Interface

Touchscreens found in most mobile devices today use capacitance or resistance technology - fine for detecting input from a finger, but not so great when it comes to detecting how much pressure that finger is applying. However, this limitation could be about to change with news that Japanese touch screen manufacturer, Nissha, has licensed new technology that allows a touchscreen to detect pressure, even from a finger. This adds a third dimension to touchscreen interaction and opens up a raft of potential applications. Read More

The Video Electronics Standard Association (VESA) has unveiled the long awaited DisplayPort Version1.2 digital display interface that brings with it a host of enhanced features. Aside from a doubled data rate of 21.6Gbps and bi-directional USB data transfer of an impressive 720Mbps, the upgrade also offers multi – monitor support from a single plug, improved audio synchronization and support for Full HD 3D Stereoscopic displays. Read More

In addition to its recent 7-year / 150,000km warranty announcement, Kia has created further interest with the showing of its UVO in-car voice and touch activated communication and entertainment system. Developed in collaboration with Microsoft, the system offers users an easy to use interactive hands-free alternative that uses speech recognition for making and taking calls, sending text messages and managing in-car music. Featuring a 4.3” full color touchscreen display and built-in 1GB storage with the ability to rip CD’s and MP3’s onto the system’s “Jukebox”, the open platform UVO system also doubles as a rear view camera when the vehicle is in reverse. Read More

One area of real potential for multi-touch technology is in touch-sensitive tables. Some may remember Microsoft’s Surface display, and innovative designs like the ROSIE coffee table. Ideum’s ultra-wide alternative takes a slightly different approach though, as it is able to create digital representations of images across the electromagnetic spectrum. Read More

Touch-screen interfaces have already usurped traditional buttons on a range of mobile devices that boast a larger screen size and/or smaller form factor by doing away with a wide range of buttons or dedicated keypad. Now buttons of all sorts on all sorts of devices are under assault. Just last week Apple declared war on mouse buttons, and now hearing technology company, Starkey Laboratories, has taken aim at fiddly hearing aid buttons with its "Sweep Technology" touch-based interface for hearing aids. Read More

After much anticipation and speculation, Microsoft has finally released its long awaited Windows 7 operating system. Aiming to make it easier for users to “do the things they want to do on a PC”, Microsoft’s successor to the largely ill-conceived Vista brings a host of new features to the table. Read More

Those old enough to remember the command line interfaces of yesteryear are only too aware of what a godsend the Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) of today are. However, the human computer interface (HCI) developed in the 1970s at Xerox PARC, combining a desktop metaphor GUI and mouse controller, has remained largely unchanged ever since. Now R. Clayton Miller proposes the next step in the evolution of HCI's with his 10/GUI concept that harnesses the power of multi-touch by removing the touch surface from the screen. Read More

Though it may not make it into everyone’s ‘top ten’ list of most desirable technological developments, replacing the spaghetti-junction of wires that typically gathers behind a desk or workspace would undoubtedly be a welcome advance. Wireless peripherals are helping the situation somewhat and wireless power will be a massive boon once perfected but, in the meantime, we’re looking to technologies like optical cables to handle high-volume data transfer. Intel’s recent research in this area should be of particular interest, since it’s designed to replace or augment connections used in consumer-based electronics, such as USB2.0, HDMI, Firewire, DVI and the like. Read More

More than a little reminiscent of Yamaha's bizarre Tenori-On, iNudge is a free online composition and sequencing tool that takes all the pesky music training out of making music. Playing with its neat grid interface, anyone can come up with funky little beats and make quirky electro tunes. It's a product of an age where musical talent can be completely divorced from the ability to manipulate strings, wind or membranes to get a desired sound - and it's a lot of fun. Have a try right here in your browser window, just click through. Read More