While reading Michael Arrington’s essay Why Desktop Touch Screens Don’t Really Work Well For Humans I came across this video, which I thought was pretty cool.
Hopefully this whets your appetite for whatever comes out of Apple tomorrow. Should be an interesting day for WordPress.com as well: whenever Apple does a major announcement we blow past all our previous traffic records. The current one-day record is 63.5 million pageviews.
Yeah, interesting video.
I’m hoping that the rear of the tablet, the back of the case, will be touch sensitive and we’ll be able, therefore, to type while holding it with both hands.
Whatever happens, I’m looking forward to the tablet-optimized version of the WordPress app 🙂
Very awesome!
Pretty sweet… I think it will take several smaller transitions, like the Magic Mouse, to get to that level of abstraction today’s current standards.
Donnacha, I’m pretty confident that a back-touch interface for scrolling/zooming, and maybe even entering text, is what Apple’s got up its sleeve with the new tablet. We’ll see!
This is amazing. I think this approach to the gui has a really good future. Even if con10uum doesn’t do it or they fail, the ideas seem viable enough to grow. Reminds me of Minority Report.
And @donnacha, that would be so perfect, but probably too forward thinking for today.
I think this bodes well for the future of WordPress. Imagine a gorgeous WP theme for the iSlate as the connection between digital publishers and their tablet reading audience. Very exciting!
Do you have some high trafficked Apple-related blog or it is globally on many blogs?
Sure: Technologizer, GigaOM, Gizmodo live blog, CNN…
Love it Matt, thanks. It’s a pretty slick concept but I’m surprised there’s not a global command to make the 10gui a keyboard where you see the keys show up semi-transparent on the screen. I’m sure it’s in the works.
I’m still waiting for a global keyboard that you wear like a glove (eventually leading to embedded sensors in your fingertips). The keystrokes would be created based on where your thumb touches your finger. Two thumbs, 8 fingers, at least 4 comfortable points to touch on each finger – should work.
I got that idea while sitting at a bar with Monte Pittman a few years ago – while he’s listening to music, his fingers are always moving like he’s playing the guitar.
Apple iPad
Awesome, though as for th iPad, I have to say I’m pretty disappointed–I was hoping for an OS X based machine. Looking forward to the courier release. I’m really trying to get into Apple, but the iPad is way too limiting. Will probably just get a MBP sometime in addition to my PC…and hopefully courier uses the tech in the video so I’ll probably get one of those too.
We broke our traffic record: 68,800,060
Having several desktops is much more convenient. For example one can arrange executed processes for every desktop by theme: graphics for one, text for another, etc and move between them by mouse gesture or keyboard, or even that multi-touch thing.
I’m not sure if this is anything new. It’s pretty and it’s slick and it’s something we have seen before polished until it has an almost vicious sheen on it. Ultimately it’s a lot of expense to replace a practical and cheap input device. I wonder how the multi touch would work for serious cad, photo shop or gaming situations ?
i think it’s expense that holds us to the traditional mouse, not practicality.
I’d seen a video of theirs before (somehow I think they’ve added more since then?) and I think it’d be awesome, even in AutoCad and Photoshop… or it should also be simple to reduce the input for individual applications. I would love to see this as a wireless keyboard mat that could rest on my lap 🙂
That really was quite interesting.
This is much more hype-worthy than the iPad. Well, if it existed.
Love this video, too bad iPad never came out like this. Posting this to my blog now. Btw, I am going to be launching a Twitter app site soon, you will LOVE IT! I will ping you when it’s launched. Take care buddy.
A very nice presentation.
I’m excited to see efforts to move beyond the keyboard/mouse interface, which, if you remember, has been with us since 1968.
Welcome, too, would be an alternative to the mess of faux 3D windows–a relic from the early 80’s.
Good riddance to them both!
I feel like the video is from 2001 or something.
It’s talking about the desktop as if one big garbage dump without a taskbar, alt+tab or shift+tab, or a mouse with only one button and no mouse wheel.
Besides I’m wondering how big the touchpad needs to be for a bit of precision on a 1920×1080 res display (not to mention anything higher). That’s gonna be a lot of finger movement. Speed-wise a hand/finger can’t beat my mouse.
The ideas are interesting but need some rethinking imo. Maybe drop the physical keyboard and go with touchpad + mouse.
During the video it talked about innovations in handling windows and showed the little thing that pops up when you click alt
+tab but it explained this is still inefficient.
I agree with you that a touchpad that fits both hands and has that much precision will be large. Not to mention every time you wanna type it would get awkward.
It definitely needs work but it is interesting where the ideas are going and i hope to see more.
What i do not want to see more of is the Apple iPad. Too much Hype and way too little. It is a large iPod touch. That is it.
So I’m left thinking, a mouse is too limiting and 10gui is too revolutionary to do away with the mouse. Has nobody considered using 2 mouse on the same computer?
2 Mouses could work but it would be awkward. As a mouse would have 1 on the left and one on the right…plus a keyboard that’s a lot of space, especially on a laptop.
More logically, tink about how few mice are left handed.
Then think, how many people have the manual dexterity to succesfully use two mice. Ambidexterity is only half of it.
I know, why don’t we use a mouse with more than one button and a keyboard ?
Somehow I dont see 2 mice working with only 2 hands. Unless your incredibly endowed ? Then maybe you could use a mouse and a Mac mouse (One Button)
Ian makes a good point. There’s a reason artists use pencils and paintbrushes instead of fingerpainting everything: the wrist and arm offer stabilization and finer motor control than the finger on its own.
Gaming wouldn’t suffer as much. Like the Wii, this type of interface could cause a paradigm shift and usher in a new era of games that are designed from the ground up to be controlled with fingers.
A small point no one has mentioned yet: what of accessibility? Not everyone has ten fingers, or full use of them.
most possibly that all windows (actual glass windows) in the world be somehow connected to Internet in future and people will be able to use internet wherever possible using fingers like Timbaland in Ayo Technology..