Two good articles by Bill Buxton: The Mad Dash Towards Touch Technology; The Long Nose of Innovation

I came a couple of interesting links to a couple of articles from the Putting People First blog. The links are articles written by Microsoft Research principal scientist, Bill Buxton.  If you've never heard of Bill Buxton, he's the guy that was doing multi-touch research way back in the 1980's. 

The Mad Dash Toward Touch Technology
Bill Buxton, Business Week, 10/21/09
"True innovators need to know as much about when, why, and how not to use trendy technology as when to use i."

The Long Nose of Innovation
Bill Buxton,  Business Week, 1/2/08
"The bulk of innovation is low-amplitude and takes place over a long period. Companies should focus on refining existing technologies as much as on creation." 

RELATED
Updated!

Multi-Touch Systems that I Have Known and Loved
(Bill Buxton)


I came across Bill Buxton's Multi-Touch website in early 2007 when I was taking HCI and Ubicomp.  I was searching for information about large touch-screen displays and applications for a couple of class projects.  The website was the answer to my graduate student prayers.  On the site, you'll find a fantastic overview of the history of "multi-touch", including gesture recognition and related surface technologies. 

The website has interesting links.  If you have the time, take a look at Buxton's main websitehttp://www.billbuxton.com/. You'll find loads of interesting links. I especially like the links to his Business Week articles.



Bill Buxton is the author of "Sketching User Experiences:  Getting the design right and the right design", a book that I own and recommend.

The WSN-Bar: Ambient Intelligence + Wireless Sensor Network + Interactive Touch Technology + Art

AMBIENT INTELLIGENCE + WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORK + INTERACTIVE TOUCH TECHNOLOGY + ART


Graduate students at the Center for Art and Technology -Taipei National University of the Arts,created a interactive touch creation, called the WSN-BAR, based on the concept of ambient intelligence, utilizing a wireless sensor network and vision-based tracking technologies. The video below demonstrates two modules, the Garden of Light, and Vivacious Bushes.

According to information from the WSN-Bar website, the installation detects the changes in the brightness of the environment, temperature, the C02 density of the outdoor air, and the movement of people within a building. This technology works in harmony to support the artistic focus of the WSN-BAR. It provides a means of looking at environmental factors and the relationships between humans and nature, in an innovative way. 

WSB-Bar


The WSN-Bar was created by Jiun-Shian Lin, SuChuHsu, and Ying-Chung Chen. The artwork was by Chiung-Fang Tsao, Chia-Wen Chen, Yu-Hsiung Huang and Yi-Wei Chia.  I'm not sure who created the relaxing ambient background music in the video.


 
 -Interactive WSN-Bar


Wireless Sensor Networks:  a building block for Mass Creativy and Learning (pdf)
(To appear in the Proceedings of ACM Creativity & Cognition 2009 - Understanding the Creative Conversation)

Thanks to Kevin O'Mahony for the link!

RELATED
ACM Creativity & Cognition 2009
Everyday Creativy: Shared Languages & Collective Action
Octobmer 27-30 2009
Berkeley Art Museum & UC Berkeley

 

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Mihály Csíkszentmihályi Professor of Psychology & Management
Claremont Graduate University [California, USA]

JoAnn Kuchera-Morin Director, Allosphere Research Laboratory
Nanosystems Institute [California, USA]

Jane Prophet Professor of Interdisciplinary Computing
Goldsmiths University of London [London, UK]

Thomas Hansen's Multi-Touch Wisdom: "Windows Touch vs PyMT - Why programming on Windows is too complicated!"

If you are interested in designing or programming multi-touch programs and like elegant, concise code, you'll appreciate Thomas Hansen's recent blog post:


Windows Touch vs PyMT:  Why multi-touch programming on Windows is too complicated!


Here is an excerpt from Thomas Hansen's blog post:


"If you read the rest of the blog post, I’ll show you what I mean about context, and why e.g.  Windows Touch makes life difficult if you want to program multi-touch.  I’ll show you how to rewrite a windows touch example project (5 C# source files and > 400 lines of code) in Python using PyMT (1 source file with 12 lines of code).  Yes 12 lines, you read correctly (and then there is the whole thing about it just running on Linux or OSX as well…but we’ll leave that for another blog post)."


At the end of his post, Thomas makes a comment that I think is worth considering:


"The interaction paradigm is so revolutionary, I think we need to adopt our development tools more to it and explore the interaction space.  Instead I think people are jumping the gun on trying to standardize the interface while using the development paradigms we used for the GUI."


Well said!


Thomas Hanson is a member of the NUI Group.  He is a graduate student at the University of Iowa, pursuing his PhD in Computer Science, specifically Human Computer Interaction.  

Chris O'Shea's Hand from Above Interactive Screen; Info about Interactive Architecture

A recent post on the Interactive Architecture blog was of artist Chris O'Shea's "Hand from Above" project, a joint co-commission between FACT (Foundation for Art & Creative Technology), Liverpool City Council for BBC Big Screen Liverpool, and the Live Sites Network.  The installation premiered during the Abandon Normal Devices Festival.


Hand from Above from Chris O'Shea on Vimeo. (Written using openFrameworks & openCV. Sounds by Owen Lloyd.)

"Just imagine walking through your town or city centre, watching yourself on the Big Screen, when all of a sudden a giant finger appears and starts to play with you!...Hand From Above encourages us to question our normal routine when we often find ourselves rushing from one destination to another. Inspired by Land of the Giants and Goliath, we are reminded of mythical stories by mischievously unleashing a giant hand from the BBC Big Screen. Passers by will be playfully transformed. What if humans weren’t on top of the food chain? Unsuspecting pedestrians will be tickled, stretched, flicked or removed entirely in real-time by a giant deity"

For more information about Interactive Architecture and related topics read the following post:


Interactive Architecture and Transdisciplinary Convergence...
(The World Is My Interface blog)

Techies: How to do Multitouch with Windows Presentation Foundation 4 using Visual Studio 2010

Here is the "how-to" video. I don't have WPF4 or VS2010, so I haven't tried this at home...yet.



I came across this video on Vinod Varma's Software Engineer's blog post, "Multi-touch programming getting simpler."


I'm sure I'm not alone in my present dilemma. I have a burning desire to experiment with multi-touch and Adobe's products, since I used to use Macromedia Studio quite a bit several years ago. Instead of learning ActionScript 3.0, I decided to learn C# and XNA Game Studio, and then went on to play with Windows Presentation Foundation, Expression Blend, and Silverlight.


And what about multi-touch web applications?!

Interactive micro-projectors for everyday life, from Light Blue Optics

LIGHT BLUE OPTICS: INTERACTIVE MICROPROJECTORS IN YOUR DAY-TO-DAY LIFE   -(The World Is My Interface blog)

IDPedia: Interaction Design Patterns for Games Library!

From the HelpYouPlay IDPedia (Interaction Design Patterns for Games Library) website:


"Design patterns are ways to describe best practices, explain good designs, and capture experience so that other people can reuse these solutions. The idea of a pattern was introduced by the architect Christopher Alexander for use in urban planning and building architecture, but since then a pattern community has emerged that specifies patterns for all sorts of problems. Interaction design patterns aim to capture optimal solutions to common usability or accessibility problems in a specific context. Typically best practices concerning interaction design are described as guidelines or heuristics. We consider interaction design patterns to be more descriptive than guidelines as it tells a designer exactly when, how and why the solution can be applied." 

Thanks, Barrie Ellis (One-Switch Games) for the link!


SOMEWHAT RELATED
Game Usability and Accessibility
Donate to the AbleGamers Fundraiser!
The funds will support the work of the AbleGamers Foundation, and donations are tax-deductible.

"The AbleGamers Foundation's mission is to empower the disabled population to enjoy the digital revolution that is taking place in gaming... We believe in harnessing the power of many people's voices to solve the problems of the not so few. The AbleGamers Foundation strives to bring together individuals from every lifestyle with a common goal of improving the lives of the disabled. Everyone has the right to enjoy the world, and together, we can make that possible. Together, we can make it possible for everyone to enjoy the rich content of digital entertainment with his or her friends and family regardless of disability."

Eelke Folmer's Human-Computer Interaction Research

Usability Patterns in Games (pdf)
Accessibility in Games and Virtual Worlds
Interaction Design Patterns

Eelke Folmer's presentation at the 2009 Games 4 Health Conference, Boston
Game Accessibility WorkshopG4H: game accessibility research @ University of Nevada, Reno

View more presentations from eelke folmer.

Jonathan Kessler's Hand Eye Technologies: Coordinating your cell phone with Interactive TV

Hand Eye Technologies is developing ways to use your smart-phone over remote control driven interaction.  Jonathan Kessler, the CEO of the company, was interviewed by Tracy Swedlow, of ITTV, about his background and his ideas for the future of interactive television.

Podcast Link:  Hand Eye Technologies Interview
Here is a video from the Hand Eye Technologies website:



If you happen to have an HIT-enabled mobile device, near an HIT enabled display, two-way communication is established, via a LAN, WiFi, or wireless 3G carrier. The mobile device's camera is used to manipulate things on the interface, and the set-box takes care of some of the rest.

Interactions include selecting text and objects, "drag and drop", insert/delete, inputting text or annotations, and drwing on the screen. Hand Eye offers a drawing application called Video Graffiti, and traces the movements you make when you move your mobile device.


"Hand Eye Technologies' mission is to create and communicate the premier software platform that enables mobile devices to interact with the digital world around them... any time, anywhere." - Hand Eye Technologies

"It is more about human-computer interface than remote control". -Jonathan Kessler


This looks like it is moving towards the next level of 2-way TV interactivity, much better than what the traditional remote control can do.

RELATED


Hand Eye Technologies Management Team
CNET – Hand Eye wants your smartphone to watch TV with you
Venture Beat – DEMO: Hand Eye Technologies lets your mobile phone watch TV with you 
TheWrap.com – Coming Soon: Real-Time Interactivity Between TVs and Smartphones
Ubergizmo -With Hand Eye Technologies, the TV show continues in your handset

Interactive TV Today
About InteractiveTV Today:
"Founded in 1998 by Tracy Swedlow and co-owned by Richard Washbourne, InteractiveTV Today [itvt] is the most widely read and trusted news source on the rapidly emerging medium of multiplatform, broadband interactive television (ITV). We provide concise, original coverage of industry developments, technologies, content projects, and the people building the business. Our readership is mostly made up of hundreds of thousands of executives from around the world."

BEN: Breakable Experimental Network Simulation on a Multi-touch Wall (RENCI)

BEN, or Breakable Experiemental Network, is a mix of network visualization and multi-touch technology on a very large screen. The project aims to provide better network monitoring and management tools in a user-friendly, intuitive and efficient manner. It is also looks like great tool for learning about network engineering.

Hands-on networking!

BEN is part of the GENI project.

The music in the video is by Crystal Castles and Black Moth Super Rainbow.

Cross-posted: The World Is My Interface

Microsoft's Future Productivity Vision Video: Original Version, Parody Version (Sarcastic Gamer)

Take a look at these videos on The World Is My Interface blog:

Microsoft's Future Interface Visions, Original Version, Parody Version

10/GUI: Another Twist to Multi-touch Interface and Interaction

10/GUI from C. Miller on Vimeo.

I came across a link to this video via Experientia's Putting People First blog post about MG Siegler's TechCrunch post, 10/GUI: One Very Slick Desktop Multi-Touch Concept (Video).  This video was created by R. Clayton Miller, and the video above is a concept video, food for further thought and discussion.

I've written about the need for more appropriate form factors in the past, and the idea that Miller proposes is quite intriguing, since I've toyed with the idea of using something like a flexible mouse pad as an adaptive interface for students who have problems with fine-motor control, limiting their ability to use a mouse, keyboard, or even some of the adaptive switches that are available.

(It is interesting to note that Siegler's blog post was written on 10/13/09, and as I write this post on 10/15/09, it has 92 comments and 460 tweets. My guess this is a hot topic, especially now that HP has released new versions of the all-in-one HP TouchSmart PC).

Siegler discusses Michael Arrington's 10/12/09 post, Why Desktop Touch Screens Don't Really Work Well For Humans. Arrington's post discusses the reasons why he's not happy with the TouchSmart, because the desktop on which most people use it requires them to keep their hands up on the screen, above the heart, which can be fatiguing.

I have an HP TouchSmart, and I switch back and forth, depending on what I'm doing.  I didn't think of this before, but I have a very adjustable chair that I raise up when I use my hands on the touch screen. Without thinking, I've made the appropriate adjustment.  Not everyone has the luxury of a fancy adjustable deskchair!

From what I can tell, Miller is focused on how multi-touch technology can support the work or pleasure of just one person, which is still how many people interact with their computers.  What is needed is more thought about ways this technology could support two or more people working together.  My HP TouchSmart works well with two people, even when when running single-touch programs. But it is better when it runs duo-touch enabled programs!

Interactive Motion Graphics Showreel from Filmview Services - great content!

Here is a showreel from Filmview Services that simulates how tech-usability in an interactive gesture/touch world should be!



Here is a quote from the Filmview Services blog:


What Are Screen Graphics?

"...So it works out more cost effective for the films to actually have someone put the graphics on the screens for real. It also greatly enhances the performance of the actors. You only have to watch any of the Star Wars Eps 1-3 to see how wooden acting is when you don’t actually know what is in front of you. Actors love to be able push buttons and bang touch screens during their scenes. Having to actually do it in a certain order can stretch their capabilities mind you, and I am pretty gob smacked at how absolutely computer illiterate some of them are. Don’t they use email?


Anyway, due to this diminished ability to hit and bang things in any certain order, it is our job to make it impossible to mess things up. That’s why they are all genius typers. We make it so they can type any old thing and the letters still come out the way they are meant to each time. We also put little locking codes into our programming so they can’t accidentally escape the graphic mid job. It’s amazing how many of them can type the Esc button when they are meant to be spelling LOGIN."

Thanks, Tim!

SOMEWHAT RELATED
Coincidentally,  when I was visiting the NUI-Group forums this morning, I came across a link to Jakob Nielsen's "Usability in the Movies -- Top 10 Bloopers", which are worth taking a look at. I've posted the list, but you'll need to go to Nielson's web page to read the descriptions. You'll smile.

1. The Hero Can Immediately Use Any UI
2. Time Travelers Can Use Current Designs
3. The 3D UI
4. Integration is Easy, Data Interoperates
5. Access Denied/Access Granted
6. Big Fonts
7. Star Trek's Talking Computer
8. Remote Manipulators (Waldo Controls)
9. You've Got Mail is Always Good News
10."This is Unix, It's Easy"

Near Interaction Multi-touch Tables and Displays: London College of Fashion & More

Near Interaction is a company based in Lisbon, Portugal, and London, England. They are a team of interaction and media designers, focsuing on interactive physical and digital installations. Here is a sample of their work:
























Information about the Fashion Graduate Exhibition 2009 from NearInteraction's Vimeo site:
"The London College of Fashion Graduate Exhibition 2009 displays six multi-touch tables with integrated object recognition to unveil the 570 student portfolios. From a wide choice displayed on the three walls, visitors can make a selection of their preferred cards. Activating once a card is placed on the tables, visitors can move, zoom and rotate by touching the surface of the table a variety of portfolio images representing the chosen student...London College of Fashion Graduate Exhibition 2009 was designed and produced by NearInteraction in association with Paul Albert and John Nussey."

London College of Fashion Graduate Exhibition 2009

NearInteraction at the London College of Fashion Graduate Exhibition 2009 from nearinteraction on Vimeo.


Tangible Multi-touch Connectivity

Tangible Multi-touch Connectivity from nearinteraction on Vimeo.

"As part of Future Labs - Visual Experiences of the Future at FPC, Tangible Multi-touch Connectivity explores the multi-touch gestural concepts of touch to activate, pinch to enlarge and scroll to select within a multi-user environment, combined with the interaction concepts of user-identity, networks, and behavioural lifespan through a metaphorical game."

NearInteraction Playtecture: Physical + Digital + Kids + Play

NearInteraction at Habitar Portugal | Playtecture from nearinteraction on Vimeo.

Interesting, evolving work!

Dan Pink's Ted Talk "Surprising Science of Motivation"

Dan Pink is the author of A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule The Future". He also is the author of DRiVE: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us".

In this talk, Dan Pink talks about research in the behavioral/social sciences that has been ignored by the business world. There is a mismatch between what science knows and what business actually does. Carrots and sticks are so 20th Century! 






What really matters is the right-brain, creative, conceptual kinds of abilities, according to Pink. We are all dealing with the "candle problem". Old ways just won't, and don't work. What worries Pink, is that too mahny organizations are making decisions based on outdated, unexamined assumptions. The solution is not to do more of the wrong things, but to encourage autonomy, mastery, and purpose (in the service of something bigger than ourselves.) Do we want compliance, or engagement?

Power to the Pixel's Live Webcast at the Cross-Media Film Forum at the Times London Film Festival

Wednesday
October 14, 2009

This morning I'm watching an interesting conference, webcast live from the Cross-Media Film Forum, at the Times BFI London Film Festival. 

You can link to the live webcast via the Power to the Pixel website.  Although this conference focuses on films and film-related artists,  many of the principles discusses relate to artists, musicians, dancers, and anyone else who looks at the world from a creative perspective.

For your convenience, here is the program schedule-  remember, this is taking place in London, so as I'm writing this, it is 9:53 AM  Eastern,  and I'm watching Hunter Week's presentation.

You might also want to look at the recommended readings for this conference.

CONFERENCE at NFT1, BFI Southbank
08.45 – 09.30
REGISTRATION, TEA & COFFEE
09.30 – 09.45
WELCOME & INTRODUCTION
LIZ ROSENTHAL, Director, Power to the Pixel
09:45 – 10:30 KEYNOTE PRESENTATION
TAKE BACK WHAT HAS ALWAYS BEEN YOURS – OWNING THE FIVE PILLARS OF STORYTELLING
The first 100 years of cinema were defined by the limits and gates imposed on artists by the commercial apparatus.  We can now expand both our creative endeavours and our narratives beyond just content and the production process and embrace discovery, promotion and presentation.  Audiences’ conflicting desires to be directed to, and to participate with, couldn’t be satisfied as the business made it a one way exchange.  Now the walls are collapsing but artists had better leap in quick if they don’t want to surrender the turf.
TED HOPE, Award-winning Producer, This is that corporation
10:30 – 11:00
WHAT DID THEY DO? LESSONS LEARNED IN CROSS-MEDIA
Despite the fact that cross-media is still emerging, there have been a number of experiments, successes and failures over the past few years. In this talk, Christy Dena will share some lessons learned from cross-media projects in film, television, gaming and marketing in a way that will help guide your project. While there is so much yet to explore, and the area will certainly continue to evolve, you can lean on the ground-breaking efforts of those who have ventured before you.
CHRISTY DENA, Director, Universe Creation 101
11:00 – 11:15
BREAK
11:15 – 12:15
RELEASING FILMS ACROSS PLATFORMS: THE NEW DISTRIBUTORS
Presentations and roundtable discussion
As audiences discover and engage with films across a rapidly expanding array of platforms and devices, release strategies for independent film are evolving.  Looking at a variety of innovative case studies including Rage and April Showers, speakers will demonstrate a variety of models and lessons learned from making films available across multiple platforms, ‘sites and devices to simultaneous release strategies, special events and digital word-of-mouth campaigns.
Moderator: MICHAEL GUBBINS, Media & Film Consultant and Journalist
SCILLA ANDREEN, Founder & CEO, IndieFlix
EFE CAKAREL, Founder & CEO, The Auteurs
KAROL MARTESKO-FENSTER, General Manager & Publisher, Film Division Babelgum
12:15 – 12:45
HOW TO BE ‘BETTER THAN FREE’
The Internet is a super-distribution machine that allows copies of digital media to flow in an almost frictionless way. As the wealth and survival of traditional media businesses are built on selling precious copies, the free flow of free copies is undermining the established order. If reproductions of media are free, how can we keep on financing films and how can we find value in the media we create and sell?
BRIAN NEWMAN, Consultant and Former President, Tribeca Film Institute
12:45 – 13:45
LUNCH BREAK

13:45 – 14:10
DISTRIBUTION CASE STUDY: THE AGE OF STUPID – A GLOBAL RELEASE CAMPAIGN
The Age of Stupid team reveal how they created a global phenomenon around their film and campaign about climate change. With a mission to engage with 250 million viewers and no marketing budget, the team set out to use an array of digital tools to fund their film and spread the word. Hear the latest from their September release beamed to over 45 countries and 600 screens and their revolutionary new distribution tool, Indie Screenings.
FRANNY ARMSTRONG, Filmmaker
LIZZIE GILLETT, Producer
14:10 – 14:35
A ‘FREE’ DISTRIBUTION CASE STUDY: SITA SINGS THE BLUES
If it’s free, how do you make money? Seven months after the Copyleft release of her animated musical feature Sita Sings the Blues, Nina Paley presents the second round of hard data from the project. The more the audience freely shares the film, the more they purchase DVDs, theatre admissions and merchandise. See the ££ numbers that prove it.
NINA PALEY, Filmmaker
14:35 – 15:00
BRANDS AND PARTNERSHIPS: RAISING MONEY AND INCREASING REACH
Hunter Weeks, director and producer of three American independent feature films, 10 Mph, 10 Yards and Ride the Divide, will present an overview of how he has incorporated significant American brands and partners into all aspects of making films – from pre-production to distribution. He’ll also explore how brands and partners can give a significant boost to your digital and cross-media objectives utilising their platforms, channels and huge built-in audiences.
HUNTER WEEKS, Filmmaker

15:00 – 15:30
THE EVOLUTION OF STORYTELLING
Technology is impacting the art and craft of storytelling. As the industry shifts and audiences move from passive to active collaborators, how does the art of storytelling change? How does one develop stories and characters that can travel across screens and devices? What will emerge as new formats and how will they be funded and distributed? Lance Weiler, director of The Last Broadcast and Head Trauma, details the story architecture that he employs to build story worlds around his film, TV and gaming projects.
LANCE WEILER, Filmmaker and Story Architect
15:30 – 15:40
BREAK
15:40 – 16:40
EXTENDING THE EXPERIENCE: THE NEW STORYTELLERS
Presentations and roundtable discussion
What kind of experience does today’s film audience want and what can be done with existing technologies?

Interactive tools, emails, text and voicemail, mobile apps and geo-locational services can connect an audience to characters.  Live events and alternate reality games can bring the audience into the world of a film and extend the storytelling experience.  The more filmmakers can extend their vision into the world of the audience, the more rooted the audience becomes in the experience of the film.
But how do you know how much to give them?  Mystery will bring people into your world, but for your cross-media audience, there is an implicit promise of a clear correlation between how much that audience gives – of their time, of their own interactions and emails and phone calls, their trips to places where they are promised live experiences – and how much they get back.  You must dazzle them with innovate storytelling techniques but you also need to reward them with meaningful emotional content and layers of reveal.
Leading story architects of some of the world’s most successful extended story experiences – The Dark Knight, The Truth About Marika and Xi – demonstrate how to bring a fictional world into the lives of the audience.
Moderator: CHRISTY DENA, Director, Universe Creation 101
MARTIN ELRICSSON, Producer & Creative Director, The company P
STEVE PETERS, Experience Designer & Partner, No Mimes Media
DAVID VARELA, Producer, nDreams
16:40 – 17:15
CROSS-MEDIA BUSINESS MODELS: FINANCING BEYOND THE BIG SCREEN
Is cross-media storytelling the future of the film business?

Extending stories across multiple platforms not only helps build an engaged fan base but also extends the potential of new revenue generating possibilities. As traditional financing dries up, how can producers leverage new types of cross-media partners to expand the value of their properties?
Leading cross-media producers and digital innovators, Peter Cowley and Ben Grass explain how, with up-to-the-minute case studies of brand new projects Shadowline and Circle of 8.
PETER COWLEY, Managing Director of Digital Media, Endemol UK
BEN GRASS, Managing Director, Pure Grass Films
17.15 – 17.45
AUDIENCE TAKES CONTROL
An opportunity for the audience to ask questions to the speakers.
Moderator: LIZ ROSENTHAL, Director, Power to the Pixel
PETER COWLEY, Managing Director of Digital Media, Endemol UK
BEN GRASS, Managing Director, Pure Grass Films
TED HOPE, Award-winning Producer, This is that corporation
KAROL MARTESKO-FENSTER, General Manager & Publisher, Film Division Babelgum
LANCE WEILER, Filmmaker, Story Architect and Digital Innovator
17.45 – 17:50
CLOSING REMARKS

18.00 – 21.00
POWER TO THE PIXEL DRINKS PARTY and THE LAUNCH OF BREATHE at The Movieum
Conference ticket includes morning tea and coffee, networking drinks reception and the launch of Breathe. You may still purchase tickets by cash or check, on a first-come first-serve basis, the morning of the Conference at the BFI Southbank.
There will be free wifi in NFT1, so bring your laptop!  Password: nftp2p2009

Udate FYI

Tim, the guy who commented on this post, has an interesting website:  Filmview Services.

Accenture's Interactive Wall for the Louvre Exhibit at the High Museum

I just came across Lauren Hayne's blog about her experience developing the Accenture Interactive Wall for the Louvre exhibit at the High Museum in Atlanta during the first part of 2009.  Lauren is an analyst at Accenture.

FYI

Louvre Atlanta uses Accenture's Interactive Technology to Explore Changing Nature of Masterpieces

Interactive Wall Technology: Seeing the Big Picture

Louvre Atlanta Case Study(pdf)

Interactive Technology Fact Sheet (pdf)

MORE GEAR: Video demo of the 20-inch HP TouchSmart 300 and the 23-inch TouchSmart 600; Also, the HP LD 4200 42-Inch High Def Digital Touch Display

Looking for something techy, yet touchable?  More multi-touch screens will be on the market soon from HP.


Video of the HP TouchSmart PC 300 and 600


Information from the HP YouTube website:


Two new HP TouchSmart PCs packed with exclusive touch applications, the HP TouchSmart 300 and HP TouchSmart 600, feature stunning HD displays with a multitouch enabled screen. Consumers can now stream Netflix movies, watch TV programs, listen to music and internet radio, create photo collages and bring out their inner chef all by simply touching the PC screen. The new consumer PCs feature exclusive built-for-touch applications including: Hulu Desktop, Netflix, Twitter, the HP Music Store powered by Rhapsody, Pandora Internet radio the TouchSmart Recipe Box, and Canvas. The 16:9 widescreen tiles make multimedia, social media and other applications a rich and engaging touch experience. Some models of the HP TouchSmart 600 easily connect to gaming consoles, including Xbox, PlayStation and Wii, via HDMI or composite video ports. The HP TouchSmart 300 starts at $899 and is offered in a 20-inch diagonal widescreen (available Nov. 1). The HP TouchSmart 600 starts at $1,049 and is offered in a 23-inch diagonal widescreen (available Oct. 22).

I like the new features, especially the tilt webcam, the swivel that lets you swivel the screen around as needed,  and the recipe box application.    The a digital recipe box "scrapes" recipes from on-line websites, and allows you to listen to the recipe through a blue-tooth earphone.  The recibe box applications will talk to you as you prepare a meal, hands-free!



For businesses that are looking for high-definition interactive kiosks, 43-inch HP LD4200, diagonal digital signage touch display might be a great solution:

 "Aimed specifically at the digital signage market, with HP noting is suitability for kiosks, retail, point of sale, shopping malls, travel terminals, hotel lobbies, recreational venues, universities, stock exchanges and hospitals, the new 42” HP LD4200tm multitouch LCD display offers Full HD (1080p) resolution and, thanks to utilising infrared and imaging sensors, will happily acknowledge touch commands such as zoom pinching and drag scrolling thus bringing true interactivity to information and advertising visualisations...On top of its mulittouch capabilities the HP LD4200tm boasts ultra-wide 178 x 178 degree viewing angles and is set to ship from December with a price tag of just shy of $2,800" - Andrew Tingle, TFTS

Note:  NextWindow is the creator of the touchscreens.

GEAR: Sony VAIO® L Touch HD PC/TV/DVR has a multi-touch screen by NextWindow, works with Windows 7

When I bought my HP TouchSmart PC last year, there were very few options. I don't really need a new computer, but I've been tempted, since Windows 7 allows for multi-touch interaction, and I have plenty of unfinished single-touch projects that would be great for multi-touch!

My HPTouchSmart has a touch-screen made by NextWindow.  It supports duo-touch, but not multi-touch. The new all-in-one from Sony sports multi-touch screen from NextWindow.

Sony's new VAIO® L Touch PC/TV/DVR all-in-one, from the SlashGear website:

 

"With the VAIO L Series’ multi-touch screen easy access to your PC, HDTV, DVR— your entire entertainment hub— is readily at your fingertips. Equipped with a 24-inch (diagonal) WUXGA (1920×1080) widescreen panel, the unit displays high-definition content in Full HD resolution.
Select models feature a Blu-ray Disc™ optical drive so you can enjoy high-definition movies. A rewritable BD drive for recording, storing and playing back personal content on high-capacity BD media is also available." 

An optional HDMI input is available, as well as up to a terabyte of storage.

You can pre-order the VAIO online at Sony Style.

News Release
Another Leading PC Maker Ships Desktop PC with NextWindow Touch Screens: Sony is the latest PC maker to choose Windows 7 certified NextWindow touch screens




(I'd love to have an assortment of new multi-touch all-in-one PC's and notebooks to test out. Loan me the gear, and I'll review it.)

The World as a Networked Interface: GENI

If you are curious, read about GENI and FIND on The World Is My Interface.

Multi-Touch Stereotronic Multi-Synth Orchestra on a Table (Fashionbuddha)

Stereotronic Multi-Synth Orchestra from fashionbuddha on Vimeo.

Here is the info from the YouTube version:
"Fashionbuddha's submission into Microsoft's Surface developer challenge. Robert Lewis did the design and I ported it over to C# from an application we developed with Zach Archer of Z Industries. This new one is not only built on the XNA framework, but it also reads TUIO data from OSC -encoded XML packets over UDP. This means it can work with either Surface or DIY tables without any configuration...I'm using DirectSound for the synthesis. Not shown in this video is the pitch control, which truly warps everything out nicely. :D"

Slideshow


They didn't have this sort of thing when I took computer music technology back in 2003!


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