"Update: Yes, we saw the keynote too! We have some very, very exciting updates coming soon- stay tuned!"
On screen virtual keyboard, pinching, zooming desktops, realtime interaction with 3D objects.
What makes you think this isn't coming to Macs this year?
I've watched the video demos for this and browsed the work behind it. Based on that, I believe the technology behind it as it is today, won't work outside of a darkened room and requires the light being projected onto the display to come from behind at specific angles not easily possible with current LCD technology. It works based on light coming from behind the display being reflected/refracted off your fingers at specific angles to sensors on the outer edges of the "glass" (not sure if it's actually glass). Note how all the demos of this are done in darkened rooms. I suspect ambient light entering the front of this would totally screw it up. The image is projected, so it knows the point source and angle of the light going to specific pixels. I could be wrong, but I believe the backlighting of an LCD is more ambient/undirected light, so it'd be much more difficult to compute the source of reflected/refracted light. So, unless you want Apple to start selling you displays that only work in dark rooms and are 3+ feet deep, I don't think this is yet ready for prime time.
Now, it's entirely possible that Apple has some other multi-touch hardware that'll do the trick, but I doubt it's what you're seeing in that video. There are also ways of compensating for the issues I mentioned, so who knows.
I believe this is the type of tech used in the iPhone. One of the advantages that the above page does not mention about capitative tech is that it can do hover. Not sure how well developed synaptics tech is in this regard, but it's a possibility. Course, someone could find out for sure by checking those patents from a while back...
I've watched the video demos for this and browsed the work behind it. Based on that, I believe the technology behind it as it is today, won't work outside of a darkened room and requires the light being projected onto the display to come from behind at specific angles not easily possible with current LCD technology. It works based on light coming from behind the display being reflected/refracted off your fingers at specific angles to sensors on the outer edges of the "glass" (not sure if it's actually glass). Note how all the demos of this are done in darkened rooms. I suspect ambient light entering the front of this would totally screw it up. The image is projected, so it knows the point source and angle of the light going to specific pixels. I could be wrong, but I believe the backlighting of an LCD is more ambient/undirected light, so it'd be much more difficult to compute the source of reflected/refracted light. So, unless you want Apple to start selling you displays that only work in dark rooms and are 3+ feet deep, I don't think this is yet ready for prime time.
I believe the reason they use a projector is they detect finger positions with a camera on the display from behind. IR LEDs aligned on the edges light up your fingerpress when you touch the display because you change the refractive index at the surface of the touch screen. Dry skin seems not to change the refractive index as much and detection is harder. Folks have built their own with LEDs and webcams. Its dark because picking up the camera picking finger presses would be overwhelmed in large amounts of ambient light.
I've seen a similar system that tracks the position of multiple laser pointers on a large rear projection screen for collaboration (pointers are replicated at remote sites to show what folks are pointing at).
I think this is getting ridiculous. I think one of you thinks when SJ mentions projector in his presentation he was talking about the iPhone, and he was talking about the presentation projector. I have no doubt that Apple did not bring that to the table with out testing it in the sunlight, and not to mention he had an actual one on his belt and he has been using it. It's obvious that AT&T / Cingular has had a bunch of them going for quite some time for testing. iPhone is ready for prime time now. No doubt about it.
Or are you guy's talking about that unofficial Apple tablet that this thread is supposed to be about?
Comments
http://cs.nyu.edu/~jhan/ftirtouch/
(Watch the Quicktime movie on right)
"Update: Yes, we saw the keynote too! We have some very, very exciting updates coming soon- stay tuned!"
On screen virtual keyboard, pinching, zooming desktops, realtime interaction with 3D objects.
What makes you think this isn't coming to Macs this year?
I've watched the video demos for this and browsed the work behind it. Based on that, I believe the technology behind it as it is today, won't work outside of a darkened room and requires the light being projected onto the display to come from behind at specific angles not easily possible with current LCD technology. It works based on light coming from behind the display being reflected/refracted off your fingers at specific angles to sensors on the outer edges of the "glass" (not sure if it's actually glass). Note how all the demos of this are done in darkened rooms. I suspect ambient light entering the front of this would totally screw it up. The image is projected, so it knows the point source and angle of the light going to specific pixels. I could be wrong, but I believe the backlighting of an LCD is more ambient/undirected light, so it'd be much more difficult to compute the source of reflected/refracted light. So, unless you want Apple to start selling you displays that only work in dark rooms and are 3+ feet deep, I don't think this is yet ready for prime time.
Now, it's entirely possible that Apple has some other multi-touch hardware that'll do the trick, but I doubt it's what you're seeing in that video. There are also ways of compensating for the issues I mentioned, so who knows.
I believe this is the type of tech used in the iPhone. One of the advantages that the above page does not mention about capitative tech is that it can do hover. Not sure how well developed synaptics tech is in this regard, but it's a possibility. Course, someone could find out for sure by checking those patents from a while back...
I've watched the video demos for this and browsed the work behind it. Based on that, I believe the technology behind it as it is today, won't work outside of a darkened room and requires the light being projected onto the display to come from behind at specific angles not easily possible with current LCD technology. It works based on light coming from behind the display being reflected/refracted off your fingers at specific angles to sensors on the outer edges of the "glass" (not sure if it's actually glass). Note how all the demos of this are done in darkened rooms. I suspect ambient light entering the front of this would totally screw it up. The image is projected, so it knows the point source and angle of the light going to specific pixels. I could be wrong, but I believe the backlighting of an LCD is more ambient/undirected light, so it'd be much more difficult to compute the source of reflected/refracted light. So, unless you want Apple to start selling you displays that only work in dark rooms and are 3+ feet deep, I don't think this is yet ready for prime time.
I believe the reason they use a projector is they detect finger positions with a camera on the display from behind. IR LEDs aligned on the edges light up your fingerpress when you touch the display because you change the refractive index at the surface of the touch screen. Dry skin seems not to change the refractive index as much and detection is harder. Folks have built their own with LEDs and webcams. Its dark because picking up the camera picking finger presses would be overwhelmed in large amounts of ambient light.
I've seen a similar system that tracks the position of multiple laser pointers on a large rear projection screen for collaboration (pointers are replicated at remote sites to show what folks are pointing at).
Vinea
Or are you guy's talking about that unofficial Apple tablet that this thread is supposed to be about?