Posts Tagged microsoft
Skinput: Get your whole body into your interface
Posted by admin in Future Concepts on March 2nd, 2010
What you are seeing here is not some sort of modern art, but it may make some statement about our society today.
This is Skinput, a conceptual technology that can recognize a user’s taps of a finger on the skin, but it seems to be limited to the hand and the rest of the arm.
This tech is under development from Carnegie Mellon University and Microsoft, and requires that the user wear a certain armband with “piezoelectric cantilevers, or sensors that measure pressure, acceleration and force”. Click on the video after the jump to see this technology in action, and a most unusual method of controlling Tetris.
Skinput also uses a pico-projector to create images like menus on the user’s arm. With a tap on the skin above or below the menu, the user has a very unusual form of navigation.
You have to admit that this technology could have all sorts of applications for the mobile world. Just picture selecting your tunes on your arm instead of your iPod, or dialing your phone on your palm instead of your mobile device.
Still, I can’t help but this tech will lead to an age when we are all comfortable with integrating technology with our flesh. Then our cyborg teachers will say that it all began with Skinput.
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Microsoft SideWinder X4 keyboard
Posted by admin in Games Gadgets on February 3rd, 2010
Microsoft isn’t all software, you know? The company does have had its fair share of forays into the world of hardware and peripherals, with their Xbox 360 gaming console being a standout alongside the Microsoft ergonomic mouse and keyboard which made quite a splash when they were introduced in the last century. Of course, the keyboard was particularly memorable as it came in a contoured form factor, complete with its keys split down the middle. While that made it comfortable for typing, it didn’t bode too well for some gamers who configured their keys to take up the middle section of the keyboard. Well, fast forward to the 21st century and we have the new Microsoft SideWinder X4 Keyboard, a specially designed keyboard that offers gamers more control thanks to the industry’s most advanced anti-ghosting technology. Thanks to the advancements by the Applied Sciences Group, this new technology is able to enable the most complex key combinations during a hectic gaming session without missing a beat, featuring macro recording, mode and profile switching and adjustable backlighting among others.
What does anti-ghosting technology mean for the layman? Basically, it allows you to press up to 26 keys simultaneously, and since each key is scanned independently by the keyboard hardware, the SideWinder X4 will register each key press correctly, independent of all the other keys being pressed at once. In other words, the SideWinder 4 Keyboard by far excels where other keyboards fail, allowing gamers to execute key combinations that will be able to keep up with your skill and speed.
Other features include macro recording which allows lets them string together multiple moves into a single button press, while automatic macro repetition is a new feature which allows one to repeat the macro time and again with just a single key. Mode and profile switching is also supported, providing an extremely easy way to customize the keyboard for various games and users, with adjustable backlighting allowing one to set the right lighting level whenever you game in the dark. Expect to pick up the SideWinder X4 Keyboard later next month for $59.95 – to be sure you get a copy, Amazon allows you to place a pre-order later this week.
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Microsoft SideWinder X4 keyboard
Pictionaire: The desk of the future
Posted by admin in Future Concepts on January 28th, 2010
Now that the iPad has been formally announced, let’s take it a step further with this iDesk. Actually, the technology that you see in this picture is called the Pictionaire, and it is under development by Microsoft Research and the University of California, Berkeley.
As you can see from the attached video after the jump, this 4 x 6 foot table has a camera mounted above it, much like the futuristic hexagonal-type board game that we reported on yesterday.
The user has the power to place a physical object on the Pictionaire, and, with a little drag-and-drop gesture, he or she will have a digital copy of that item. The original physical object can be moved, and the digital copy can be traced onto a whiteboard or a sketchpad.
The user also has the option of putting a wireless keyboard on the table, and the table can become a display. From what it looks like in the video, the user can type in a keyword and get the image that he or she is looking for, maybe from the objects that were on the Pictionaire before.
It reminds of a desk I saw in The Island. Some of you might not remember this film, because it was an intelligent Michael Bay film that didn’t involve giant robots beating each other up. I believe that the villain in The Island had a desk with projections, and he even had Ewan McGregor draw on it with a virtual stylus. You know that desks like this will be in offices of the future, unless the companies can afford a Surface.
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More Courier details leaked
Posted by admin in Future Concepts on November 7th, 2009
More details have emerged about the operating systems and applications that power Microsoft’s new Courier Tablet PC.
Details about Microsoft’s alleged bookish tablet PC are beginning to surface, and with every bit leaked, the anticipation rises. Courier, the dual screen tablet which we reported about here a few months back, looks more like a book reader should look, but also enables a “cliff notes” representation of the data files saved on it, but also contains a searchable “journal overview” which enables users to search by subject, keyword, or other criteria.
Organizing data files is the “Library” interface browser. A favorites tray sits on the left hand screen for saving often used files for quick access, and there’s a digital version of the old school library card file for flipping through data files and their histories.
Users of Evernote will recognize a feature in “Browser” that allows clipping web content and saving to the journal application for further use.
Aside from choosing the favorites dock for often used files, users can also save files in a very interesting fashion, but dragging the file to the spine, which closes and saves the file – very cool idea.
Agenda is more than a calendar, it’s more like a daily journal which keeps track not only of appointments, but allows for taking notes and sketches by date and subject. Collaborate is a project based application no doubt to serve as a wireless connection with other Courier users in order to accomplish some project.
Fiinally, the digital stylus is more than just a handwriting interface, as it has two programmable buttons, a digital eraser, and activation of an artistitc drawing mode with the flick of the wrist.
Now many people may roll their eyes at a Software company making a hardware interface, but iCourier isn’t Microsoft’s first rodeo. With success of the XBox and XBox 360, UltimateTV (we still use this DVR and it’s excellent), Surface, and even the struggling Zune, Microsoft can easily develop a serious tablet computer for release and could challenge Apple as a hardware company to boot. But chances are, Redmond will simply license the design to other manufacturers. But we’ll certainly be keeping an eye on Courier, hoping it’ll be under our Christmas Tree someday!
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Microsoft shows off its next-gen computing muscles on campuses nationwide
Posted by admin in Future Concepts on November 6th, 2009
Even though Microsoft could probably easily rest on the profits from Windows 7, it is always good to hear them working on new ways of interfacing with computers. Lately, chief research and strategy officer Craig Mundle has been going from college to college, showing off the latest next-gen computer prototype.
Mundle has a lot of interesting things to say about the way computers are headed. One of his demonstrations includes a computer that can project its images onto a pane of glass in front of him. He says that the future will probably bring about a workstation that will include multiple displays, that will eventually work their way into 3-D images. I can’t help but agree with him.
Mundle then used gestures to rotate and focus in on an image of a wind turbine. Gesture recognition is something that has been under development, and I’m certain will be perfected by the year 2054. (Because Minority Report takes place in that year.)
Mundle also showed how a computer can recognize handwriting when doing searches, but his results page was quite confusing as it showed many pages like a quilt of many tiny tiles. He then used eye-tracking to scan along those tiles, and each one would enlarge as it came into focus.
It really is quite amazing to see what they are working on, especially the eye-tracking. I don’t know whether that was just a special effect, but I certainly wouldn’t mind having that now. Perhaps Microsoft is one step closer to achieving that 2019 vision of the future.
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Xbox 360 Controller from Carl Archambeault
Posted by admin in Games Gadgets on September 10th, 2009
I’m not certain if you can read the small print on the photo to the left, but it says “Project was to design a handheld gaming device that would combine the gaming power of the Xbox 360 and the music and video power of the Microsoft Zune”.
This was the vision of Carl Archambeault when he designed this controller with a slide out screen. This Xbox 1080 is a prototype that has a slide-out LCD screen. I am assuming that you get 1080 quality, but doesn’t the Zune HD have only 720p? Oh, wait, maybe it is called that because it is three times better than that pesky Xbox 360.
I believe that the purpose of this is to be some new type of portable video gaming system, but I thought this was some homage to the Sega Dreamcast, that system that celebrated its 10th anniversary yesterday.
Of course this begs the question: where do you insert the games? This also begs the question: where are the trigger keys? We also don’t know the battery life or how to charge this guy, but it’s a concept device, we don’t have specs yet.
I don’t have confirmation on this, but I have heard that this project is something that Microsoft is actually working on.
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Microsoft LifeCam is the “Cinema” of your life
Posted by admin in Audio Gadgets on August 19th, 2009
For those of you who are addicted to Skype’s video communication or just love making webcam videos might want to invest in Microsoft’s attempt at revolutionizing the webcam industry.
The LifeCam (also known as the Cinema) can shoot in HD resolution with 720p (1280 x 720 at 30 frames per second). It can record video footage a little better than the average, run-of-the-mill webcams that you can get at your local Wal-Mart.
Of course, you will need a dual core 1.6GHz processor in order to get this thing to work, and that is just the minimum. Microsoft recommends 3GHz, as well as 2GB worth of memory. I just thought I would get all that fine print out of the way before I talked about all the other features.
For example, it has a glass lens (as opposed to the plastic that most aforementioned average webcams use), auto-focus, aluminum housing, noise-canceling microphone, and it syncs very will with Windows Live Messenger with a Windows Live call button.
In short, it appears that Microsoft has created a finer model for the webcam connoisseur, and it can be purchased on September 9th for a price of $79.99. Maybe you can purchase it at one of those Microsoft retail stores, as soon as they open.
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Microsoft’s Pressure-Sensitive Keyboard changes the way you type
Posted by admin in Future Concepts on August 7th, 2009
When I first saw that Mircosoft was endorsing a pressure sensitive keyboard, I couldn’t help but wonder why I would even need a pressure sensitive keyboard.
But leave it to Microsoft to show me that I practically can’t live without it. And this video after the jump shows exactly why I would need a keyboard that can detect 256 levels of sensitivity.
First of all, it would help on instant messaging. So if I wanted to say “I LOVE you”, no switching to boldface before or after is required. Any word or words that I want emphasized could be done so in realtime by simply banging on the keys harder.
Second, a pressure sensitive keyboard would allow me to detect errors in a word processing document. Most typos occur as the typist is working without even thinking, so keys that aren’t meant to be typed will show up as “less pressured” font. I suppose the user could sync all the fonts when he or she has completely edited the document.
The third case can also be used for editing. Imagine if you could hit your Backspace key a little harder, then the last word would be eliminated instead of the the last character. That would speed things up a bit, wouldn’t it?
There are also plans to involve pressure-sensitive typing in the gaming world too. Just press harder to make the player run, and lighter to make player walk.
Perhaps you are sold on the pressure-sensitive keyboard now. Right now, this keyboard is part of a contest sponsored by SIGGRAPH, but it is gaining a lot of buzz from gadget blogs everywhere. I would imagine you will probably see this one get manufactured, and become a new keyboard standard.
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Microsoft’s Vision of the Future
Posted by admin in Future Concepts on March 4th, 2009
This YouTube video that you see here reminds me why I love the tech and gadget business. It shows what the world could look like in 2019, and it has been made better with technology.
As you can see, ten years has given us much progress including giant touch-screen displays for communication, tickets on e-paper that guide us to our next location, and completely interactive newspapers.
So who has provided us with this vision of the future? Would you believe Microsoft? This clip was given by Microsoft’s Business Division president Stephen Elop at the Wharton Business Technology Conference.
Even though this video uses a lot of special effects, you have to ask yourself if it paints a realistic depiction of where technology is headed. If you ask me, then I would say “yes”. Most of this technology demonstrated in the video clip is just an amplification of technologies that we already have now, such as the Surface and e-paper.
Let us all hope that ten years from now, the future will look like this. Then all those dreary science fiction writers will be wrong, and the future won’t be dystopian like 1984. Hopefully Microsoft will not be Big Brother.
So what do you think? Is this video clip another cog in the Microsoft propaganda machine, or is really what the future will be like? Drop me a comment with your answer.
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