Quick Multi-touch News Links & Pics: GestureTek's 42-inch Multi-touch GestTable; NUITEQ News; 3M's 20 Touch Multi-touch, Visual Planet's Adjustable Multi-touch Surface....

MORE MULTI-TOUCH
GestureTek News

- GestureTek intros 42-inch multitouch GestTable, your HDTV suddenly turns jealous. (Darren Murph, Engadget, 6/9/10)
"This 42-inch beast of a table contains a multitouch LCD with a lovely 1080p resolution, which means that you could theoretically watch the next installation of the Batman series on the same surface that's holding your cup of joe."   (A 70-inch version will be coming soon...)   GestureTek (Thanks to Seth Sandler for the link!)
NUITEQ News
NUITEQ wins prestigious Red Herring 100 Europe award
N-trig to show NUITEQ's Snowflake Suite with stylus support at SID in Seattle on May 23-28
NUITEQ releases version 1.9.1 of its award-winning multi-touch software product Snowflake Suite





3M News  3M Touch Systems introduces a 20-Finger Multi-Touch Display (BusinessWire 5/25/10)   The 3M touch screen pictured below uses projected capacitive technology.

VISUAL PLANET News

Design and Technology Student creates Interactive Coffee table 5/5/10

Visual Planet’s ViP Interactive Foil has been innovatively used by a student from King’s School Sixth Form in Rochester, UK to create an aesthetically pleasing and extremely creative coffee table inviting interaction from the family.

NUITEQ’s Snowflake Suite now compatible with Visual Planet’s Dual Touch Zoom and Rotate Foils
4/2010 - aNUITEQ®, an award winning technology company, announced today that its multi-touch software product Snowflake Suite is compatible with the worlds number #1 touch foil from Visual Planet.

I like the adjustable multi-touch table from Visual Planet.   Details later!

There is a need for multi-touch/gesture designers/developers!

If you are a talented interactive web designer/developer, game designer/developer, traditional programmer with a creative bent, or someone who who is thinking about working with technology in the future as a programmer or designer,  I urge you to consider thinking about designing/developing multi-touch applications in the near future.

In my opinion, there will be a need for multi-touch web applications as well as for multi-touch education and collaboration applications for the SMART Table, Microsoft's Surface,  multi-touch tablets like the rumored iTablet from Apple, and the multi-touch laptops and all-in-ones (Dell, HP, etc.).

Below are direct links to some of my blog posts related to multi-touch applications and screens. If you are fairly new to multi-touch, I'm sure that looking through some of my blog posts will be helpful.  All of the posts have links to resources, and most have photos and video clips of multi-touch in action.

If you are new to this blog, I have a great deal of information, links, photos, and video clips of various multi-touch screens and applications. The best way to find the stuff is to enter in a keyword in the search box for this blog:  multitouch, touch screen, gesture, multi-touch, etc. on  this blog.

Also do a search on my other blog: The World Is My Interface http://tshwi.blogspot.com

Here are some links:
Do you have an HP TouchSmart, Dell Studio One or NextWindow touch-screen? NUITech's Snowflake Suite upgrade provides a multi-touch plug-in
http://bit.ly/5tdlhc

The following blog post has a video clip that shows someone from Adobe painting with a multi-touch application in development:
More Multi-Touch!: Rumor of the mobile apple iTablet; AdobeXD & Multitouch; 10-finger Mobile Multitouch: http://bit.ly/4S9Upm

Ideum's GestureWorks: http://bit.ly/4C1p7M

Interactive Walls, Interactive Projection Systems, GestureTek's Motion-Based Games: http://bit.ly/6GRGtW

Intuilab's Interfaces: Multi-touch applications/solutions for presentations, collaboration, GIS, and commerce: http://bit.ly/7RK7qN

For software developers:
How to do Multitouch with WPF 4 in Visual Studio 2010: http://bit.ly/7c4YqC

More interactivity: Interactive Walls, Interactive Projection Systems, GestureTek's Motion-based Game

I recently discovered that Accenture's website has a few interactive web pages that provide information about the company's interactive wall technology.  What I liked about the site is that I could interact with it by touching the screen of my HP TouchSmart PC, and it worked!  (I'm always on the look-out for interactive websites that are good for touch-screen interaction.)


Below are screen shots of the on-line semi-functional demo of Accenture's Strategic Decision Interface:

(The website worked through touch-interaction via my HP TouchSmart PC!)

For more information:  Interactive Wall Technology:  Seeing the Big Picture


Newfangled Projector Systems:
New Projectors Make Any Wall an Interactive Whiteboard: Epson, Boxlight unveil potentially game-changing technology -Meris Stansbury, eSchool News 1/13/10

"In a move that could shake up the interactive whiteboard (IWB) market, two projector manufacturers have just released new products that can turn virtually any surface into an IWB...The development means schools no longer have to buy separate hardware to enjoy the benefits of IWBs, whose interactive surface and ability to engage students have made them quite popular in classrooms."

The article highlights Epson's BrightLink 450i ultra short-throw projector which eliminates most shadows, and images can be anywhere from 59 to 96 inches diagonally with WXGA resolution.  The system requires an infrared pen. 


Another system is the ProjectoWrite2/W from Boxlight, which is a short-throw LCD projector with XGA resolution that can project up to 80 inches diagonally.


GestureTek


I've written a few blogs in the past about GestureTek.  I wonder if their technology would work with the projection systems mentioned in the eSchool News article. Below are a few examples of what GestureTek's been doing lately:


GestureTek's Video Game Wall at the Child's Play Activity Center (Las Vegas)







The above pictures of the Child's Play Activity Center show how GestureTek's WallFX interactive display system can be used to create a fun environment for children. The system includes a ceiling projector and a camera that can capture full-body motion.  The system provides 25 games and special effects.  Wouldn't this concept be great for interactive and fun educational games?


For details about this system:
GestureTek's video game wall shows where gesture-based games can go
-Dean Takahashi, GamesBeat, 8/25/09


GestureTek's Immersive Multi-platform Game:  Head-butting Interactive Soccer

"Video gesture control pioneer GestureTek., unveiled its new Momo™ Software Development Kit for game developers and original equipment manufacturers at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show. Gesture recognition software tracks motion and objects such as faces and hands and brings immersive, gesture-based interactivity to multiple platforms, such as PCs, laptops, mobile phones, toys and other devices. The video is a demonstration of a head-butting soccer game."
GestureTek Interactive City Flight Simulator Game

GestureTek & Sprint's Interactive Wall: 3D depth-sensing allows wall interaction with a cell phone.

I missed this one! The video and photos below are of the Sprint Center Interactive Wall, powered by GestureTek's 3D depth-sensing system.  The media art was created by Takashi Kawashima,a designer/media artist who lives in San Francisco.   He has an MFA in Design| Media Arts from UCLA.

The interactive display can be controlled by a cell phone.



YouTube description/plug:
"GestureTeks 3D depth sensing technology powers an attention-grabbing interactive digital signage system for telecom leader Sprint. The 3D depth sensing interactive display screen, with mobile phone connectivity, tracks peoples body movements, and responds by sending a Sprint promotional message that follows them the entire length of the interactive billboard. The interactive motion-detecting advertising message invites users to create their own personalized interactive wall art on Sprints gesture control screen, by calling Sprint on their mobile phone. GestureTeks 3D tracker is the heart of the system. Installation lead: Mission Electronics. Creative: Goodby Silverstein."

The Instant DJ application looks fun!  It allows you to mix the music tracks on the large display with your phone.


Phone Painter:  Sprint Center Interactive Wall



Instant DJ



Now Widget


RELATED
Sprint Uses GestureTek 3D Tracking & Control System for New Interactive Digital Signage Campaign
GestureTek Announces 3D Gesture Tracking Initiatives for Sprint and Hitachi; Shares New 3D Patent Information

SOMEWHAT RELATED
GestureFX:  Next Generation Pediatrics Business Case (interactive floor for a pediatric clinic's waiting room)
AirPoint Hand-Tracking Unit for Mouse Replacement and "Point to Control" Interactivity

Cross posted on The World Is My Interface blog

Elastic Creative, Delphi Productions, GestureTek, & the Metronic HRS multi-touch table and wall

I came across this on the Elevating Interactivity blog:
Medtronic HRS Conference Tables & Walls -Elevating Interactivity, 11/10/09

Elastic Creative and Delphi Productions collaborated to create the Metronic HRS multi-touch table and wall application.  The hardware system was by GestureTek.

Medtronic is a medical technologies company that has been around for many years. Some of their projects include the Activa deep brain stimulation therapy used to treat Parkinson's disease and other conditions, pain management therapies, and more.






Here are the videos:




Medtronic HRS 2009 Multitouch Table from Elastic Creative on Vimeo.

SOMEWHAT RELATED
The following is a video featuring Elastic Creative's work with Colardo Creative for Immersion, a company that creates systems and technology that integrates touch feedback into products, including medical simulators used in training physicians for minimally invasive surgical techniques.

Immersion Brand Video from Elastic Creative on Vimeo.

BBC Video about Immersion's medical simulation application:



Elevating Interactivity's 6 Levels of Interaction

GestureTek's "Cube": A compact Interactive Gesture-based Display System

GestureTek's "Cube"




From the GestureTek website:

"Introducing The Cube - a compact, turnkey, 'plug and play' interactive display unit that brings the power of gesture control to a variety of display spaces. Project the interactive 80” diagonal display onto almost any floor, wall, table or counter for branding, advertising, entertainment and product promotion. The Cube will engage customers, turn heads and drive business results."

Brochure (pdf)

NUI-Group's Christian Moore Interview-Podcast on the Interactive Display 2009 Conference website

As I write this post, the 2009 Interactive Displays conference is underway in San Jose, California. The home page of the conference website provides a series of interviews of many of the conference participants and presenters, including Chris Moore, a member of the NUI group. Chris discusses the importance of the open-source NUI (natural user interface) community in moving interactive display and NUI-based technology forward.

Interactive Displays 2009 Conference Website

Interview Participants:
Mats Johansson - EON Reality
Guillaume Largillier - Stantum
Christian Moore- NUI Group
Brent Bushnell- Tapcode
Steven Bathiche - Microsoft
Jerry Bertrand - Microscent
Henry Kaufman- Tactable

If you are at the conference and you have some video clips to share of a presentation, demonstration, or anything else that might be of interest, please give me the link so I can share it on my blog.

Below are some pictures from the companies represented by the people who were interviewed for the Interactive Displays 2009 conference:


Eon Reality


Tactable


Microsoft's Surface


NUI-Group


Tapcode


I don't usually put company logos on my blog, but if you are a visiting my blog searching for links to companies that are involved with interactive display technologies, this will save you some time. (I received no payment for this gesture.)

Interactive Displays 2009 Conference: Tuesday, April 21 -Thursday April 23, Hilton San Jose, California

The Interactive Displays Conference, sponsored by Intertech Pira, will highlight an interesting mix of existing and emerging interactive display technologies and applications. The conference will be held at the Hilton in San Jose, California, from Tuesday, April 21st through Thursday, April 23rd.

The pre-conference seminar will feature Sakuya Morimoto, of CANESTA, who will present his company's innovative single-chip 3D image sensor technology that supports gesture interaction.
Keynote speakers will be Jeff Han, of Perceptive Pixel, and Steven Bathiche, of Microsoft US.

Some Highlights:

Pre-conference Seminar: Gesture Navigation in the World of Digital Contents, Enabled by a Single-Chip 3D Image Sensor Presenter: Sakuya Morimoto, Senior Director, Business Development in Asia, CANESTA, Japan

Related:
Hitachi at CES 2009: Use of Canesta's 3D sensor to control television and home systems using hand gestures.


"With the wave of a hand, with the shake of a hand, you can control volume, you can actually change the channels, watch your favorite program...the most exciting thing, I think, is that you can actually control your temperature and the lighting in the room, the environmental lighting. So..it is very unique technology that is out there.."

Another demonstration of Hitachi's gesture interaction using the Canesta's 3=D Depth camera:



When a TV Remote is Just Too Much Effort, Wave -Jennifer Bergen, PC Magazine
CANESTA Corporate Fact Sheet (pdf)

How does Canesta's Electronic Perception Technology Work?
"Canesta’s electronic perception technology forms 3-D, real time moving images in a single chip through patented methods which use light photons to “range” the image, similar to radar. The silicon sensor chip develops 3-D depth maps at a rate in excess of 30 frames per second, and then performs additional processing on these depth maps to resolve the images into application specific information that can easily be processed by embedded processor(s) in the end-use device or machine. Since Canesta’s software starts with a three-dimensional view of the world, provided immediately by the hardware, it has a substantial advantage over classical image processing software that struggles to construct three-dimensional representations using complex mathematics, and images from multiple cameras or points of view. This dramatic reduction in complexity makes it possible to embed the processing software directly into the chips themselves so they may be used in the most cost-conscious applications."


I will highlight some of the featured presentations in future blog posts:

Steven Bathiche, Director of Research, Applied Sciences Group, Entertainment and Devices Division MICROSOFT, US
Guillaume Largillier, Chief Strategy Officer and Co-Founder, STANTUM, France
Jeff Han, PERCEPTIVE PIXEL, US
Mark Fihn, Publisher, VERITAS ET VISUS, US
Derek Mitchell, Conference Producer, INTERTECHPIRA, US
Vinita Jakhanwal, Principal Analyst, Small/Medium Displays, ISUPPLI CORPORATION, US
Joseph Carsanaro, President and CEO F-ORIGIN, US
Tommi Ilmonen, CEO MULTITOUCH OY, Finland
Stephen Sedaker, Director of Component Sales WACOM TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION, US
Brad Gleeson, Managing Director, Business Development TARGETPATH GLOBAL LLC., US
Henry Kaufman, President and Founder, TACTABLE, US
Christophe Ramstein, Chief Technology Officer, IMMERSION CORPORATION, US
Mary Lou Jepsen, CEO, PIXEL QI, US
John Newton, Chief Technology Officer, NEXTWINDOW, New Zealand
Herve Martin, CEO, SENSITIVE OBJECT, France
Scott Hagermoser, Gaming Business Unit Manager 3M TOUCH SYSTEMS, US
Bob Cooney, Vice President, Business Development, ECAST, US
Brent Bushnell, Chief Technology Officer UWINK, US
Stephan Durach, Head, Technology Office, BMW GROUP, US
Jeff Doerr, Senior Manager, Business Development Self Service Solutions Group, FLEXTRONICS, US
Andy Wilson, Senior Researcher, Adaptive Systems and Interaction Group, MICROSOFT, US
Mats W. Johansson, Chief Executive Officer, EON REALITY, US
Lenny Engelhardt, Vice President for Business Development, N-TRIG, Israel
Dr Paul Diefenbach, Director, RePlay Lab, DREXEL UNIVERSITY, US
Andrew Hsu, Technical Marketing and Strategic Partnerships Manager, SYNAPTICS, US
Dean LaCoe, Business Development Manager, GESTURETEK, Canada
Keith Pradhan, Global Director of Product Management, TYCO ELECTRONICS, ELO TOUCHSYSTEMS, US
Jerry Bertrand, Managing Member/Acting CEO, MICROSCENT, LLC, US
Frederic Kaplan, CEO and Co-Founder, OZWE, Switzerland

Related

Visionary Jeff Han and Microsoft's Steven Bathiche to Keynote at Interactive Displays 2009

Time for More Touch! NASA's collaborative multi-touch table by Gesturetek and Inhance Digital Corporation; HP touch-screen notebook; NextWindow

This is a picture of Gesturetek's interactive multi-touch installation for the NASA Moon Station exhibit, at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Inhance Digital Corporation collaborated with Gesturetek on this project too create a multi-user game that teaches players about one of NASA's lunar outposts.

Read the press release for more information and links related to Gesturetek's multi-touch-multi-point display. Inhanced Digital Corporation's website is worth the visit. The company is involved with a variety of interactive project, including the "Connected Home", in cooperation with Cisco Systems.

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal (10/16/08), Hewlett-Packard will unveil a touch-screen notebook. Frog Design, the company that developed the touch-screen browser-interface on the HP Touchsmart PC is working on this product.

To learn more about Frog Design and HP touch-screen technology, go to the source and read this post on GeekTieGuy's blog: The cat's finally out of the bag..

I happen to love my HP TouchSmart. (Secret: It can handle at least duo-touch input, since it has a NextWindow touch screen interface)


More from NextWindow:


103-inch display for election coverage in New Zealand.


Collaborative project between NextWindow and Nemes for a museum application.

It is good to see more touch screen technology in museums... Next step, the classroom?