touch screen

The Multi-Touch Screen - Pogue’s Posts - Technology - New York Times Blog table.calendar { margin-top: 4px !important; } Home Page My Times Today's Paper Video Most Popular Times Topics Technology All NYT Technology World U.S. N.Y. / Region Business Technology Personal Tech Camcorders Cameras Cellphones Computers Handhelds Home Video Music Peripherals Wi-Fi Downloads Science Health Sports Opinion Arts Style Travel Jobs Real Estate Autos Back to front page » March 27, 2007, 12:39 pm The Multi-Touch Screen Today, a few more notes from my visit two weeks ago to the TED conference… Apple garnered many oohs and ahhs when it demonstrated the touch-screen interface of its new iPhone cellphone/iPod, which is scheduled for release in June. This “multi-touch” screen, Apple says, breaks new ground by permitting more than one finger to touch the screen simultaneously. Now, the truth is, the maximum number of fingers that the iPhone recognizes is exactly 2. And even then, you use this feature in only one instance: to enlarge or reduce a photo, Web page or e-mail message on the screen; it’s not like there are all kinds of multi-touch gestures to learn. So “multi-touch interface” might be stretching it a bit. Even so, as soon as I saw Steve Jobs demonstrate this feature at the Macworld Expo in January, I immediately had a sense of dГ©jГ  vu. This was a miniature version of NYU researcher Jeff Han’s own multi-touch interface, which I wrote about in this blog last year. You can see a video of last year’s software here. After the Jobs demo, I called Jeff Han, fully expecting to hear how angry he was that Apple had stolen his idea without permission or consultation (it’s happened before). Instead, he knew all about Apple’s project. He didn’t say that Apple bought his technology, nor that Apple stole it—only that he’d known what had happened, and that there was a lot he wasn’t allowed to say. Anyway, he returned to TED this year for a new presentation, showing how far the multi-touch technology had progressed (hint: a lot). He also set up his eight-foot touch screens in the TED common area, so anyone could try it. You can see Jeff Han narrating this demo in this video, although with bad camerawork. Or you can see Han’s official, wordless demo here. In any case, I spent quite awhile trying it out, and it’s spectacular. The visual response to your touch is immediate and satisfying, and there are lots of multi-touch gestures that work. One of the sample programs featured an ever-expanding “family tree” of every known species in nature, complete with photos; by dragging and expanding, you could zoom in infinitely to the branch of this massive tree that you were interested in. The photo-manipulation and mapping modules were also amazing. I suspect you’ll be hearing a lot more about Jeff Han, Apple and multi-touch interfaces in the next couple of years. Link E-mail this 54 comments so far... 1. March 27th, 2007 12:56 pm Sounds super kool! — Posted by Johan Jessen 2. March 27th, 2007 1:20 pm I guess they thought bi-tactile wasnt going to cut it. — Posted by superdave 3. March 27th, 2007 1:37 pm as awesome as this looks, and I do think it will ultimately replace the mouse, I wish he would demo something other than picture and window resizing. I do a lot more on the computer than that. I’d say that takes up about 1% of my computing time, and I don’t do digital photography so I actually almost never even have pictures to resize. — Posted by sueprdave 4. March 27th, 2007 1:58 pm absolutely stunning. the implications for navigating complex data sets or performance art are massive. — Posted by frank j 5. March 27th, 2007 2:23 pm Voice is the future. “Make it so” is very satisfying — Posted by John Brady 6. March 27th, 2007 2:36 pm Frank J, don’t kid yourself about “complex data sets”. All high tech since VCRs have been driven by porno & the early adopters will do amazing stuff here. What can I add & not get bumped by the NYT? I have a screen clearing spray for my ipod, perhaps another growth opportunity… — Posted by Solo 7. March 27th, 2007 2:39 pm This means in the future I can’t be eating a bbq chicken wing or snacking on chips with my other hand as I work on the computer. I guess they could also market the multi-touch as a weight-loss helper. — Posted by BB Monster 8. March 27th, 2007 3:23 pm Touch is lovely, but I want to know when tactile touch screens with smart materials that can change shape and/or texture depending upon content will be married to the technology. Its been promised, and even hinted at (Alpine has a vibrating screen on one of their head units to give some sense of feedback but the implementation is limited and leaves much to be desired), but where is it? Imagine being able to truly realize the vision of a buttonless iPhone that actually could function as well as an equivalent physical keyboard… Any ideas or inside info David? Would love to know! Cheers! — Posted by Richard 9. March 27th, 2007 3:28 pm Supradave, I think most folks can figure out the implications for the more mundane applications we spend a lot of time on - though it seems unlikely to dramatically transform word processing or spreadsheets. But, I do worry a bit about my arm getting tired. The mouse and keyboard are much less physically demanding devices. I don’t think either will go away for most of us. As for voice - we already have it and few people use it. — Posted by Blake 10. March 27th, 2007 3:44 pm David, How much of this is software and how much is it hard ware driven? Meaning, how easily can existing software be adjusted? Thanks, Jens — Posted by Jens 11. March 27th, 2007 3:45 pm So, Apple bought or borrowed this technology for its phone. Seems likely they will use it somewhere else, too. They have a new operating system coming out and none of their computers have been updated in a while. Maybe we’ll see some more of this technology soon … — Posted by Drew 12. March 27th, 2007 3:55 pm “Voice is the future. ‘Make it so’ is very satisfying.” - John Brady But a picture is worth a thousand words, and people have used both hands on a keyboard for years. The idea of two hands on a graphic is a natural extension, particularly if it could be combined with a SMARTBoard display, as we often use in a classroom. To resize an object on a SMARTBoard you must first tap it and then pull on a corner. It would be much nicer to simply grab and stretch in one motion. And, by the way, Jean Luc Picard on the Enterprise said “make it so” to a person, not a computer. — Posted by Bob Drake 13. March 27th, 2007 3:58 pm Apple, the theif ! — Posted by Alan 14. March 27th, 2007 4:32 pm Jeff has come a long way since last year. I especially like how he took one of last year’s data visualization ideas and incorporated it with his tech for the demo this year. I do wish they’d post high res hdtv quality video onto bit torrent of the entire TED conference… (i suggest isohunt.com) — Posted by Dave Kliman 15. March 27th, 2007 5:00 pm Altough only a conceptual project with no physical demos or prototypes, my partner and I imagined another multi-touch scenario almost eight years ago. Our thought approach was a virtual, 3-dimensional touch space that allowed for not only multi-touch manipulations, but for hand-digit gestures and interactions as well. For example, imagine an object (whether it be a spreadsheet, 3-D graph, document, icon, window, image, you name it) floating in front of you in a heads-up virtual display. You can reach out and grab the object and do physical world things with it. You could set it into motion by spinning, flicking, twirling or similar hand-digit maniuplations. You could stretch or compress it, you could grab it and move it to another spatial position. Two of my favorites are the slight-of-hand and the interaction gesture. The former enables you to hide or unhide an object much like a magician would. The latter lets you send an object into other objests and have them react in appropriate ways. For example, if you have a spreadsheet of data, you can hurl a report object at it or vice versa. The report object and data object know how to interact, and a specific report would emerge, much like two billiard balls colliding. ‘Tis a long way between these thought experiments and their day-to-day application, but rest assured they are coming. To the mouse-centric Superdave, I can’t think of anything I would like to do more than dispense with my keyboard and mouse. It is not all about pictures, and I am sure you will latch onto the next thing as pitbullish as you are about the mouse. Were you ever a green- (or amber-) screen DOS user? Want to go back to cursor keys only? SDave, don’t take this as beating up on you, but I would suggest instead that all the wonderous things interfaces like the one we have played with and interactive continuous speech recognition will do more to change computing than all that has come before. It can’t be compared (as in DOS to Windows) because it is just not the same. Now if we could only improve the human interfaces on our government officials, perhaps by removing some of the manipulation features and replacing virtual views with real ones, things really would be good. Notsosuperlarry — Posted by Larry Heimendinger 16. March 27th, 2007 5:28 pm Yeah, I can’t wait until my boss buys me an 8-foot-wide touchscreen display. Should be just about any decade now . . . . Seriously, though, while I know in my head that the UI possibilities for multi-touch are endless & fascinating, why does the demo consist almost entirely of things I can do now with my mouse, such as dragging things, or drawing rectangles around things, or pan/tilting Google Earth? And David, since you’ve now seen the thing up-close . . . just how greasy does the screen get with all that touching & dragging? — Posted by Ross Grady 17. March 27th, 2007 5:33 pm A prototype system was designed by Bill Parker at the MIT Architecture Machine Group (which evolved into the Media Lab) in the late 1970s. His system used a video projector onto a coated glass screen, with an infra-red camera on the same side as the projector. The coating was transparent to infrared, so could see where people touched the glass, thus giving the capability to recognize “many” touch points. Although a working system was never built, the design principals were tested and confirmed. The design was part of an “interactive data table” which would lie flat like a conference table. Terrific! — Posted by William Donelson 18. March 27th, 2007 6:10 pm Can anyone identify the piece of music being played in the official wordless demo? — Posted by Easyway 19. March 27th, 2007 6:27 pm HOLY GUACAMOLE!!! That wordless demo blew both my socks off and popped off three toes! I’m guessing if Han ain’t talkin’, Han got paid. “…How beauteous multi-touch is! O brave new world, That has such technology in’t!” — Posted by The Armchair Critic 20. March 27th, 2007 6:30 pm There is no way this will replace mouse computing. Fingers are simply too cumbersome and unprecise to work on a smaller scale, e.g. a desktop or laptop monitor, not to mention having to wipe the screen all the time from the oil smudges. Yuck. — Posted by Brad Taylor 21. March 27th, 2007 6:58 pm One area that it will be useful on the iPhone is in the predictive typing. Since the keypad can always sense two taps, it is one step ahead of you and anticipating the next letter from its intelligent predictive scheme. — Posted by Mark 22. March 27th, 2007 7:11 pm Could this be one of Leopard’s “Top Secret” features? — Posted by Adrian 23. March 27th, 2007 7:22 pm Applesolutely! — Posted by Christopher Flory 24. March 27th, 2007 7:25 pm Hi, “Now, the truth is, the maximum number of fingers that the iPhone recognizes is exactly 2.” Are you sure about this? I seem to remember reading something somewhere stating otherwise (an article in MacWorld perhaps about iPhone & multi-touch technology perhaps). Bah, I’m probably mixing things up… Cheers, — Posted by Peter Nordstrand 25. March 27th, 2007 7:44 pm This is the type of interface that will finally make tablet computers practical and useful. I’m sure Jobs saw Han’s ‘06 demo and realized he was having another Xerox PARC moment… Thinking about it, it was just about then that Apple were supposed to be about to release new high end displays, which have never appeared. Maybe Steve’s Han moment sent them back to the drawing boa… uh, screen. — Posted by David S. 26. March 27th, 2007 8:30 pm The music credit is on the web site. — Posted by grnbrg 27. March 27th, 2007 10:32 pm to notsosuperlarry, I agree with you compeltely, which is why this screen will do nothign for computing as we know it today. It wont make anything i do now easier. It will only be a viable tech if there are killer Apps that are ideally suited for this technology. If you got any great ideas for what these would be, you might wanna start working on em. — Posted by superdave 28. March 27th, 2007 11:19 pm grnbrg - then i guess there is no reason why you couldn’t just answer the question? If you are going to give a non-response to my question, at least tell me which web site you are referring? Is it Fast Company, which is hosting the video being linked to on this post, or is it Han’s own site? Perhaps its the TED site? I’ll ask again, can ANYONE identify the music being used on the demo video for me? thanks in advance — Posted by Easyway 29. March 28th, 2007 1:46 am @Easyway The song is “Beautiful Strange” by Bedrock. You can find it on volume 7 of the of Cafe del Mar CDs. — Posted by Sam 30. March 28th, 2007 1:51 am Apple did not steal Jeff Han’s work. They bought out a company called Fingerworks (www.fingerworks.com), which created multitouch input devices. The creators of the technology are Apple employees, I believe. Engadget has an article on this (http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/22/some-iphone-touchsc reen-roots-splained-by-fingerworks-inventors/). I’m still using my Fingerworks iGesture pad, which is magnificent device with very cool and intuitive gestures. If Apple can improve on this gesture set (and they will), then I can’t wait for more items of this new multitouch product line to emerge. As for the iPhone limitations, it makes sense. Two fingers is probably the most you can practically use with that device. Gestures using three fingers or more will likely be awkward. Look for expanded functionality on future multitouch devices, where there’s room and practicality to detecting several fingers simultaneously. — Posted by Andrew Bowman 31. March 28th, 2007 5:28 am For Easyway: Found at: http://www.fastcompany.com/soundoff/reader_comment.html ?cid=37463&sortBy=desc Name: Greg Hydle Email: fastcompany@greghydle.com Posted: Thu Mar 8 2007 06:03 EST Location: Golden, CO Occupation: Professionally Unemployed THE SONG IN HANS DEMO: It is Beutiful Strange by Bedrock. You can also find in on one of the many Cafe Del Mar Volumes Hope this helps. Joe — Posted by Pioneer 32. March 28th, 2007 7:47 am I was under the impression Apple got its multitouch from its purchase/acquisition of fingerworks which was based off Wayne Westerman’s work - not sure why Apple approached Jeff H, maybe it was to get his blessing seeing as he is taking this further and faster than everyone else. Nice to see a new technology used by different companies without all the patent suits and so forth … — Posted by Ross 33. March 28th, 2007 7:50 am Multitouch interfaces have been around since the 80s, but cost and performance have been issues that have relegated them to being objects of academic study (mostly HCI projects). What makes Han’s work special is not the software interface model, but the underlying way of doing good enough hardware. — Posted by steve 34. March 28th, 2007 8:05 am Goodbye Mouse & Keyboard. Hello Mac OS XI I think Jobs is preparing his new operating system and computer project based on this technology. He’s always innovating, and i hope this is the future in computer systems. — Posted by Hector Sepulveda 35. March 28th, 2007 8:24 am I would like to note that Jeff Raskin’s research projects the last few years of his life, also focussed on alternative interfaces with a lot of “zooming” involved. — Posted by MahRain 36. March 28th, 2007 9:36 am Good to see another fingerworks fan here trying to set the record strait. — Posted by Tyler Knox 37. March 28th, 2007 10:28 am It is a really cool invention, and will have a lot of influence, but not the influence that many people are hyping here. Where will it have a lot of potential: - Design and photos, obviously. Especially for future integration with Aperture. - Displays, especially for boardrooms. Controlling the screen by touching it is something that I would *love* to do in my classroom. However it’ll be 20 or 30 years before it filters down to my level. - Limited-input interfaces. Think ATMs, cash registers, etc. Devices where buttons can get jammed or broken. Devices where a clean, attractive interface is more important than complexity and control. - Military devices used for maps - and then spreading out into consumer GPS units. Applications with limited applicability: - Word processing, and anything that requires typing. The human-machine interface ergonomics for an office would be problematic, I think. This actually covers a lot more of everyday computer tasks than most people here seem to think. - Cheap computers, certainly for 10 to 20 years. - Small screen laptops, where the screen is too small to have your hands all over it and read at the same time. Also, battery life is important when considering a change to a second screen for a ‘keyboard’. - Wireless input devices, and large screens. If I hang a screen/computer on my wall, I want to sit in a comfy seat to use it. A wireless keyboard and mouse fit that perfectly. A large touch screen on my wall wouldn’t. - Family computers. That screen needs to be damn tough before I let anyone’s jammy fingers near it. Keyboards are, on the other hand, more dispensable. - Many different computer games. The way forward there is motion sensors and gloves with gesture sensors. Well, I *do* expect to have one of these screens in the near future - but I’m a photographer and it would be wonderful to use one as a light table. But for normal computer users, it won’t revolutionise computer use. It is a niche market, albeit an extremely lucrative one. — Posted by Chris 38. March 28th, 2007 10:30 am When are people going to understand that variety is the spice of life. There’s not going to be JUST ONE WAY to interact with a computer. Just like there’s not JUST ONE TYPE of user. A touch interface is great for someone with two able hands and full sight. For someone with motor coordination problems, vision impairment, or a missing limb it might not be so optimal. Likewise, voice is great for someone who has the ability to speak clearly. I switch back and forth between a variety of devices throughout the day based on mood and task. Sometimes I’m on the keyboard and sometimes I’m more dependent on the mouse, and sometimes I have the pen/tablet in hand, and even still sometimes I use voice, and sometimes it’s the Wii-mote or joystick or racing wheel or… Having a multi-touch screen will be just another tool in a vast arsenal of tools. It won’t be the end-all-be-all-ultimate-super-input. — Posted by nhavar 39. March 28th, 2007 10:35 am Oh, one thing that I forgot. I think that a lot of the ‘oh ahh’ factor here is the speed of the computer that he has been using. I’m currently using an 800mhz iBook G4. It is feeling slow, and the mouse can feel unresponsive because the system is slow. If you get a fast system, then the mouse feels that much more responsive. If the screen in his demonstrations is reacting immediately, it is mainly because of the system and software speed, not because of the input method. For a fair test, let’s cannibalize my iBook to power his screen, and see how responsive it feels then. — Posted by Chris 40. March 28th, 2007 11:10 am How does multitouch (in smaller devices such as the planned iPhone) work with: (1) Longer nails (many women would have this issue I would assume); (2) Gloves (e.g., having to make a call outside during the winter). If someone can elucidate, that would be great. Thanks. — Posted by anant 41. March 28th, 2007 11:12 am Jeff Han is the multi-touch researcher everybody is aware of, and he does make great videos, but he didn’t invent multitouch, nor is he the only researcher working on it as an interaction technology. Refer here for a list of dozens of multitouch systems, dating back to the 80s: http://www.billbuxton.com/multitouchOverview.html — Posted by Garth 42. March 28th, 2007 11:21 am Multi-gestural screens are cool. Multi-gestural interfaces that don’t require you to actually touch anything are REALLY COOL. The guy who designed the interface for the movie Minority Report seems to have built the real thing… http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/08/23/eveningnews/m ain792311.shtml But I agree with an earlier poster who said that these types of interfaces will move forward when coupled with a killer app. At least for the short term anyway… — Posted by DaveH 43. March 28th, 2007 11:29 am I think Jeff Han’s Technology will revolutionize the computer industry. A marriage between Apple & Han seems to make perfect sense. I have a great video posted on my site of the multi touch demo on my site www.santiagolabs.com, can’t wait to see what the next few years hold at Apple….hmmmm. Peter Santiago www.SantiagoLabs.com — Posted by Peter Santiago 44. March 28th, 2007 11:57 am I can’t wait for the XXX edition — Posted by Ron J. 45. March 28th, 2007 12:35 pm Yes, Jeff Han’s interface is absolutely stunning. But will it replace the mouse? I don’t think so! For those who do no more than read email and click weblinks, or resize photos of the kids, perhaps a multitouch interface would work. But for those who use their computers for ultra-precise creative work… not a chance! Fingers can’t replace the mouse any more than a dust broom can replace an artist’s paintbrush. On the other hand, the multitouch interface certainly could give artists a new means of creative expression, which would be most welcome. — Posted by alansky 46. March 28th, 2007 1:19 pm What I find most interesting is the impact that this technology may have on existing common applications. As it was pointed out in an earlier post, it will have little impact on existing applications like word processors and spreadsheets. However, we should remind ourselves that the design of these applications was and continues to be built around the capabilities of the existing input methods. Hence, the designs are “keyboard and mouse” bound. It will be interesting to watch how developers will adapt these new technologies to traditional applications. Everday computer tasks without a keyboard and mouse will require more than a large tactile screen. However, a tactile screen is a interesting place to start. — Posted by Jim Lauretig 47. March 28th, 2007 1:39 pm I also hail the utility of using the Fingerworks iGesture pad. It is a great mouse replacement. It provides great multi-touch sensing for everyday PC use. Too bad they are not made anymore. — Posted by Dan DeBrito 48. March 28th, 2007 10:06 pm Firstly, Apple couldn’t have used the hardware in the iPhone. I remember reading Han’s website a while ago (when the first video of this display surfaced) and it said they use “Frustrated Total Internal Reflection”, ie a beam of light bounces inside a sheet of glass, never leaving it, until it is “broken” by a touch on the surface. That touch would produce a dot of light on the back of the panel that would be detected by a camera/sensor. I’m guessing that the iPhone doesn’t come with FTIR technology, but sports a capacitive (sp?) touchscreen, as opposed to the “two-grids-seperated-by-air” approach used on most handhelds atm. They may have gotten help from Han in the software department, though. Also, in case you didn’t know, the iBooks (and now MacBooks) had two-finger “gestures” on the touchpads for a while now. You can scroll or right click by using two fingers (very convenient by the way). Synaptics, maker of these touchpads, recently announced their own “multi-touch” concept device, the Onyx, and it says they’re using recently developed “clear capacitive sensor technology” that can be applied to any surface (ie screens, too). I’m guessing Apple struck a deal with either them or fingerworks. SDave, I don’t think your arms would get too tired. You’d just have to think of a new kind of display, namely a tabletop (or even integrated into the desk) display. I think that would make sense, since there is a virtual keyboard and all. Also, IIRC, the website said it could possibly detect what finger you’re using, so it should be able to detect if you put your palms on it and not use them as “pointer inputs” (for lack of a better term). Also, it might be precise. I don’t remember who it was, but some company recently talked about plans of making finger-interfaces (as opposed to stylus-driven ones) more accurate. They didn’t really say how, but we’ll see. I agree with Chris that the system driving this must be powerful. The screen is huge and the resulotion seems to be, too. They have multiple instances and layers of WorldWind open at the same time. AND he can just shove unused windows off screen (unless that automatically triggers a quit…which would suck, considering the “fling” feature Han also shows), so that must be one hell of a setup in the background. Anant: I’m fairly sure it will be a lot like an iPod’s click wheel, ie long nails and gloves might pose a problem (though there are some “iPod-gloves”, which are made out of a material that somehow emulates the touch of a finger). — Posted by Nils Berg 49. April 1st, 2007 4:33 am Hi David, It might interest you to know that there are already some commercially available multi-touch interfaces for the DJ market, the most popular of which is the JazzMutant Lemur: http://www.jazzmutant.com The device itself is very amazing, and is already becoming quite popular among many DJ’s who need the power and flexibility of multi-tap interfaces. — Posted by Nik Reiman 50. April 4th, 2007 11:21 am ::Practical use example:: I have a close friend who bought an old 15″ restaurant register style touch screen from goodwill for $25. Using a machine he rebuilt and by adding an additional graphic card, he used the touch screen in his living room to play music and videos on his home entertainment system. What was facinating though, was using this touch screen for other applicaitons. He also had a wireless keyboard, but no mouse. When using a touch screen you adapt quite quickly to no mouse. Infact, when surfing online I found it much more natural to touch the link on the screen, and when using word to touch the place that I wanted the cursor to go rather than having to use an additional peripherial. Considering that the screen was next to the couch, and that the computer was across the room near the tv, there was no place to put a mouse anyway. Currently I use a treo and am now much more used to interacting through touch, though I dream of the day I can use an itablet. . .or atleast an electronic notebook so that I don’t have to retype all of my notes. . regardless I love touch. . it’s just natural, useful, practical and intuitive. -YeAH!. . — Posted by David Iannone 51. April 7th, 2007 5:37 pm THIS CAN EASILY BE CONSIDERED AS ART OF THE FUTURE. TAKE ANOTHER LOOK AT THIS IN TWO YEARS TIME! — Posted by Don Mcgregor 52. May 31st, 2007 5:22 pm Sorry to sound like a cranky old fart ( I am one) but for a lot of us, the whole point of a computer is to miniaturize the real world so that it fits into a compact schematized arrangement. Why would I want to wave my arms around when I can wiggle my finger? ( And what if my rhematism is actng up??) The idea that I could now replicate the chaos on my desk on my own computer screen sends a shiver down my spine. — Posted by Cathy G. 53. June 3rd, 2007 12:25 pm I have a perfectly good horse. Why would I ever need a car? Boats can cross the Atlantic who would want to risk their life on a plane? Internet, why would I want to talk to a bunch of strangers…. A mouse has a single point. we have ten fingers= ten points + palms and the combination of gestures that can be interpreted with more possibilities than there are odds of winning Megabucks. Think of base 2 binary- and now thing of base 10- and you can of course group gestures. I think this will be adopted rapidly- the military aspects of this are staggering, one person (perhaps a great video gamer) and a bunch of drones with recognition software could do a enormous amount of damage in a coordinated attack. The paradigm of a porn driven tech industry might shift momentarily by to a military industrial complexed funded method. On the bright side- the weather reports we watch on TV will look better. LOL Surgeons will love this as a teaching tool and the ability for master surgeons to help others around the globe will be astonishing. With Sat cameras and easily trainable hand gestures we mgiht be able to secure more sensitive internal targets in the USA against sabatoge. Air traffic control could be improved as well. Teaching will become be a lot more interactive. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Steve Jobs somehow integrating this into his gear soon- introducing Multi touch to the masses via track pad (non visual) and now iPhone (visual) is the first training entry tool he has- figuring that Apple is well skilled at introducing new interfaces. From a more practical standpoint- using a remote touch screen (perhaps even just a large mat) and a projector might be the best cost effective solution for the masses. Even though the more direct interaction is very desireable. — Posted by John Gilmour 54. July 25th, 2007 6:46 am Why does each software company keep copying or fighting to have something better and more sophisticated. They should all get together and work on one single project. It should be mixture of every revolutionary machine and software and then make it Change the way we live and interact with machines like Jeff Han said. — Posted by Nicolas Couturier Add your comments... Name Required E-mail Required (will not be published) Comment Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive. For more information, please see our Comments FAQ. Search This Blog All NYTimes.com Blogs » Monthly Archives Select Month April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 Popular Tags Apple Cellphones copyright Digital Music Digital Photography/Video Extreme Web Feedback Gadgets Google gps great ideas Home Theater iPhone laptops LinkedIn Microsoft movies Palm Pogue Unplugged Promising Developments Software Tech Culture Tech Support Tips and Tricks TiVo wi fi Windows YouTube About Pogue’s PostsDavid Pogue's technology column has appeared each Thursday in The Times since 2000. Each week, he also writes the Times e-mail column "From the Desk of David Pogue," creates a short, funny Web video for NYTimes.com, and posts entries to his Times blog. In his other life, David is an Emmy-winning correspondent for CBS News, a frequent contributor to NPR's "Morning Edition," creator of the Missing Manual series of computer books, and father of three.Recent Articles by DavidRecent Posts April 2813 commentsA Lesson on BCCFrom today’s mailbag: Hi David: In the year 2008, it seems most people do NOT know what the BCC: field is in their e-mail programs, or when to use it. In the past week, I’ve received e-mail from people that I do not even know, where my address was in a list of 493 people, all […] April 2619 commentsLife Imitating Margaret AtwoodTest tube chickens. Yum. April 2483 commentsReducing the Amount of Juice Electronic Gadgets ConsumeAPC has taken a healthy step in the right direction with its Power-Saving SurgeArrest surge protector power strip. April 2335 commentsA Humble Idea for MP3sFrom today’s mailbag: yet another great idea from a reader: Hey David: Along the lines of, “Why don’t the designers think about these things?,” I have a question about MP3 files. Why can’t you tag a song as belonging to more than one album? If you have a song that appeared on a soundtrack, as well as a […] April 2217 commentsA Music-Recognition BreakthroughO.K., whoa. I just read about a new computer program that can listen to a recorded chord in music and figure out what notes are in it. May not sound like much, but it’s never been done before. The best we’ve been able to do is transcribe single-note melodies (think trumpet or flute) — not complex […] Feeds Home World U.S. N.Y. / Region Business Technology Science Health Sports Opinion Arts Style Travel Jobs Real Estate Autos Back to Top Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company Privacy Policy Search Corrections RSS Help Contact Us Work for Us Site Map разделы лучший ковры решетка дренажный государственный герб дренаж машина r-600 виные холодильник эфирный антенна морозильный ларь гайковерт sharp ar-5415 анкетирование крот dr витрина подогреваемый изолента получение выписка егрп ваза 2113 кислотостойкий краска купить ниппель перех kyiv apartaments service мусорный пакет рефконтейнеры mobil pegasus куллер букмекерский контора шанс герб вышивка omega zip lock редизайн кострома концепция совершенствование сбыта купить элеваторный узел лечение щитовидный железа итальянский вина 5440.16 (крышка) vps vds перегородка сантехкабин генерация кислорода плата видеозахвата ленинградский вокзал билет кулер тихий центральный детский мир прогрессирующий близорукость электропечь dimplex model brayford корпоративный хранилище данный спирли помидор купля банковский сейфовые ячейка metrobond корпоративный иностранный аэробика мячом лакокраска очки защитный хосе карерас билет ароматный мир k610 купить промальп озонатор воздуха урок охота восстановление потенция фирменный флаг танго кэш факсимиле проведение анкетирование эрозия шейка матка санфаянс кс-4361 kiev apartments service культура танго концепция совершенствование сбыта облицовка электрокамин 5440.15 (крышка) 8800 gold edition крутой компания витрина мороженый longines антенна радиочастотный кружка стенд fag слюдопластовые втулка сухой мороженый договор суррогатный мать ивановец планирование день книга кремль монетница электрический прочность лечение щитовидный железа корпоративный иностранный французский вина кулер процессорный вихревой теплогенераторы решетка окон мультиметры цифровой renu multiplus 355мл nokia 6021 купить vps vds телефонный обзвон российский флаг иностранный долг отбеливание антигололедные реагент перегородка сантехкабин подбор эмаль укв радиосвязь touch screen