New Multi-touch Gateway One ZX Coming

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Multi-touch all-in-one PCs are one of the hottest gadget types in the world right now. The best thing about Windows 7 is that it sports multi-touch functionality, which makes a whole bunch of different UIs possible. According to Akihabara news, Acer Japan has just released a new, multitouch member of the Gateway ZX series. This 20" all-in-one packs a lot of power, despite its slim frame.

Posted on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:38:15 CST | by Robert Evans

Full Hand Multi-touch Patent Filed By Apple

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Today Multi-touch means you can use multiple fingers at the same time for gesture input on a touchscreen or touchpanel. Apple has filed a patent application detailing how you can use your compete hands including your palms.

To use your full hands for inputs allows much more combinations and possibly a more natural input experience. Read more

Posted on Fri, 2 Oct 2009 01:37:55 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

BumpTop With Multi-Touch: The Future Of UI?

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One of the most exciting things about the explosion of touchscreen technology is the impact it is going to have on the productivity of the average worker. When you have no other options, a keyboard and mouse are fine, but they're hardly the most efficient way to handle things. BumpTop, a graphical overlay that organizes your computer like an actual desk's top, is the first UI out there that fully takes advantage of the touchscreen.

TechCrunch today posted a video of the BumpTop multi-touch UI in use. So far, it looks fantastic. BumpTop is really making the most out of multi-touch. They've created several new gestures, some of which (like 'scrunch') use all of your fingers. In fact, quite a few of the new gestures possible with BumpTop are patented to them.

Posted on Thu, 1 Oct 2009 10:38:02 CDT | by Robert Evans

ZuneHD rumored to feature Multi-touch OLED Screen

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The Zune HD or ZuneHD appeared last Friday. WMPowerUser has published a new photo of what is supposed the ZuneHD. The image is showing the same design as the image featured last week, but in more detail.
If the new ZuneHD does look this cool it might have a chance to win some market share from Apple.
Some additional details came along with the new ZuneHD photo. Apparently the ZuneHD will have a capacitive multi-touch OLED screen. Read more

Posted on Wed, 15 Apr 2009 05:23:40 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

New Dell Latitude XT2 Multi-touch Tablet PC

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Dell today announced the Latitude XT2 convertible tablet improving on the industry’s first tablet PC with multi-touch screen capabilities.
The new Dell Latitude XT2 features better performance, enhanced security and manageability than the previous generation.
Multi-touch capabilities on the Dell Latitude XT2 allow users to use natural gestures like a pinch or tap for scrolling, panning, rotating and zooming that work with productivity applications they use every day. Dell’s integration of multi-touch screen technology allows customers to use the full real estate of the display, as opposed to just the touchpad. Read more

Posted on Tue, 10 Feb 2009 12:23:22 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Snow Leopard rumored to be Location aware and Multi-touch capable

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The guessing on what secrets Apple is putting in OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard to make a big splash continues. As reported earlier Apple keeps the excitement up with not releasing a public beta of Snow Leopard. The official feature list of Snow Leopard is just talking about security and performance improvements.
Apple Insider reports now that they heard that the current pre-release of Snow Leopard includes the CoreLocation framework previously available via the iPhone SDK. The CoreLocation feature set would allow Macs to know where they are if they would have a GPS or Wi-fi based location input. Read more

Posted on Fri, 6 Feb 2009 07:00:00 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

GestureTek Gesture-Control and Multi-Touch Gear Shown at ISE

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GestureTek has been busy showing off its gear at CES earlier this month and now at the ISE Show. The technology being shown is interesting and includes a system that recognizes and tracks hand gestures and body movement to provide a gestural interface.

I saw a system at CEs that allowed gesture control for a TV. You could wave your hand to turn up the volume for example. The firm is also showing a device called The Cube that projects an image on the floor that is interactive and looks cool. Read more

Posted on Fri, 30 Jan 2009 13:00:00 CST | by Shane McGlaun

Palm Not Scared of Apple Multi-touch Patent

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Yesterday I talked about the patent that Apple had been issued for multi-touch and gesture based control of phones and computers. At the time I figured that Asus and other computer makers would be looking at suits over new track pads that support multi-touch and gesture navigation.

What I didn’t think about was the new Palm Pre that was such a hit at CES. One of the core technologies behind the Pre is multi-touch and gesture navigation. Laptop magazine has talked to Palm and it seems that Palm isn’t scared of Apple's new patent. Read more

Posted on Wed, 28 Jan 2009 06:43:06 CST | by Shane McGlaun

Apple Gets Patent for Multi-Touch

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Apple has been granted US patent number 7,479,949 for multi-touch interfaces. The patent describes a computer-implemented method to be used in conjunction with a computing device featuring a touch screen display that is capable of detecting more than one finger.

The patent is wordy and rather vague (as you expect a patent application to be). However, it appears to cover gestures for scrolling, zooming and more. Think pinching to zoom in and swiping a finger to move pages on an iPhone. Read more

Posted on Tue, 27 Jan 2009 06:37:06 CST | by Shane McGlaun

Wacom Shows Off Multi-Touch Technology

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Wacom is one of the top makers of tablets for PC drawing and other uses. The firm introduced a new multi-touch solution at WinHEC 2008 that allows users to navigate and control a computer with multiple fingers.

The design is compact allowing it to scale to multiple sizes according to Wacom and the device boasts a speed of 100 fps, a pointing accuracy of within 0.5mm and a resolution of 200 ppi. Wacom says markets for the multi-touch technology include the PC industry. Read more

Posted on Wed, 5 Nov 2008 11:00:00 CST | by Shane McGlaun

Dell XT Tablet with Multi-touch Hands-On Video

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The newly updated Dell XT Tablet Notebook features multi-touch. Laptop magazines had a chance to put their fingers on the touchscreen and published a video of the new capabilities.

Quote: "N-Trig and Dell today released the multi-touch firmware update for the Vista running XT. Read more

Posted on Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Microsoft demos Multi-touch in Windows 7

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Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer gave a small Windows 7 preview at the Walt Mossberg's D6 conference.

The two Microsoft honchos demonstrated the multi-touch support of Windows 7. The video below shows the multi-touch feature in action on a Dell notebook with N-trig DuoSense technology. I have now seen enough multi-touch from Microsoft just release it and get over it. Read more

Posted on Wed, 28 May 2008 01:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

CES 2008: LG.Philips LCD unveils 52-inch Multi-touch Screen

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LG Philips LCD will reveal a 52-inch Multi-touch Screen, 42-inch Transflective LCD, 47-inch Double Sided LCD and Multi-vision Displays at the CES 2008.

These new panels are aimed at commercial use for advertising displays and similar applications.

The LG.Philips LCD’s 52-inch multi-touch panel for public and interactive displays is not only the world’s largest, it is also one of the most responsive, able to recognize input from either a touch of a finger or more precise writing instruments. Read more

Posted on Mon, 31 Dec 2007 10:01:30 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Sony develops new Multi-Touch LCD Touchscreen

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Sony announced a new LCD touchscreen supporting multi-touch.

With the success of the Apple iPhone, it seems no electronics company can bring out new portable devices without a touch screen interface. The new touch screens have to support of course multi-touch.
The new Sony LCD touchscreen uses a low-temperature polysilicon thin film transistor TFT process technology based on optical sensor arrays. Read more

Posted on Thu, 20 Dec 2007 03:00:34 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Hitachi Announces the StarBoard FX 77 Duo Multi-touch Whiteboard

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Hitachi Software announced a new multi-touch whiteboard called the StarBoard FX Duo FX 77 today. The FX-77 is for educational institutions and this new version supports dual inputs allowing for multi-touch input.

Akira Nagamori, director of business development, Hitachi Software said, "A teacher can bring a static diagram of a plant cell to life by zooming into detailed areas -- just by spreading his or her two fingers apart, marking it up with vibrant inks, and then linking it to a free flash simulation on the internet." Read more

Posted on Tue, 2 Oct 2007 08:48:10 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

LG.Philips shows Multi-touch Screen and Triple View Display at IMID 2007

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At the IMID 2007 in Korea LG.Philips shows a 47 inch multi-touch display and a triple-view display solution.

Since the introduction of the Apple iPhone multi-touch displays are the new hype. A 47 inch multi-touch display can be used with both hands, which I imagine will be very engaging. Read more

Posted on Tue, 28 Aug 2007 06:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Apple Multi-touch a Mega-Platform?

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A researcher at UBS Investment Research is calling Apple's Multi-touch interface a mega-platform.

Apple introduced the Multi-touch interface when the company unleashed the iPhone on us. UBS believes Apple has with this technology the basis to introduce new products across most of their offerings and multi-touch is as big as the iPod introduction in 2001-2003.

I am not sure if I would call multi-touch a mega-platform. It looks great, but it has to still proof that the masses can handle it. Apple will of course if it works adopt it for iPods and other devices to come.
Read more

Posted on Tue, 13 Mar 2007 09:37:53 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

ETech: University New York Develops Multi-Touch Screen

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Single touch-screen displays are pretty common, but the technology hasn’t been there for the kind of multi-touch interfaces hinted at in movies like Minority Report.

Multi-touch sensing enables a user to interact with a system with more than one finger at a time, which also means that multiple users are able to use the touch screen simultaneously. For example, it is possible to mix photographies on the screen in real time or zoom in maps over simple finger movements. The technique is also force-sensitiv and provides very high resolution and scalability.

The multi-touch display used in a demo measures only 36"x27". It uses rear-projection and realizes the pressure perception over the measurement of internal light losses - a technology, which is called Frustrated Total Internal Reflection (FTIR). Read more

Posted on Wed, 8 Mar 2006 07:39:17 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr