Join ITP Thesis shows that the touchscreen is not enough
The touchscreen has revolutionized the last decade, and it will continue to improve this decade. However, this ITP thesis by Michael Kneupfel for NYU’s design program has shown that the touchscreen could use a little more accessories.
There is a video after the jump so you can see what he has in mind. The one in the picture is for pulses, and I am not certain what to use that for. However, there are a few things that are pretty much self-explanatory.
For example, there are two types of pens, and one of them allows for some intriguing shapes like a traditional thick marker pen. The other is used for making some interesting shapes.
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The Invisible iPhone prototype
Here’s some interesting App developed by Patrick Baudisch and his team of researchers at the Hasso-Lattner Institute.
As you can see from the video, they have figured out a way to make the iPhone invisible. Actually, they just figured out a way for the user to put the interface on a hand thanks to “an Xbox-like camera”. Special software is able to determine where the fingers are on the palm, and transmit the commands via WiFi radio.
You will notice that the video that the user in the video just touches her hand to shut the phone off. If you want to do something more complicated, that is possible, as Baudisch and his colleagues discovered how two-thirds of all iPhone users can find their apps on their palm.
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In the future, our heads will go more places than our bodies ever will
We have covered devices that allow for telepresence before. Usually, they come in robotic form, like the Anybot. This particular method of mini robot blimps is nothing short of freaky.
Seriously, just watch the video after the jump and see if you don’t agree with me. It looks like something out of Blade Runner or 12 Monkeys, and the dark resolution isn’t helping. In all honesty, I can’t help but think that this is some kind of joke.
However, my Source reveals that this is some project by Tobita Hiroaki and the team at Sony Computer Science Laboratories. The helium filled miniature airships can carry a screen with a live image of the transmitter. As the mini-blimp goes from room to room via tiny propellers, a camera picks up what it sees.
Continue reading » In the future, our heads will go more places than our bodies ever will
Samsung and Toshiba both have flexible screen displays on display
I think that we all know that the future is going to be bendable displays, and two big companies, Samsung and Toshiba, have their screens in the spotlight recently.
I’ll start with the one from Toshiba, pictured here to the left. It measures at about 3 inches on the diagonal, and it is only 0.1 mm thin. It was made with an oxide semiconductor TFT to a plastic substrate at 200 degrees Celsius. This makes it light at one gram, and it can also retain image quality over a long period of time.
As for the Samsung foldable AMOLED display, there is a picture of that after the jump. It has two panels with a closing radius of about 1 mm which means that they “practically touch when closed, yet show no visible crease when opened”. In fact, the developers performed about 100,000 folding and unfolding motions, and it decreases in brightness of 6 percent, which was not that visible.
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Wireless Mobile Storage For your iPad – GoFlex Satellite
One of the restrictions of the Pad (and iPhone) is it’s lack of expandability with it annoyingly having no USB or memory card ports, thus limiting you to the space you originally purchased. Seagate aim to fill this gap with the GoFlex Mobile Wireless Storage device, effectively a portable hard drive that you connect to over Wi-Fi.
To use you connect (via USB) the GoFlex 500 GB external hard drive to your PC/Mac and download any media files that you want to watch on the go, disconnect and drop the device in your pocket. Nothing new so far, now the clever part is when you want to view the files on your mobile device. The GoFlex creates it’s own Wi-Fi cloud which you then connect to and stream from.
To stream media from the GoFlex you connect via it’s web interface or download the app from the AppStore (Android version coming soon), another neat feature is that it can stream different media to 3 different devices simultaneously.
You can buy the Seagate GoFlex from Amazon for $199.99.
PowerSkin has battery charging cases for cell phones
There will probably always be a market for any accessory that can give a mobile device more power, and the most prominent that I can think of is the Juice Pack from mophie.
PowerSkin is getting in on this battery case territory as they have cases for all sorts of models. I got a chance to try out the model for my Droid X, which is the model that you can see in the photo.
The boast is that the Powerskin can give you twice the power, and I believe that claim. They also claim that it is “lightweight”, and this is partially true. The one I received for the Droid X is 3.8 ounces, and, in comparison, the Droid X is 5.3 ounces. In short, the Powerskin nearly doubled the weight on my phone, which is a noticeable difference while talking.
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Fujitsu’s Touchpad keyboard concept
I think Fujitsu’s concept devices have figured out what consumers really want. Last week, we reported on the hybrid notebook/tablet that can fold into quarters, and now this touchpad keyboard.
Clearly, customization is key for this touchpad keyboard. Some users prefer that ergonomic keyboard with the split diagonal setup, while others prefer the traditional method. This allows the user to pick the type of keyboard that he or she wants.
All in all, it looks like something that could help out those who love the numeric keypad but don’t have it on their laptop. It also looks like it would come in handy for when changing language layouts is an issue. Not that I’ve ever had that problem, but in the age of “there’s an app for that” consumers want a lot more freedom on their personal electronics.
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wEASEL Smartphone Stand
While I was at CTIA 2011 in Orlando about a month ago, I stopped by the wEASEL booth. As you can probably tell by the weird capitalization, this was not a booth with weasels.
The wEASEL is a handy device that affixes to the back of a smartphone with an included 3M adhesive rectangular pad. It has a kickstand on the back which is good for propping up whatever phone you have in both landscape and the portrait mode that you see in the photo to the left.
You can also see the plastic circular thing on the back of it, which can retract into the wEASEL like those pull-out handles on roll away luggage. The purpose of the loop is so it can be hung on this circular hook that also affixes to a car dash or wall with adhesive.
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