Computer Human Interface

The AlphaGrip: a viable alternative to the QWERTY keyboard or not?

By Mike Hanlon

17:54 July 19, 2009 PDT

Answers often lie in strange places. I have long hated the QWERTY keyboard. Designed more than 150 years ago to slow human input via the frail mechanicals of the typewriter, it is a dinosaur masquerading as high tech and has become the main input device for billions of computers across the planet, strangling global productivity a little more every day because it is also impeding the progress of the computer from the desk to the couch, the train and the footpath. So when I called into beautiful Tapong to see my mate Kiril's new guesthouse on the beach in rural Thailand, the last thing I expected to find was a viable keyboard replacement. Read More

iPoint system promises touchless gesture control of 3D displays

By Darren Quick

22:29 February 23, 2009 PST

For all the advances in computing and display technology over the years it’s a little disappointing that the main way we interact with them is still largely keyboard and mouse based, or for gaming consoles, controller based. The Wii’s motion controller has shown that the traditional ways of interaction serve as a barrier to many people and that new ways of interaction offer up a whole new range of possibilities. We also know that there are people hard at work on delivering whiz-bang new Minority Report style glove-controlled interfaces, but iPoint 3D goes a step further – the system allows people to communicate with a 3D display through simple hand gestures – without touching it and without 3D glasses or a data glove. Read More

Novint's Falcon 3D controller

By Mike Hanlon

21:00 January 7, 2009 PST

We all know the keyboard and mouse are NOT the future of the Computer Human Interface (CHI), and it’s high time we found a replacement capable of generating critical mass. One device with the potential to play a role in the next generation interface is the Novint Falcon. Aptly named because of its predatory view of the mouse, we wrote the Falcon up when it was first announced in 2005, then released in 2007, and this week Dave Weinstein and Noel McKeegan sat down with Tom Anderson, Novint's CEO to discuss the future of the Computer Human Interface. Read More

TrueTouch touchscreen solution

By Kyle Sherer

18:23 June 24, 2008 PDT

Cypress Semiconductor Corp. has launched the TrueTouch touchscreen, a single-chip model that can interpret up to 10 inputs from all areas of the screen simultaneously. The “multi-touch all point” feature could be used for inputting multiple locations into a GPS, gaming, keyboard implementations, or the efficient adjustment of sound and video settings. Read More

Understanding thought: new computational modeling sheds light on how the brain works

By Kyle Sherer

21:21 June 9, 2008 PDT

Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a computational model that can predict the unique brain activation patterns associated with concrete nouns with a mean accuracy of 77 percent. Read More

Consumer version of Microsoft Surface PC flagged

By Noel McKeegan

22:36 February 26, 2008 PST

February 27, 2008 Announced last year in a commercial format for use in public spaces, Microsoft's Surface computing technology could soon be available in a consumer version according to a report from InformationWeek. Read More

The first commercial Brain Computer Interface

By Mike Hanlon

17:30 February 21, 2008 PST

The Computer-Human Interface has a new heavyweight contender technology - brain computer interface technology pioneer Emotiv Systems will have its EPOC neuroheadset to market before Christmas 2008. The lightweight US$300 EPOC is worn on the head but does not restrict movement in any way as it is wireless. The set detects conscious thoughts, expressions and non-conscious emotions based on electrical signals around the brain. It opens up a plethora of new applications which can be controlled with our thoughts, expressions and emotions, including for example, the prospect of live animation using the unit’s facial recognition sensors to mimic a gameplayer's facial expressions in an animated avatar. Read More

Pulse Smartpen: merging the mobile computer with the humble pen

By Noel McKeegan

00:06 January 31, 2008 PST

Efforts to combine the sheer convenience of the pen as an input device with the benefits of digital technology continue to evolve with Livescribe's launch of the Pulse Smartpen. Based on licensed technology from pioneering digital pen developer Anoto, the Pulse not only digitally captures handwriting, but simultaneously records and synchronizes audio. The system promises incredible benefits for students, professionals or anyone in a note taking situation... and that's just the beginning. Everything you hear, speak or write is captured by the Pulse and by tapping the pen on the paper, the system will replay audio coinciding with the moment those notes were taken. Read More

Next-gen acoustic modeling: developing the keyboards of the future

By Loz Blain

22:02 December 19, 2007 PST

December 20, 2007 It's fair to say the computer keyboard has done a pretty sensational job over the last 20+ years as the primary input device we've been using – but that doesn't mean nobody's searching for the next big thing. Voice recognition and speech-to-text software is developing to the point where it's now a genuine option – and a group of European scientists are working on some very interesting technology that uses acoustic wave reading to turn ANY surface into a primary input device that can read handwriting or be used in any number of different and configurable ways. The technology can take a wall, table, or floor and turn it into a musical instrument, a touchpad, a keyboard or a tablet-style interface. And it's even being trialled on three-dimensional objects. Read More

Surface computing meets home automation: ROSIE Coffee table touch-panel

By Emily Clark

23:42 September 4, 2007 PDT

September 5, 2007 Surface computing is moving full steam ahead and this latest release from Savant is another reminder that even the wireless mouse is becoming an outmoded piece of technology. The ROSIE Coffee Table Touchpanel Controller offers an easily accessible interface for home automation coupled with interactive multimedia capabilities, connecting to iTunes, digital cameras, IP network cameras, business card readers and various high-tech devices around the home. Read More

The Falcon Game Controller - with realistic force feedback

By Mike Hanlon

UPDATED IMAGES June 30, 2007 We all know the keyboard and mouse are NOT the future of the computer human interface, and to be frank, we’re getting a bit sick of waiting for a replacement capable of generating critical mass. One device with the potential to play a role in the next generation interface, at least in the area of computer games, began shipping this month. Novint Technologies’ highly anticipated, award-winning Novint Falcon game controller is now available in a special Limited Edition bundle. The Falcon is an entirely new type of 3D game interface that makes virtual objects and environments feel real. Replacing a computer mouse or joystick, the US$190 Falcon is, essentially a small robot that lets you feel shape, weight, texture, dimension, dynamics, 3D motion, and force effects when playing enabled games. Read More

Neural input device hints at gaming revolution

By Noel McKeegan

June 6, 2007 It is perhaps the most sought after technological goal in the digital age, an interface that will allow you to throw away the humble keyboard and mouse and take control of your computer by simply thinking. The latest foray into this rapidly evolving field is the Neural Impulse Actuator, a gaming interface prototype unveiled at Computex 2007 that reads brain signals instead of keyboard strokes to provide a hands-free computer control. Read More

Video sunnies are on their way: MED's miniature eye-screens are now ready for mass-production

By Loz Blain

June 4, 2007 We've long been excited by the possibilities offered by wearable micro-screens. The ability to mount a miniature display in a set of glasses opens up a whole new portable video experience where any seat on the bus can be a personal movie theatre and you'll be able to enjoy your video in complete privacy. Now, with the anouncement of a volume manufacturing facility in Dresden, Germany, MicroEmissive Displays (MED) is ready to step beyond the prototype and bring commercial microscreens into the mass market. They'll start things off with mass production of the eyescreen ME3204, a 320 x 240 RGB display packed into a 6mm pixel array. It's tiny, bright and clear, with ultra-low power consumption, and the wearer sees the equivalent of a 30" screen at a 2 metre distance. Read More

The 3D air-mouse you wear as a ring

By Loz Blain

May 21, 2007 The computer mouse and flat "desktop" themed operating systems have hardly evolved since their inception. But the recent creation of a genuine, working 3D mouse system that you wear as a ring on one finger could open the door to a new model of GUI display that lets the user explore an interface in intuitive 3D. Could we be moving towards a revolution in interface interactivity? Straight out of "Minority Report," meet the MagicMouse! Read More

The first commercially available Brain Computer Interface

By Mike Hanlon

The evolution of the Computer Human interface may seem to be rooted in the infernal keyboard and its recent travelling companion, the mouse, but much work is being done in the areas of virtual worlds, voice recognition, handwriting recognition and gesture recognition to give us a new paradigm of computing. It now appears we are on the edge of another brave new virtual world – the direct interface between the brain and the computer is here. One of the Holy Grail’s of research, there are many such projects going on around the world at present. Now the German g.tec (Guger Technologies) group has taken the technology out of the lab and into the real world with a complete BCI kit, and amazingly, there’s also a kit for a pocket PC - a super-low-weight biosignal recording system “g.MOBIlab” is used to measure the EEG and the data processing, analysis and pattern recognition are performed on a commercially available Pocket PC or in this case, your windows PC. The first BCI system will enable the composition and sending of messages, and control of a computer game. There’s also an invasive (implanted) option still being trialled in the laboratory – this is significantly more effective abnd the system can already accept and process input from both the embedded array and the cap array. Though the first work in the area is focussed on enabling paralysed humans to communicate far more freely, the potential to enhance one’s communications quite freely is clearly not that far away. There’s also the potential unlocked by putting such a device into the hands of thousands of eager and capable amateurs who will no doubt broaden the understanding of the human mind with their pursuits. The BCI system is nominated for the 2007 European ICT Grand Prize. Read More

Motion-Sensing capabilities moving to Consumer Electronics

By Mike Hanlon

November 9, 2006 The pictured object is a TV remote control, designed to be much easier to use than that array of buttons you currently use that make a piano accordion look simple. The Loop is Hillcrest's first Freespace-enabled product, a bracelet-shaped TV remote control with just two buttons and a scroll wheel. Users hold The Loop in one hand, and it translates their motions into on-screen cursor movements. Using the scroll wheel and the two buttons, users can browse through TV channels or change the volume. Motion-sensing has been in use in computer games for some time, offering a more immersive, intuitive experience - consumer electronics will be next - for sure! Read More

A glimpse at the future of the Human-Computer Interface

By Tim Hanlon

October 20, 2006 With applications in just about every forseeable field of personal and business computing, we're expecting the Upravlator keyboard (the latest concept from Art Lebedev, and the cousin of the Optimus keyboard) to do very well when it hits the market. It's a 10.8 inch, 640x480 LCD with twelve square buttons occupying it's surface. The twelve buttons each have five contacts - one in the center, top, bottom, left and right, which are freely assignable to UI elements in the software of your choice. Read More

The not-so-ugly diNovo Edge keyboard

By Mike Hanlon

October 4, 2006 If there were a technology beauty contest, the keyboard would be a shoe-in for last place, being the epitome of organisationally dyslexic, high-tech-by-accident unsightliness. But in the world of the keyboard, Logitech’s new diNovo Edge keyboard is indeed a beauty, though we’re gonna stop way short of Logitech’s PR copywriter’s description of it being a “minimalist work of high-technology art.” Reflecting the growing importance and visibility of the PC in today’s home, the rechargeable diNovo Edge has some compelling features such as an integrated touch-sensitive navigation and scroll panel, and includes embedded Bluetooth wireless technology (and it aint as ugly as a normal one). Read More

TouchBook Touch User Interface (TUI) to be used by NASA

By Mike Hanlon

October 1, 2006 Somatic Digital announced today that it will provide NASA Goddard Flight Center with its TouchBook Touch User Interface (TUI) platform. The TUI is to the printed page what the Graphic User Interface (GUI) is to the computer screen. It is an open convergence technology that enables readers of normally printed materials to touch the page and retrieve digital content or launch communication applications on a computer. Currently, the TUI can retrieve digital content and launch communication applications via Windows XP or Mac OS X. The functions that can be driven from a web page can also be conducted from a printed page. Read More

The Fraunhofer Multimedia Dome

By Mike Hanlon

September 6, 2006 Making its first public appearance at the IFA international consumer electronics fair in Berlin, the Multimedia Dome is the first digital dome theatre to feature natural spatial sound: it envelops visitors in fascinating universe of video pictures and sound. The Multimedia Dome was developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Architecture and Software Technology FIRST and the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT, the inventors of the MP3 format which has taken over the world in the last decade. Read More

Panoptic C-Thru 3D Video Surveillance System

By Mike Hanlon

August 31, 2006 Panoptic’s proposed C-Thru 3D Video Surveillance System could be loosely described as a formalised, scalable implementation of Superman’s X-ray vision. The system enables one or more surveillance agents, using a single high resolution, auto-stereoscopic display, to remotely monitor the security situation of an arbitrarily large number of locations at-a-glance. Agents can see, hear and transport their focused viewpoint through walls, floors and ceilings, zooming into a specific location to monitor it at a level so acute that it seems beyond the levels of even science fiction. Designed to enable both wholistic site-wide and granular-level security, the system is ideal for monitoring airports, shipping ports, transit sites and other ports-of-entry, hotels, casinos, shopping malls, campuses, military bases, large buildings and building complexes, offering total situational awareness at a glance. Read More

Powered Shoes - another breakthrough Virtual Reality interface

By Mike Hanlon

June 30, 2006 Each year the place to be for anyone in computer graphics, animation and virtual reality is the SIGGRAPH conference which will be held in Boston (July 30-August 3) this year and some of the incredible exhibits planned are just beginning to come to light. One that really captures our imagination is this set of powered shoes developed by Hiroshi Tomioka and Hiroaki Yano at the University of Tsukuba in Japan. The University of Tsukuba is a hotbed of research with a lot of development of virtual reality interfaces underway. The Powered Shoes are just one of a number of projects designed to enable a person to realistically move through a virtual world without needing to move from the spot. Working like reverse roller-skates, the Powered Shoes effectively cancel the horizontal displacement of the user as they are driven from electrical motors in a backpack worn by the user, enabling omni-directional walking while maintaining the wearer's position. As such, the powered shoes are an important advancement in the world of entertainment and simulation and are the only viable alternative we have seen capable of emulating the capabilities of the landmark Virtusphere, Read More

Personal Dashboard from Ambient Devices

By Mike Hanlon

May 3, 2006 Ambient Devices is a company which specialises in producing glanceable information displays which allow any customer to have a constant awareness of their important information, without the anxiety of information overload. Ambient's vision is to embed information representation into everyday objects such as lamps, pens, watches, walls, and wearables so the physical environment becomes an interface to digital information rendered in subtle changes in form, movement sound, colour or light. Read More

A new breed of computer human interface for sports video game fans

By Mike Hanlon

March 22, 2006 From the time the first steering wheel controller was hooked to a computer, the future of video game controllers grew exponentially larger. Whatever the game being played, there was bound to be something that could be manufactured that would enhance the realism of the experience. Qmotions is a company devoted to creating new kinds of interactive experiences that combine real-world physicality with the immersive virtual environments found in computer and console video games and at last month’s American International Toy Fair 2006 it rolled out several new such interfaces, most notably its Xboard (for surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding and windsurfing video games), and Qmotions-Fun Fitness, a new device that converts recumbent bikes into video game machines, offering a compelling way to get fit and play games at the same time. There’s also a golf and a baseball controller, offering a diverse range of indoor fun for otherwise outdoor activities. Read More

The Gypsy MIDI controller turns the human body into a musical instrument

By Mike Hanlon

January 26, 2006 Dance and music go together. Intuitively, we know they have common elements, and while we cannot even begin to understand what they are or how they so perfectly complement one another, it is clear that both are an expression of something deep and fundamental within all human beings. Both express things that words cannot – beyond intellect, they are perhaps two of the fundamental building blocks of human expression, common to the souls of all people. Which is why when we saw this machine which links the two, we knew there was something special brewing. The GypsyMIDI is a unique instrument for motion-capture midi control – a machine that enables a human being to become a musical instrument - well, a musical instrument controller to be exact, or a bunch of other things depending on your imagination. Most importantly, the entire package is commercially available with extensive customisation features so that you can decide what each movement triggers – a colour, a sound, or perhaps something else again – anything that can be controlled by a digital interface. The set-up and operation is simple, intuitive and quick and the possibilities for performance art and musical applications are … landmark. One arm costs UKP480 (US$855), the whole MIDI suit costs UKP940 (US$1675), and the whole shebang (MIDI Suit, Wireless Interface, Tripod Stand, interface software, Manuals & Videos CD) goes for UKP1240 (US$2210) … that’s the total price for beginning work in a new dimension. Like we said … landmark Read More