouch slate. What to do? Well, if a UK startup named InputDynamics has its way, you’ll just tap on any surface of your handset. The company’s developed a piece of software called TouchDevice that uses a phone’s embedded microphone to analyze the acoustics inside, reacting to your finger’s impact on the surface with a touchscreen-like input on the device. New Scientist reports that’s not all, as the algorithms can also be fine tuned for detect scratches and swipes for scrolling and zoom, and the company’s in talks with “tier-one handset manufacturers” to license the program even as we speak. You’ll forgive us if we’re a bit skeptical, though — if this truly requires only software and works on any surface, why not release an app to tap the backs of our Droids, BlackBerrys and iPhones?

InputDynamics makes dumbphones smarter with tap-to-touch tech originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Sep 2010 10:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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“If you see it, just say it,” says Microsoft’s Kinect, but only in the US, UK, Mexico and Japan to start — those are the only four countries that will support Kinect voice control by the motion-sensing peripheral’s November launch. So said Microsoft PR manager Lidia Pitzalis in an interview with Eurogamer Spain, adding that Germany, Italy, France and even Canada and Spain would have to wait for a Spring 2011 update for additional language support. Microsoft claims it’s a matter of accents throwing off the voice recognition, as the company’s already had to build separate software versions for US and UK English, but if you’re an Italian who can fake a good Cockney, you’re still out of luck, as Microsoft’s reportedly disabling voice control entirely in said regions until it can formally support it. And game companies wonder why we try so hard to hack those DVD drives…

Update: Canada will in fact have voice support, according to Microsoft. So long as you speak English and not French.

Kinect won’t support voice recognition in some countries until 2011, putting on airs won’t help originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 03:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Thought the page-turning Macallan was nifty? You ain’t seen nothing yet — The Astonishing Tribe (the brains behind the look of Android) aims to give you billowing, rippling cloth-like curtains of clever interactive content with their concept Velvet UI. Pull out a widget or Google Maps query, and a sheet of your desired result waves with the virtual wind, before stretching out flat for you to more comfortably interact with. Running on MeeGo (and apparently possible on Android) it’s built with the company’s proprietary UI framework, so don’t expect it to hit tablets anytime soon unless someone throws them some bucks. Also see: TAT’s other impressive concepts. Video after the break.

Continue reading Pay no attention to that playful UI behind the Google Maps curtain (video)

Pay no attention to that playful UI behind the Google Maps curtain (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 22 Aug 2010 13:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he’ll explore where our industry is and where it’s going — on both micro and macro levels — with the unique wit and insight only he can provide.

One of the more recent trends in UI design has been the attempt to make the digital appear analog. It arguably started with the NeXT OS, which had photorealistic icons and used clever grayscale techniques to give three-dimensional depth to windows, scroll bars and other elements. Today, Apple’s iPhone compass app looks like it might be more at home on an 18th-century clipper ship, and the voice recorder app looks at home in a recording studio somewhere around 1950 — tap on the “microphone” and the VU meter will react much as it would in real life. Google’s added subtle 3D effects to Android’s app scrolling. I haven’t thought that much about this trend until I recently spent some time using Windows Phone 7.

It’s perhaps a minor issue but one of the things I like about WP7 is that it’s not a digital UI pretending to be analog. The user interface is flat. There are no photorealistic depictions of real world items, no shading, and no 3D effects. Everything is conveyed through the use of fonts, shapes and color. It’s digital and it’s proud. Overall, I like it, and the more I use it, the more I prefer it. Returning to a more digital approach means Microsoft was able to rethink the nature of applications and services and create the concept of hubs, where like functions meet similar functions without the need for separate applications. It takes some getting used to, but the more I use it, the more natural it feels.

Continue reading Entelligence: Let’s get digital

Entelligence: Let’s get digital originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 01 Aug 2010 20:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s no question that NVIDIA’s Optimus system — which enables a discrete GPU to operate when a machine is taxed and a power-sipping IGP to function when you’re involved in less strenuous tasks — has changed the way the world looks at laptop graphics, but it hasn’t been able to avoid a fair amount of criticism about the controlling interface. With the July release of the monthly Verde drivers, the company has just rolled out a revised UI that provides “even more visibility into how Optimus is working and allows you even more control over how Optimus operates.” The newest Optimus control panel, as well as a brief demonstration of what’s been tweaked, is available for viewing just after the break, but it’s on you to hunt down drivers for whatever rig you call your own.

Continue reading NVIDIA’s refreshed Optimus interface sheds more light on what your GPU is doing

NVIDIA’s refreshed Optimus interface sheds more light on what your GPU is doing originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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